Alaska faces consequences as federal education funding equity dispute continues

An quiet schoolroom astatine Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé successful Juneau, Alaska, connected July 20, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Phu/Alaska Beacon)

A conflict betwixt Alaska’s acquisition officials and their national counterparts complete whether nan authorities spent pandemic alleviation equitably has had its first tangible consequence: nan authorities must person a national OK earlier it tin walk astir $1 cardinal successful grants.

The United States Department of Education has put restrictions connected nan money successful summation to labeling nan authorities arsenic “high risk” for receiving early grants because it says nan authorities has not equitably distributed costs among its districts. State officials title this assertion.

This disagreement has raised questions astir whether Alaska schools will suffer retired connected early grants.

Since past year, Alaska officials person pushed backmost against a national informing that said nan authorities underfunded definite schoolhouse districts and grounded to afloat comply pinch requirements for spending $359 cardinal successful pandemic alleviation grants. The assistance costs successful mobility are from nan American Recovery Plan Act, and were intended to stabilize schools aft pandemic closures.

Federal officials person allowed Alaska to administer that money. But successful an update to nan Alaska Board of Education and Early Development astatine its June meeting, authorities officials said nan equity rumor is unresolved and nan section has already incurred immoderate consequences arsenic a result.

The restricted money is successful an administrative account; nan authorities acquisition section needs to inquire nan national authorities earlier it spends it.

Alaska Education Commissioner Deena Bishop told committee members that nan authorities utilized nan relationship to salary nan impermanent labor who administered its grants.

“The consequence is only pinch nan administrative fees astatine nan authorities level,” she said astatine nan meeting. She said nan section does not person plans to walk that money.

One looming anticipation that has legislators and territory superintendents concerned is that nan national authorities could withhold early assistance money from Alaska schools, aliases moreover return assistance money back, but that has not yet happened.

Bishop sought to guarantee committee members nan conflict will not impact different national grants, for illustration nan $425 cardinal successful national assistance money nan authorities is group to person connected July 1. And she emphasized that it did not impact nan pandemic alleviation funds.

“The existent ARPA costs that were meant for schoolhouse districts person already been dispersed and are already used, and there’s not a problem pinch them,” she said.

Assistant Attorney General Susan Sonneborn said that if nan national authorities withheld money based connected nan “high-risk” designation, nan authorities could record an administrative appeal.

The bosom of nan disagreement is complete a caller proviso to pandemic-era acquisition grants, called “maintenance of equity.” The thought down it is that nan national authorities would springiness retired immense grants, truthful agelong arsenic states made judge that they were distributed fairly.

The intent was to make judge authorities acquisition backing to historically underserved groups of students remained astatine pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels; attraction of equity only applies to districts that service precocious needs aliases precocious poorness populations.

Austin Reid, nan National Conference of State Legislatures’ lead national acquisition argumentation analyst, said nan attraction of equity proviso is “an different and, successful immoderate ways, bonzer national authority.” Typically, states person authority complete really they money education. Reid briefed legislators connected nan proviso successful April.

The attraction of equity proviso said that states are not allowed to trim nan magnitude of backing per student to definite schoolhouse districts beneath nan magnitude they received successful 2019, nan twelvemonth straight preceding nan pandemic. The covered districts see schools that service high-poverty areas aliases high-needs students. This is wherever national officials opportunity Alaska has tally afoul of their guidance; immoderate districts sewage little authorities money successful 2022 than they did successful 2019.

Alaska has a analyzable per pupil backing look that was designed to support equity among nan state’s students and schools. Bishop points to that look erstwhile she counters nan national assessment.

She said Alaska’s per pupil backing look follows nan intent of nan rule — and if nan authorities allocated little backing to definite districts that enrolled less students during nan pandemic, it did truthful precisely because it utilized a look nan U.S Department of Education approved.

Reid said Alaska is not unsocial successful that regard: Many states’ analyzable backing formulas do not align neatly pinch nan national attraction of equity test, which is based only connected a student’s income. He estimated that much than 40 states person struggled to meet nan attraction of equity requirements.

In an April position to nan Senate Education Committee, Reid explained that location are 3 authorities acquisition finance strategies that tin origin them to not comply pinch nan national law: a per-student backing formula, a system to equalize spending and a “hold harmless” provision, aimed astatine preventing districts from experiencing cuts successful aid. Alaska employs each 3 strategies.

In Alaska’s case, officials opportunity it is apt those mechanisms affected full per pupil backing arsenic galore students switched to location aliases correspondence schoolhouse during nan pandemic.

“For a authorities pinch an equalized per pupil backing formula, location was nary measurement to cognize really to comply if simply maintaining backing and distribution successful nan aforesaid humanities mode was insufficient,” he said.

Despite this, Alaska’s existent dilemma is unique. Though galore states person struggled pinch compliance, Alaska is nan only authorities that has not resolved nan issue.

Counteroffer

Federal officials opportunity nan authorities did not support equity complete 2 years. The alleged inequity closest astatine manus is nan 2022 fiscal year, for which they opportunity nan authorities owes nan Kenai Peninsula Borough School District $5.48 cardinal and Anchorage School District $6.4 million. To dress up for 2023 shortfalls, national officials opportunity nan Juneau, Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula and Fairbanks districts are owed a full of much than $5 million.

In a May letter, Bishop maintained nan authorities did nary wrong, but offered national officials a compromise: DEED would inquire nan authorities Legislature to due $327,015 for nan Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. This magnitude is little than 2% of what nan feds opportunity each districts are owed.

“This magnitude represents nan further costs that would beryllium owed to nan territory for FY2023 if nan U.S. Department of Education were to prevail successful its mentation that MOEquity applies to Alaska notwithstanding nan deficiency of a statewide backing cut, and besides takes into relationship elements of Alaska’s authorities backing look that distort MOEquity calculations,” she wrote.

State officials, including Bishop and Sonneborn, person noted that national officials person changed nan magnitude they opportunity nan authorities owes districts respective times. In March, nan full neared $30 million; national officials reduced it to under $17 million. A spokesperson for U.S. DOE said that is because Alaska’s acquisition section has submitted respective different versions of its equity calculations.

Bishop’s correspondence pinch national officials has many times cited tribunal cases wherever states had prevailed successful backing arguments. The section did not reside questions astir whether aliases not it would prosecute litigation against nan national authorities aliases why only nan Fairbanks territory was addressed successful its discuss proposal.

Legislative response

The conflict is simply a interest for authorities legislators. The Senate mostly caucus included $11.89 million in the operating budget for nan upcoming fiscal twelvemonth to let nan authorities to travel into compliance pinch nan national government’s assistance requirements and retrieve its bully standing. The fund magnitude equals nan full 2022 backing for Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage schools cited by nan national government. Alaska’s acquisition officials did not mention this backing to their national counterparts successful nan May missive that offered nan compromise.

It remains to beryllium seen whether nan management of Gov. Mike Dunleavy will o.k. aliases veto nan money. The fund was transferred to Dunleavy’s agency connected June 5 and he must determine whether to motion aliases veto it by June 28.

Senate Education Committee Chair Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, said her agency has been successful connection pinch national officials who person said they tin nary longer accommodate Alaska’s noncompliance. She said national officials gave nary denotation they would judge nan agency’s discuss offer.

“It’s bully to spot they’re still trying to find a resolution,” she said of nan state’s acquisition officials. “But I judge nan U.S. Department of Education has been clear that there’s only 1 solution option, and I do not spot immoderate imaginable tribunal action deciding successful our favor.”

Tobin said her main interest is that nan “high-risk” position could make districts little competitory for immoderate assistance application, moreover from sources different than nan national government, because of nan stigma. Many districts, specified arsenic nan Ketchikan School District, usage nan state’s acquisition section arsenic their fiscal sponsor erstwhile applying for grants, she said.

“It’s again, 1 of those situations wherever nan section is creating nan situation that could easy beryllium avoided,” she said.

Tobin is simply a beardown protagonist of expanding support for schools to instrumentality nan Alaska Reads Act, which nan management has said tin beryllium funded done extracurricular grants. She said nan high-risk determination could complicate that, too. In her past speech pinch national officials, she said it was clear that continued noncompliance would consequence successful expanding consequences.

“There is this belief that it’s conscionable a gnat flying astir our head, but I expect that complete clip it’s going to go a full hive of bees, and we’re going to get stung many times if we don’t move into compliance,” she said. “I’m not judge what nan department’s extremity is. I don’t understand what their intent is. We’ve asked aggregate times for them to pass pinch us, and they person not provided america immoderate further information.”

Commissioner Bishop many times declined to little nan Senate’s Education Committee connected nan taxable this spring, but Tobin said nan section shared its latest correspondence pinch her office.

As of past week, Bishop said nan U.S. Department of Education has not responded to nan state’s petition for a compromise. The national section has said it does not person nan authority to waive nan assistance requirements, which suggests it cannot make exceptions specified arsenic nan discuss Alaska’s acquisition section has proposed.