The state is walking a narrow line if the Legislature repeals the state intervention process in struggling schools, as House Education Chair Rep. Alan Dick suggests in HB256. That is the warning Neil Slotnick, a state attorney, gave the House Education Committee Friday.
Dick says the bill is a work in progress but is a needed response to criticism that the state is punishing struggling districts instead of helping improve rural Alaska schools. The oversight process, Dick argues, is so broken it needs to be removed completely.
Slotnick says that would create uncertainty and constitutional concerns, unless the Legislature simultaneously approves new regulations for the state to follow.
The committee resumes Monday morning with testimony from Education Commissioner Mike Hanley.
