Governor Mike Dunleavy is highlighting the choice that Alaskans have to send their children to private, public, charter, religious or home-schools.
In observance of National School Choice Week the governor issued a proclamation in support of educational options across the state.
“All children in Alaska should have access to the highest-quality education possible,” Dunleavy said in his Jan. 20 proclamation. “Alaska’s geographic challenges demand that, as a state, we exercise creativity in providing a multitude of excellent educational options for parents to choose from.”
In addition to traditional standard public schools, thousands of Alaska children are educated in more than 30 public charter schools and 30 publicly funded home-school programs like IDEA or Raven Correspondence. Alaska also has about 70 private or religious schools according to Private School Review, which compiles lists of private schools across the nation. Thousands of other Alaskan children are educated through independent home-schooling, which is not publicly funded.
“Offering educational variety creates ways to diversify and enhance the vibrancy of our communities,” the governor proclaimed. “Alaska is home to high-quality teaching professionals that offer traditional and creative educational opportunities because they are committed to educating our children.”
Nationally, School Choice Week is celebrated annually to raise awareness of the need for effective educational options to and encourage support for family access to educational choices.
The National School Choice Week (NSCW) website notes that the annual celebration includes “tens of thousands of independent events” aimed at raising public awareness of options available to parents as they seek the best educational route for their children.
Started in 2011, NSCW is now “the world’s largest annual celebration of opportunity in education,” the website notes. Over the past seven years, more than 58,000 NSCW events have been planned across the country and around the world
The NSCW highlights all types of educational options, including traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online academies, and home-schooling.
“NSCW does not preference one type of education option over another,” the website states. “We trust parents to make the best choices for their individual children.”
