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Members of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District school board say the district will take the state to court in a dispute around its authority to approve and establish new charter schools.
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The district is challenging the Alaska State Board of Education for its approval of a new charter school after the locally elected board unanimously denied the application. The Fairbanks board cited a wide array of problems with the charter proposal, as well as millions in costs to reopen a school it closed last year to address a severe budget deficit.
But the group behind the charter school, Pearl Creek STEAM, appealed to the state, and the governor-appointed State Board of Education approved the new charter school on April 29, saying the application was sufficient.
While the appeal process for new charter schools is in state statute, officials with the district had concerns about the state’s process and whether the state should be overriding local control to create new charter schools.
The state approval would overrule the local board’s denial of a new charter school — requiring the district to approve the charter and establish the school in less than four months, to open in August.
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The state approval of a charter school over objections by a local district is highly unusual, said Lisa Parady, executive director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators.
“It is my understanding that it’s the first time the state board has imposed a charter school on a district,” she said by email on Monday. “I’m not aware of any court case that has occurred in the past eight years at least on a denial or overturning of a charter school decision.”
The board announced at a May 4 meeting it plans to appeal the decision in state court.
New charter school under dispute
Charter schools are tuition-free schools that are publicly funded but independently run based on a “charter” contract that allows for alternative educational offerings from traditional district schools. In Alaska, there are currently 32 charter schools.
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