Alaska

Dunleavy says lawmakers shouldn't pass bills to address homeschool decision. Lawmakers say that's risky.

Published

2 months ago

May 2, 2024

Dunleavy says lawmakers shouldn't pass bills to address homeschool decision. Lawmakers say that's risky.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy reads from a book of Alaska laws at a news conference on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Eric Stone/Alaska Public Media)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy is calling on lawmakers to pause their efforts to address a court ruling that threatens the state’s homeschool system, saying they should wait for a ruling from the Alaska Supreme Court.

“This is literally a disaster, potentially, an emergency because of its magnitude,” he told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

The decision from an Anchorage Superior Court judge found two laws underpinning much of Alaska’s homeschool system unconstitutional. Alaska’s Constitution prohibits spending public money “for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution,” and Judge Adolf Zeman found that payments to homeschool families for things like books and lesson plans had been used for tuition at private and religious schools, which he declared unconstitutional.

But Department of Law Civil Division head Cori Mills, who appeared alongside Dunleavy on Wednesday, said the decision throws a lot more than homeschool spending into question.

“It’s difficult not to read the decision to say that any private organization is impacted,” she said. “So a private organization, in the court’s opinion, seems to equate to a private educational institution.”

And schools spend money on private organizations all the time — books from McGraw Hill, bussing from First Student, tutoring from Sylvan, the list goes on. The plaintiffs’ lawyer in the case, Scott Kendall, said the broad interpretation is “bizarre” and “misleading” and that Dunleavy should seek more guidance from the court. But Dunleavy insisted there’s not much choice but to wait for the Supreme Court to rule.

“This is why we’re saying a quick fix that some are advocating for, we don’t see how it fits into the ruling right now,” Dunleavy said.

But there’s still a big unanswered question: It’s not clear when or if the court’s ruling will take effect. It could be any day, or the end of June as the plaintiffs requested, or longer, as the state and parents backing the homeschool system have requested. And Dunleavy told reporters he’ll likely call lawmakers back to Juneau for a special session if the Alaska Supreme Court doesn’t allow the homeschool laws to stand.

But Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said that could be tough to pull off — this summer and fall is campaign season, and he said he’s not sure legislators would be able to get together. So he said he’s in favor of passing a law that puts guardrails on how homeschool funds are spent — or a regulatory fix from the Dunleavy administration that, according to the Legislature’s attorneys, would be compatible with the decision.

“If we put a statute in place, or quite frankly, if there are regulations put in place before that, then homeschoolers will have certainty. Correspondence school families will have certainty. They’ll know what the rules are,” he said. “I think if we don’t do that, this potentially creates tremendous uncertainty for families that use correspondence schools.”

The Senate Education Committee rolled out one possible approach in late April. The sponsor, Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, says it’d restore components of the system that existed before the 2014 law that was declared unconstitutional.

The House Education Committee has its own version of a fix. It would more closely mirror the more recent homeschool system, but with stricter limits on buying things like ski passes, power tools and private school classes.

Education Committee co-chair Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, called for an immediate legislative fix after the decision came out — and despite Dunleavy’s call to hold off, he says that’s still the plan.

“Well, I think if we say we can’t pass statutes to fix things, why would we ever pass a statute ever again?” Ruffridge said.

He said he agrees with Dunleavy that lawmakers have to think long-term. But he said passing a law clarifying the rules would be a good idea.

“We also have to take a view that says, ‘How do we bring stability to folks?’” Ruffridge said. “It’s a lot of people, 23,000 students, so I think we have an obligation to both.”

Doing nothing, Ruffridge and Wielechowski said, risks leaving homeschool families even more in limbo than they already are.

Eric Stone covers state government, tracking the Alaska Legislature, state policy and its impact on all Alaskans. Reach him at estone@alaskapublic.org.

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Alaska

Kirk's Alaskan Cruise Blog 2024

Published

5 hours ago

July 6, 2024

Press Room

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – Kirk Greenfield and 24 guests from the Mid-Ohio Valley began their 12 days trip to Alaska on Friday, July 5th.

Starting with a 4 AM wake up, Kirk and hcompany assembled at the Baymont Inn in Marietta to board the motor coach, and begin their 3 hour trip to Pittsburgh International Airport. The trip went well with all arriving on time, and the flight left at 11 a.m. for a connection in Chicago.

Starting with a 4 AM wake up, Kirk and company gathered at The Baymont Inn to board a motor coach for the three hour ride to Pittsburgh airport. We ran on schedule and all went well, meeting our tour director Sherry.
A short hop to Chicago for a connecting flight gave some a chance for shut eye, and then a four hour flight to Seattle was next. This plane was also full. Eventually, the Rocky Mountains came into view, and we were thrilled to see snowcapped mountain ridges sail by. The largest mountain by far was Mount Rainier, which can be seen most anywhere from Seattle, including our hotel for the night.

Some chose to go right to bed, while others decided to find a bit to eat either in the hotel restaurant or across the street as a variety of smaller eateries, including Subway, the 13 coins Steakhouse, the Hawaiian Hibachi and more.

I have always said that the first day is the hardest, in part because of working the evening shift, and then having to turn around and drive to the pick-up point before dawn. The good news is that our Holiday Vacations Tour Director is very experienced and has it all under control. In addition to our 24 MOV travelers, there are six more coming from Chicago and a family of ten who will also be with us, for a total of 42 on this trip.

We are all excited to start our three day cruise with Holland America on the inland waterway tomorrow, Saturday and visit Canadian and Alaskan ports of call all the way up to Skagway. But more on that later. It’s time for some much needed shut-eye.

*(One small sad point: We were disappointed to discover that our favorite T-Rex skeleton “Sue” at the Pittsburgh airport is not visible while reconstruction work is going on. It’s a favorite landmark that we had been hoping to snap pictures of and shoot a video for the folks back home. Perhaps another day of upon or return.)

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Alaska

Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred abruptly resigns

Published

11 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

Alaska federal judge Joshua Kindred abruptly resigns

By Sean Maguire

Updated: 15 minutes ago Published: 15 minutes ago

The James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Anchorage. (Bill Roth / ADN archive)

Alaska U.S. District Court judge Joshua Kindred abruptly resigned from the federal bench this week without explanation.

Kindred, 46, was appointed to the District Court of Alaska by former President Donald Trump in 2019 and confirmed in 2020. Formerly an Anchorage prosecutor and an attorney at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Kindred was 42 when he became a federal judge, making him among the youngest of a wave of judges appointed by Trump.

Federal judgeships are lifetime appointments, and resignations are rare. It’s not clear why Kindred is stepping down.

Kindred wrote a one-page letter to President Joe Biden on Wednesday, giving his formal notice of resignation. The letter gave no reason why he was resigning. It’s effective on July 8.

Questions to Kindred’s chambers on Friday were directed to Candice Duncan, chief clerk of the U.S. District Court of Alaska. Duncan said in a prepared statement that all of Kindred’s cases would be reassigned on July 5.

Joshua Kindred, at the time an attorney for the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, testifying before the U.S. Senate Energy Committee in December 2015. (YouTube)

Kindred was picked by Trump to replace U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline in 2019. He was deemed qualified by the Alaska Bar Association but was rated 16th of 20 applicants. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told Alaska Public Media at the time that Trump was looking to appoint younger judges to the bench.

The U.S. District Court of Alaska has three active district judges, four “senior judges,” who are in semi-retired status, and a handful of magistrate judges assisting. With Kindred’s resignation, Chief Judge Sharon Gleason is the only active district court judge serving in Alaska.

Former Alaska Chief Judge Timothy Burgess resigned at the end of 2021 when he reached the minimum retirement age of 65 for federal judges. Burgess has been a senior judge since then, which allows him to take cases if the court’s active judges are unavailable.

Burgess’ seat on the court has remained vacant since 2022. Federal judges are nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. By convention, the names of potential nominees are often chosen by home-state senators.

U.S. Sens. Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Mary Peltola did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday on Kindred’s vacancy or the effort to fill Burgess’ seat.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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