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Start Up
Funding
Staffing
Students
Home School
100
There is no limit and no geographical restrictions.
How many charter schools can operate in Alaska?
100
No law prohibits school districts from setting and collecting fees, however school age children are entitled to a public education without tuition.
Can a charter school require local school districts to charge students and parents for items such as uniforms, lab fees, transportation and textbooks?
100
Charter school teachers and other employees are subject to the same collective bargaining agreements of the district in which the charter school operates.
Are charter school personnel subject to the school district's labor agreements?
100
A charter school can be designated to serve students within a certain age group or grade level and students who will benefit from a particular teaching method or curriculum. Age groups or grade levels and who will benefit from the program need to be defined. All eligible students may apply.
How are students selected for charter schools?
100
None. If operating as a religious or other private school, testing is only required in 4th, 6th, and 8th grades. The parents may select any standardized achievement test.
What standardized tests are home schoolers required to take?
200
Yes. Nothing prohibits these types of charter schools. However local school boards would have to provide funding for the boarding as well as the academic program.
Can a charter school be a statewide program, such as a correspondence school, or a boarding school specializing in technology, math or science?
200
Funding for a charter school will be not less than the amount generated by the students enrolled in the charter school, to be determined in the same manner as it would be for a student enrollment in public schools in the same district.
How does a charter school get its funding?
200
Yes. A charter school principal must possess a Type B Administrator Certificate.
Should a local school board require that a charter school principal have a "Type B" Administrative Certificate?
200
If the number of applications exceeds the charter school's capacity, then the school and local school board need to try to find additional space and teachers to accommodate the students. Failing that, students are selected by random drawing in a lottery.
What happens if the number of students who apply exceeds the charter school's capacity to serve them?
200
None, if the child is being educated in their parents home and are not receiving public funds for their education.
How many days of required instruction are there?
300
Yes. A charter school can be operated in an existing school district facility or in a facility not currently being used as a public school.
Can a school-within-school program be a charter school?
300
Yes, but only an amount determined by the Dept. of Ed. and only for indirect (overhead) costs.
Can the school district keep any of the funding generated by the charter school to pay for services that the school district's central office provides the charter school?
300
If the charter school does not employ a principal, then the district, in cooperation with the charter school, will designate a school district administrator to conduct the evaluation.
Who evaluates the charter school teachers?
300
Every child of school age is entitled to attend a public school within the school district boundaries in which the child is a resident. The State of Alaska does not provide funding to any school district to offer a boarding school, nor is any school district required to offer a boarding option.
Would a charter school have to provide a boarding school because access to the school might be impossible for some due to distance and other geographical barriers?
300
None, if the child is being educated in their parents home and are not receiving public funds for their education.
What subjects are required for home schoolers?
400
A charter school is required to be nonsectarian. the same rule that applies to all public schools.
Can religious schools be charter schools?
400
No, House Bill 101, the "Charter School Grant Program", has been repealed.
Will the state provide additional funding to a school district that starts a charter school?
400
The principal is hired by the charter school's academic policy committee.
Who hires the charter school principal?
400
A charter school may be designed to serve two broad categories of students: (1) students within an age group or grade level, or (2) students who will benefit from a particular teaching method or curriculum. Civil rights laws disfavor discrimination against students with disabilities.
Can the school district disallow a student, particularly a special education student, from enrolling in a charter school if the school believes the student will not benefit from the educational style or methods used?
400
None, certification is only required if parents use a private tutor.
What teacher requirements are required for home schooling?
500
Charter schools are public schools. A school district is liable for a charter school to the extent that it is liable for other public schools in its jurisdiction.
Is the district liable for any accidents that may happen to students or staff in a charter school?
500
Yes. The charter school contract must contain a clause that allows the local school board to terminate the contract if the charter school fails to meet its educational or financial goals or for other good cause.
Can the local school board close the charter school?
500
The academic policy committee is responsible for conducting the evaluation.
Who evaluates the charter school principal?
500
Student testing is required by state regulation, not by statue, except High School Graduation Requirement Exam, which is state statute. Waivers are allowed, under specific circumstances.
Have school been able to waive the standardized achievement test requirements?
500
If "the child is being educated in the child's home by a parent or legal guardian," the child is exempt from compulsory attendance. The burden is on the state to prove that parents are not teaching their children.
Who is responsible to make sure a home schooled student is being taught?