School Choice Can’t Be the Only Reform—Let’s Fix Public Education, Not Outsource It

By Rick Morgan, President of the Mat-Su Classified Employees Association, NEA-Alaska ESP Director-at-Large
​Our public education system is in crisis. That’s not an overstatement—it’s a hard truth. As a union leader, I’ve spent my career fighting to improve public schools from the inside. But when I look at the state of classrooms across the country—and right here at home—I can’t pretend everything is fine.
School choice is often framed as an attack on public education. I don’t see it that way. I see it as an acknowledgment that too many families have run out of time to wait for the system to get its act together. When your child is trapped in a school overwhelmed by violence, addiction, apathy, and distraction, you don’t want a committee—you want options.
But let’s also be clear: school choice cannot be a substitute for fixing the schools we already have. Alaska’s public education system doesn’t just need competition—it needs leadership, structure, and courage.
Let’s be honest about what’s driving families away:

• Cell phones have become a third teacher in the room—except they don’t teach. They distract, divide, and sometimes endanger. We need real limits on phone use in schools, and real consequences when those limits are ignored.
• Parental apathy is rising. Many parents care deeply, but a growing number have checked out—leaving educators to raise, teach, and discipline their children with little backup, if their children even make it to school.
• Violence and disruption are more common than ever. Teachers and support staff are expected to be counselors, guards, social workers, and medics—all while test scores slide and resources dwindle.
• Funding gaps are real—and so is waste. We need to invest in classrooms, not bureaucracies. Dollars should follow students—but they should also be spent responsibly and locally.

School choice—whether in the form of public charters, magnet programs, or homeschooling partnerships—can be a lifeline for parents. But if we simply shift public dollars into outsourced schools with less accountability and no connection to local communities, we are not solving the problem—we’re just reshuffling the failure.

The Governor’s Proposal: A Chance—and a Caution
With the clock ticking before the special session, Governor Mike Dunleavy has put forward a serious package of education reforms: open enrollment across districts, expanded charter authorizing, recruitment and retention bonuses for hard-to-staff areas, literacy grants, after-school tutoring, and tribal compacting for culturally responsive education.
These are not radical ideas. Many are overdue. Alaska’s student performance ranks among the lowest in the nation. If we want different outcomes, we need different approaches.
But here’s the caution: the governor vetoed a $200 increase to the Base Student Allocation—a bipartisan win—and is now offering to restore it if the Legislature passes his full reform package. That’s not statesmanship; that’s hostage politics. Public education funding shouldn’t come with strings tied to a political agenda.
And buried in the proposal is the potential for deep structural change: allowing the Department of Education—not local school boards—to authorize charter schools across the state. That could mean bypassing local voices in favor of centralized power. It might fast-track innovation—or it might fast-track the dismantling of local public education.

What Would It Take to Turn Things Around?
We don’t just need more teachers—we need the right people choosing to teach. But right now, we’re driving away exactly the kind of educators we claim to want.
To attract and keep great teachers, we need to restore respect, structure, and mission:

• Discipline must be non-negotiable. No one thrives in chaos. In schools that work—whether charter, parochial, or traditional public—there are clear rules and strong leadership.
• We need to revive the basics. Reading, writing, math, science, and civics—not social experiments or political distractions—must come first.
• A love of country should be encouraged, not erased. Students should be allowed to take pride in America while learning its full history.
• Cell phones must go. The schools that are improving—like Success Academy in New York or charter networks in Arizona and Texas—enforce strict limits. That’s no coincidence.
• Support staff are essential. Teachers can’t do it alone. Paraeducators, IT, custodians, and clerical staff are the backbone of functioning schools.
• Accountability should be local and real. The best schools empower strong principals and responsive communities, and great school boards—not distant authorizers or bureaucrats.

Here’s the good news: we know what works. Across the country, successful schools share common traits—firm discipline, high expectations, involved families, protected classroom time, and mission-driven educators. These aren’t partisan ideas. They’re common sense.

To Our Legislators: Don’t Waste This Moment—or Be Played
We don’t need to choose between public education and school choice—we need to choose what works. That means empowering parents, protecting educators, and restoring order, purpose, and pride in the classroom.
But let’s be honest: the $200 BSA increase that the governor vetoed is a real funding cut—and now it’s being used as a bargaining chip. Alaska’s students shouldn’t be caught in a political trap.
To the liberal majority: override the veto if you must, but don’t let that be the end of the conversation. Engage in the reform debate. Debate the details. Improve the proposals. Show up. Don’t walk away just because you don’t like who’s sitting across the table.
To the governor: if you want real reform, don’t bulldoze the process. Local education deserves local voice. Public schools need support, not replacement.
And to both sides: stop using students as leverage. Alaska’s education system needs urgent action, not political brinkmanship.
Let’s return to discipline, high standards, and a love of country—and build a system worthy of the kids we claim to serve.