Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê

April 6, 2023

Good afternoon Family Partnership Families and Staff,

 

I am writing to make you aware that, effective May 4th, Family Partnership’s governance structure will change from being a correspondence charter school to a correspondence choice school within Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê. Please be assured that this shift will have minimal impact on the fantastic academic program that Family Partnership provides. Student allotments will remain unchanged, the school calendar will remain the same, and families will continue to be able to work with their sponsor teachers to create an individual learning plan that meets the needs of their child. Families will also still have the flexibility to select their sponsor teachers. This change in governance structure will not impact our high school seniors’ graduation and postsecondary plans. There is no action needed for families—your children will continue to be enrolled in Family Partnership.   

 

This transition means that the Family Partnership Academic Policy Committee will be dissolved, and going forward, an Academic Advisory Council will be established. The council will empower students, families, and staff to have a voice on decisions that impact the school. 

 

Now that the decision has been made to transition to an Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê correspondence choice school, it is time to shift our focus to ensure the continued success of Family Partnership for many years to come, as an Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê family. 

 

My commitment to you is to minimize any impact on the classroom experience between now and the end of the school year. I want the rest of the school year to be seamless and successful for you. Even though the current charter contract ends on May 4th, this will not impact the academic programming of our school year. For example, our seniors will graduate from Family Partnership and receive the traditional honors they have worked so hard to earn. I recognize you may have concerns about this transition, but I am committed to partnering with you to ensure the long-term success of Family Partnership.

 

You can count on timely updates from Team Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê as well as information posted on the  Topics will include:

• New FAQs
• The amendment added by the School Board to the transition recommendation
• The governance of Family Partnership
• The move from an Academic Policy Committee model to an Academic Advisory Council model and how you can be engaged.

 

Above all, I want you and FPCS to be successful. Your school offers something special and unique to Anchorage. Dissolving the Academic Policy Committee was an unfortunate but necessary step to double down on student outcomes and learning as our focus.

 

Again, thank you, and we will get through this together.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jharrett Bryantt, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê

March 17, 2023

Good afternoon Family Partnership Families and Staff, 

 

On Monday during the School Board meeting, the Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê Administration will recommend that Family Partnership Charter School (FPCS) transition from being a correspondence charter school to being an Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê correspondence choice school. For you, this transition will have little impact on the day-to-day operations of the school. We provided a memo to the School Board that outlines the rationale and process for dissolving the charter between Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê and Family Partnership Charter School, and transitioning FPCS to an Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê choice school, to be named Family Partnership Correspondence School. The Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê School Board will make a final decision on April 3, 2023 regarding this proposed change. I wanted to provide this information to you now because I am committed to making the proposed transition as seamless as possible and ensuring the continued success of Family Partnership.

 

It is my hope that while change can be a time of uncertainty, you will see that the transition of FPCS from a charter school to a choice correspondence school will result in minimal change for the school, students, families and staff. In fact, the only significant change will be the dissolving of the current governance board, the APC.

 

Sincerely,

Jharrett Bryantt, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê

Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê issued the memorandum to clarify what uses of public allotments are and are not permissible under Alaska law. Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê apologizes for any confusion or inconvenience this memorandum caused. As a government entity, Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê cannot continue any practices that are unconstitutional or otherwise illegal. Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê leadership is working with FPCS leadership to improve communication with you.  For more information on what use of allotments are permissible under Alaska law, the State of Alaska Department of Law issued guidance .

The effective date of Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê’s position regarding use of allotments is July 25, 2023 (the date FPCS provided the memorandum to families). The rules in the memorandum apply to all reimbursements for courses that will be reported by FPCS for the 2023-2024 school year. In other words, if a parent is seeking reimbursement for expenses that will be reported to Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê during the 2023-2024 school year, the request must comply with Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê’s memorandum. FPCS can reimburse full-time private school students for expenses that were paid from June 1 to July 25, 2023.

No. Families will not be forced to pay back any funds for expenses reimbursed prior to July 25, 2023.  

Article VII, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution prohibits a full-time private school student from using allotment money to pay for tuition or to supplement their private school education. However, a student’s balance of an unexpended annual student allotment will remain in the student’s account so long as the student is enrolled in the correspondence program for which the annual allotment was provided. A student’s balance is forfeited only once the student is no longer enrolled in an Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê correspondence school.  

No.  Alaska law prohibits a full-time student at a private school from using allotment money to pay any portion of the private tuition or to supplement the student’s private school education. For more information, click .

A full-time student is someone enrolled in 4 or more classes.

A part-time student is someone enrolled in 1-3 classes.

The State of Alaska Department of Education and Early Development considers any student who takes four or more classes to be the equivalent of a full-time student.  Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê used this State cut-off to delineate between full-time and part-time students. 

A student who attends private school on a full-time basis is not permitted to use allotment money to supplement their private school education.  

Yes. A student who is taking three or less classes at a private school may enroll at FPCS.  

A full-time student at any education institution (K-12 or post-secondary) means the student is taking four or more classes at that institution. Whether an allotment can be used to pay for college tuition depends on whether the college is a public or private institution. If the college is a public institution, the allotment can be used without concern for how many classes or amount of tuition covered by the allotment. If the college is a private institution, a student can use the allotment if the student is taking three or less courses at the institution and cannot spend more than half of their allotment on that private education.  

Yes, so long as the student is not enrolled in more than three private school courses that are non-sectarian and not more than 50% of the student’s allotment is used to pay for the courses.

Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê did not wait until July 25.  Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê took over management of Family Partnership in April and learned of use of allotments that do not comply with the Alaska Constitution.  On June 29, Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê issued a memorandum  to all of its correspondence schools, including FPCS, with the same guidance that is contained in the July 25 memorandum.  Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê directed correspondence principals to provide the information in the June 29 memo to staff and families. Because FPCS had questions about the June 29 memo, Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê issued the July 25 revised memo, but the revised memo added just a few words and did not change any of the guidance.

Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê never said that it would allow allotments to be used in a manner that violates the Alaska Constitution if it learned of illegal practices when it took over supervision of the school.  Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê did state that it intended not to change use of allotments so long as they complied with state and federal law.   As a government entity, Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê cannot allow the unconstitutional use of allotments and is now taking action to correct the problem.

Yes.  If you have additional questions or concerns please contact the FPCS principal. 

No.  A full-time private student cannot utilize public allotment rollover money.  Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê will hold prior year roll-over accounts, set aside for 2022-2023 enrolled Family Partnership students, until June 30, 2024, so that families have time to decide whether they want to become full-time public school students next year.  If a student is no longer a full-time private school student and wants to return to Family Partnership as a public-school student for the 2024-2025 school year, and notifies Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê by June 30, 2024, they will have access to their roll-over account. The roll-over hold accommodation will sunset on June 30, 2024.

No. A full-time private school student is not eligible to dual enroll in Ê®·ÖÁùºÏ²Ê’s public correspondence schools and receive a public allotment. It does not matter what courses, materials, or equipment for which the student intends to use the allotment. Use of allotments in this manner would be supplementing a private school education, as opposed to a public-school education.

 

Please work with FPCS leadership on any student-specific questions not addressed here.