SB 277 is a direct attack on Alaska homeschool freedom

By SUZANNE DOWNING

March 17, 2026 – There are bad education bills, and then there are bills that are so bad that its sponsors just hope the public won’t fully understand them until it’s too late.

Alaska Senate Bill 277 falls squarely into … both categories.

On the surface, SB 277 is being sold as a funding adjustment bill, a modest increase to funding, a tweak to transportation funding, and a handful of policy updates. But buried inside its many sections are provisions that would upend Alaska’s successful charter school model and dismantle the correspondence programs that thousands of families rely on.

And yes, Alaskans should take special note that Wasilla Sen. Rob Yundt, who has authored pro-tax, anti-business legislation in the past, is a co-sponsor. Voters in his district, where homeschool and correspondence programs are widely used, should be asking why, because his bill does not expand choice. It restricts it.

Sen. Rob Yundt faces accusations from party leaders in his district, facing formal censure

Let’s go through it:

SB 277 doubles the amount school districts can skim from charter school budgets for administrative services, from 4% to 8%. That may sound minor, but in practice it means a lot fewer dollars in the charter classroom and more money diverted to district bureaucracy.

Worse, it forces correspondence programs into “cooperative agreements,” where the administrative fees approved by the Alaska Department of Education can be levied on the very programs families choose when they’re trying to escape centralized control.

Here’s the reality: This opens the door for districts to withhold funding from the programs actually educating the students.

Senate Bill 277 puts target on Alaska charter schools and homeschool programs

Now look at Section 5: Supporters will point to the increase in correspondence funding from 90% to 100% of Average Daily Membership as a win for homeschool families.

Yeah … but no. Because the bill simultaneously redirects where that money goes. Instead of funding following the student to the program they choose, the money is steered back to the district where the student lives. Is Yundt trying to feather the nest of the Mat-Su? It appears that way.

Section 7 may be the most damaging of all.

It requires correspondence students to be counted in the district where they reside, not the district providing their education. For statewide programs like those operated by Galena, that change alone could collapse the financial model that has allowed rural districts to serve thousands of students across Alaska. This bill is an attack on Galena.

Even worse, those students would be counted toward the school with the lowest enrollment in their home district, a formula manipulation that defies logic and invites distortion. The goal is apparent — try to keep brick-and-mortar schools standing by faking enrollment.

The damages are going to be felt. The provision threatens to bankrupt programs, destabilize districts, and ultimately reduce options for families. In places like the Mat-Su, where many parents have already chosen alternatives to their local schools, the likely result is not a return to the neighborhood classroom; it’s an exodus to fully independent homeschooling with Outside entities — and there are many to choose from.

That means millions of dollars leaving the system altogether.

And let’s address the argument being used to justify this shift: that districts deserve funding even if students don’t attend their schools.

Parents in organized boroughs already pay local taxes to support those districts even when their children don’t use them. That contribution is significant, and it’s conveniently ignored in this debate.

Meanwhile, correspondence programs have built-in partnerships that allow students to access activities, services, and opportunities across districts. These are functioning, effective alternatives that serve real families.

The data is already telling a story lawmakers should be paying attention to. Following some recent criticism of correspondence programs by Mat-Su Superintendent Randy Trani, criticism that relied in part on incorrect data, programs like IDEA saw immediate increases in enrollment.

Families are voting with their feet and SB 277 appears designed to stop them.

Alaska has long had some of the most flexible and family-centered education laws in the country because previous lawmakers recognized something simple: Parents are best positioned to decide how their children are educated.

SB 277 moves Alaska in the opposite direction, toward a system where funding is controlled centrally, options are narrowed, and successful programs are slowly squeezed out.

That should concern every parent in this state.

Let’s also put something else into perspective: Some school districts in Alaska are spending well over $100,000 per student, yet many of those same voices are attacking the very students who receive the least funding in the system, roughly $6,000 per correspondence student.

That disconnect tells you all you need to know about what this bill is really trying to accomplish.

If lawmakers were serious about improving outcomes for all students, there are obvious, common-sense steps they could take that would actually be a win-win for both correspondence programs and traditional districts.

For example, special education students enrolled in correspondence programs do not receive the same needs-based funding multipliers that brick-and-mortar students do. Fixing that would ensure Alaska’s highest-needs students receive appropriate support — while also directing additional funding into the larger districts that provide many of those services.

Likewise, increasing Career and Technical Education funding for correspondence students would benefit everyone. Large districts already operate substantial correspondence programs, and expanding CTE access would strengthen workforce development while bringing additional resources into those districts.

SB 277 does none of this. There is no serious discussion in this bill about what is best for all students or all families. The focus is narrow and unmistakable: redirecting money.

If lawmakers truly wanted balance, they could pursue a far more reasonable approach. For instance, if correspondence funding were increased to a full 1.0, districts of residence could be allowed to charge a modest, clearly defined fee for participation in local athletics or activities. In many cases, cooperative agreements like this already exist.

There is a real cost when students access district facilities and programs, and acknowledging that cost, transparently and fairly, would be a practical solution that respects both families and districts.

That is what a good-faith legislation would do.

But instead of collaboration, SB 277 pushes control and the consequences won’t be theoretical.

As Galena/IDEA Superintendent Johnson warned, policymakers are badly underestimating Alaska’s homeschooling families. If the state attempts to force students back into local districts, or redirects funding away from the programs families have chosen, many will simply opt out entirely.

“Simply stated, there seems to be a significant misunderstanding with regard to the strong convictions that homeschooling families across Alaska have,” Johnson said. “If students are forced back into local districts, or funding is redirected, families will move to private or national homeschooling options.”

The ripple effects would be severe: “Local vendors would perish, millions of dollars would be erased from local businesses, and money would flow to the Lower 48,” Johnson added. “Help me understand how this benefits Alaska in any manner?”

That’s the question lawmakers should be asking.

SB 277 is a structural shift away from school choice and toward top-down consolidation and control.

Alaska families deserve better and voters, especially in the Mat-Su district represented by one of its sponsors, deserve answers before that shift becomes law.

SB 277 will be heard in Senate Education Committee, where invited and public testimony will be taken on Wednesday.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan. She is a product of Alaska public schools and a graduate of Juneau-Douglas High School in an era when Alaska schools performed at the top nationwide.

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