Mat-Su School Superintendent Randy Trani is on a mission to fundamentally alter Alaska’s increasingly popular statewide homeschool programs, which currently allow parents the freedom to choose whichever programs they believe will best serve the educational needs of their children.

During a Feb. 4 Mat-Su School Board meeting, Trani gave an error-laced AI-generated presentation to school board members, wherein he proceeded to lament the fact that hundreds of Mat-Su students are enrolled in homeschool programs run by other districts.

In particular, Trani focused on the largest statewide homeschool program – IDEA – which is run by the Galena School District.

Trani’s largely error-filled presentation did accurately show that 255 Mat-Su students have opted for the IDEA program this year, rather than choosing a Mat-Su homeschool option.

He doesn’t think that’s fair because much of the state funding for those Mat-Su based students goes to the benefit of Galena, which leads to an overall revenue loss for other Mat-Su educational projects.

Relying on his faulty AI-research, Trani then falsely claimed that Galena had so much extra money coming in that, “They are building a $31 million high school project for their high schoolers who live in Galena.”

In actuality, the $31 million project was planned by the Galena Unit School District, located 2,500 miles away in Illinois.

Trani then presented two photos, side by side, one of a group of kids with a ball and another of the Galena swimming pool. Trani claimed the group photo was an image of the Gelena water polo team, which used the school pool for practices.

“This is their water polo team, April 24, 2023,” Trani told the school board.

In actual fact, Galena doesn’t have a water polo team. The photo was an image of the school’s volleyball squad.

Much of the rest of Trani’s presentation consisted in showing how families from around the state choose to regularly enroll their kids in homeschool programs that are not based in their local districts. While many homeschool families see the competing statewide homeschool programs as a positive for school choice, Trani painted it as a major problem that he wants addressed at the state level.

Trani’s misleading presentation drew a quick rebuke from Galena Superintendent Jason Johnson who sent a three-page rebuttal to IDEA families on Feb. 9.

“It was disheartening as the information was riddled with so many inaccuracies as to be humorous if not for the fact that he is using these falsehoods to advocate for major changes to State policy and that the comments also incited significant angst amongst stakeholders towards statewide correspondence programs,” Johnson wrote.

He added that Trani is intent on limiting school choice options for Alaska parents.

“To be clear, he is advocating for the State to restrict school choice by limiting the ability of students to enroll outside of school district boundaries, and otherwise take away the freedom you currently have to choose a statewide program that honors your family and your children’s needs,” Johnson noted. “Yes, this would force most region MS [Mat-Su] students to enroll in his program (or private homeschool).”

Johnson then took Trani to task for what he called “false and reckless rhetoric” that showed a “lack of diligence a public servant should have to speak only truth.”

In addition to debunking the $31 million project that is actually happening in Illinois, Johnson noted that the Galena swimming pool was built 26 years ago and was “nearly fully funded through grants, partnerships, and with infrastructure from prior military presence in the community.”

Johnson then blasted Trani for claiming that the school district was planning future upgrades to four buildings. In fact, those buildings were built between 2010 and 2019.

“And nearly all were funded through grants, not discretionary or forward looking capital investments,” Johnson clarified.

“Accusing elected officials without factual basis and subsequently reinforcing those claims with repeated lies in a public setting is appalling and has no place in public service…

“Again, under less serious circumstances, offering a presentation with such egregious and destructive errors would be amusing, but these false statements may become persistent divisive dialogue that will impede your freedoms if not checked and addressed with facts,” Johnson continued. “The commentary and inaccurate information portrayed throughout this presentation were dangerously careless and jeopardized your rights as parents, undermine our values, and paint the District in a negative light.”

The letter ended by calling out Trani for repeatedly lying.

“Accusing elected officials without factual basis and subsequently reinforcing those claims with repeated lies in a public setting is appalling and has no place in public service, the public’s interest, and, most importantly, not for any students served within our great state.”

Trani issued a very narrow and partial “clarification” on Feb. 7, in which he admitted a single “error” in incorrectly attributing the $31 million Illinois project to the Galena School District in Alaska.

Trani’s clarification made no mention to the litany of other errors in his presentation, yet he claimed that “the record has been corrected publicly and will be addressed at the next school board meeting,” which is scheduled for Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.

Several school board members spoke up, at the conclusion of Trani’s presentation, not knowing about the many errors it contained.

Nevertheless, several board members reiterated that they actually support competition between statewide homeschool programs and wondered what the Mat-Su could do to better compete with programs like Galena’s IDEA.

Member Andrew Shane wanted to know what the Mat-Su can do to make its homeschooling program more competitive going forward.

Member Brooks Pitcher agreed.

“In the spirit of the competition, we have our homeschool correspondence program that we offer,” he said. “We can offer what we believe is best for people, but the parents are choosing what they believe is best for their kids. So, the question is, ‘What is it that some of these other programs are offering that the parents believe yes, that is best for my kids as opposed to what perhaps we – with our program – are offering.”

Pitcher added: “Maybe what people want may not be what we believe is best for them, but what they want is what they want, and they are going to vote with their feet and put their kids in a district outside of ours.”

TAKING ACTION

The next Mat-Su School Board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. in the Mat-Su School District Central Office (501 N Gulkana St, Palmer). Click here for details on how to participate.

Click here to contact members of the Mat-Su School Board.

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