A Wall of Separation · Episode 12 of 14 · 41 min
Alaska's Fight Over Public Money for Religious Schools
Alaska pays families up to roughly $4,500 per child for homeschooling, and after 2018 some of that money began flowing to private and religious tuition. A 2024 ruling striking the statutes was reversed and remanded days later, leaving the state constitution's direct benefit ban unresolved. The Supreme Court's 4-4 St. Isidore tie shows the national question is also open.
Who's who
- Mike DunleavyAlaska governor and school-choice supporter
- Adolf ZemanAnchorage Superior Court judge who struck down the allotment statutes in 2024
- Cori MillsDeputy attorney general whose 2022 opinion allowed limited private-school spending
- Treg TaylorAlaska attorney general who recused from aspects of the matter
- Gentner DrummondOklahoma attorney general who sued to block St. Isidore
Where it happens
- Alaska+11 more episodesState whose constitution bars public money for the direct benefit of religious schools
- Oklahoma+3 more episodesState where the nation's first religious charter school was proposed
Timeline
- 2022Deputy AG Mills opines that limited allotment spending at private schools is permissible
- January 2023The Alexander lawsuit is filed against the allotment statutes
- April 12, 2024Judge Zeman strikes down the statutes, affecting about 22,000 to 23,000 students
- June 28, 2024The Alaska Supreme Court reverses, vacates and remands without ruling on the merits
- May 22, 2025The U.S. Supreme Court splits 4-4 on the St. Isidore religious charter school, with no precedent
Still debated
Whether allotment money is a direct benefit to a religious school or an indirect benefit to a choosing parent is the unresolved hinge. The threshold question of whether the statute allows private tuition at all was never settled below.
← PreviousHow Religious Schools Won Public Funding: Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, CarsonNext →How Liberty University Became a Political Machine
