Greg Sarber: Local autonomy in education is one of Eagle Exit’s strongest arguments for detachment

Within the Eagle River, Chugiak neighborhoods — communities that make up Anchorage Assembly District 2 — a growing number of residents are working to detach from the Municipality of Anchorage and incorporate into a home rule borough, an initiative they call Eagle Exit.

One of their core motivations is education reform and a new approach that allows parents to choose among competing charter schools.

Central to their vision is a shift toward a system consisting entirely of independent charter schools, none of which would observe boundaries. Eagle Exit’s approach appears timely, as parents are removing their children from public schools at an ever-increasing pace, not only in response to poor academic outcomes but also in pursuit of curriculums better suited to their children.

According to Ric Smith, chairman of the Eagle Exit Education Committee, this proposed new municipality — the Chugach Regional Borough — establishes a charter school district within it that is pioneering, since it “prioritizes the holistic development and success of students, while also empowering educators and fostering community engagement.” Smith and others believe this approach represents the future of education, based as it is on a more targeted learning experience tied to the interests of each student, and on a parent’s ability to choose among schools.

At the heart of this concept is the idea of autonomy. Traditional schools are often viewed as top-down management structures that strip too much authority and control from parents, educators, and school staff. Under this new model, schools will be free to design programs based on broad principles contained in the borough’s educational standards. Each new charter school will have a decentralized governance structure where parents and school staff have more control through their own governing boards. Within this framework, each school will be free to specialize in areas such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education, arts integration, language immersion, or vocational training.

Another benefit to parents is the injection of competition among schools. Schools with programs that don’t meet the needs of their students will lose students to better schools. This will force the failing schools to alter course, to quickly correct deficiencies that cause students to leave. This is perceived as the best way to address the two biggest reasons parents cite for removing their children from traditional schools — lack of appropriate curriculum and lack of ability to affect change. With competition among charter schools, unhappy parents will now have alternatives.

Parents will exercise a key role in the educational evolution of this new district when they select the school that aligns with their values, priorities, and educational philosophy. This partnership between parents, educators, and the community fosters a sense of ownership and investment in the success of the schools and students within the district.

As statistics emerge that compare the performance of charter schools to traditional schools, Alaskans are paying attention.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently cited a Harvard University study on charter schools when he stated, “Unbeknownst to a lot of folks, because this is the first study that’s ever been done that measures outputs through the NAEP scores — lo and behold, we’re tops in the nation! You would think you’d hear parade music and people dancing in the streets, but in some sectors, this has caused a problem because it doesn’t fit the narrative.”

According to the Alaska statewide test scores, charter schools are outperforming the traditional Anchorage School Distric public schools in math and reading. In Anchorage, which ranks among the highest in the nation in terms of spending per student, the charter school programs outperform traditional Anchorage public schools, both in higher student test scores as well as in lower spending per student.

These improved outcomes for our youth should be a cause for bi-partisan celebration.

Instead, every year the ASD and teachers’ unions promote the argument that they need more money to raise student test scores

Because of this growing disparity in outcomes, parents find it difficult to enroll their kids in charter cchools. Eagle Academy in Eagle River has a waiting list of over 140 students.

Given the waitlists, why doesn’t the Anchorage School District authorize more charter schools? One objection often cited is that charter schools remove resources from the traditional schools. However, Bob Griffin, of the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development, exposed the fallacy of this argument when he stated:

“A final myth is that public charter schools rob resources from neighborhood public schools. This is not the case in Alaska, where per-student spending in charter schools is significantly lower than in traditional neighborhood schools. As more kids move to public charter programs, neighborhood schools are relieved of the burden of the variable cost of educating the kids who move, leaving more funding per student for the children who stay in their neighborhood schools.”

Not only do charter schools outperform public schools, but they do it for less money. By leveraging the self-interest of parents, charter schools attract volunteer time and expertise. Charter schools do not float bonds for maintenance, since they must live within a budget. Parents must find a way to deliver their children to school. Contrast this with the school district in Anchorage, which relies on bonds to pay for maintenance, and which receives $481 for busing charter school students even when they don’t actually transport them. ASD gets $1,108,705 to transport all 2,305 charter students; money the district then funnels to other uses.

During his 26-year career teaching at Birchwood ABC, Ric Smith witnessed firsthand how parents embraced a philosophy of high standards. Because parents cared and were involved, their kids brought that same enthusiasm with them to the classroom.

He emphasizes an equally important dynamic, which was that his school had a parent advisory board which helped guide the direction of the school, and the hiring of its staff, working to always ensure the continuity of the program. “These are things you don’t see in the traditional schools, and therein lies a big part of the difference between the two types of models,” he stated.

Eagle Exit is still being formulated, and should it succeed, it will reflect the goals of the community. By engaging stakeholders in the charter development process, schools can identify local concerns and evolve in their solutions to educational challenges. This collaborative approach to education empowers schools to serve as agents of positive change within their communities, driving excellence in education.

Greg Sarber is on the board of Alaska Gold Communications Inc., parent company to Must Read Alaska.