OPINION: Anchorage school lottery data should inform state education decisions

One of the most important services an elected official can render is to ask questions that respond to community interest and whose answers can potentially improve a policy or practice. To that end, I recently asked the Anchorage School District administration for information on the aggregate number of students on the district’s lottery “waitlist,” as well as the number of students waitlisted at individual schools.

Local parents have long used the Anchorage School District’s lottery process to opt into any school or program located outside the boundaries of the neighborhood school for which their child is zoned, or for enrollment in a special program within their zoned school.

For some families, this has meant choosing one of ASD’s eight public charter schools. For many others, it has meant selecting an immersion program, a Montessori-based school or program, an International Baccalaureate program, an open-optional program, a back-to-basics “ABC” program, or a different neighborhood school whose location or services simply fit the family’s circumstances.

Enrollment in ASD’s schools or programs of choice for the 2024-25 school year will initially be determined through the “spring” lottery. This closed on March 21, so its days-old data offers an accurate window into current levels of community interest in ASD’s offerings.

To its credit, ASD’s administration quickly provided me with the information that I requested. As I reviewed it last weekend, it became clear to me that a small percentage of parents engage in the lottery process. Out of roughly 43,000 current students (some of whom are already enrolled in a school or program of their choice and are therefore not part of this current lottery), 1,280 applied to a school or program elsewhere in ASD next year. This figure represents a little less than 3% of ASD’s student body. Because some of those students applied to more than one school or program, ASD received 1,920 applications overall.

According to ASD, only 388 of all 1,920 applications (20%) were for enrollment in an ASD charter school. Given families’ ability to apply for more than one school in the lottery process, however, the number of unique charter applicants is likely less than 388.

While this may raise others’ eyebrows just as much as it did mine, data and trends from the 1,532 non-charter school applications could be more useful at a policy level.

First — and this is underscored by the fact that the majority of ASD families do not enter the lottery system in the first place — I sense that the 670 applications to one or more of nearly five dozen “neighborhood,” non-charter schools across town indicate that local families simply want their children to learn, play and grow in a strong, caring school that exists in a location they deem to be convenient for their family. For most, this means that a child walks, bikes, is driven, or — like 19,000 students this year — takes the bus to the school for which they are zoned.

However, after plotting the leading neighborhood schools of choice on a map, I hypothesize that those families’ lottery choices likely reflect common-sense interests in both quality and convenience, albeit aligned with their commuting destinations more than their homes. Those who drive into Anchorage-area workplaces from Eagle River and Chugiak, as well as families who commute into Midtown from both South Anchorage and the Hillside, I believe, are looking for high-performing local schools located along their daily commute. The takeaway for me is that we need to maintain strong, accessible neighborhood options.

Second, I noticed an oversized demand (117 applications) for access to enrollment in one of ASD’s on-base elementary schools within this group of 670 neighborhood applications. Whether this is coming from the families of students who live off base but are stationed on base, or from community members who work as military contractors, is beyond my current level of understanding. But recognizing that this demand exists underscores my gratitude that the Department of Defense and ASD have partnered for a planned rebuild of Ursa Major Elementary and that ASD has leveraged FEMA reimbursement funds, as well as school bond debt reimbursement funds, to make its 20% share of the rebuild cost possible. I expect that waitlists for schools on base will diminish once it reopens and as base capacity reverts to prior levels.

A third finding from this data is that demand for non-charter schools or programs that place a significant emphasis on the “whole child” and/or offer a specific approach to education remains robust, as does demand for ASD’s language immersion options. That ASD received 851 applications spanning its optional, alternative, and language immersion options is a testament to the community’s robust interest in supporting every child. We need to maintain these options, as well, for the sake of our kids and our community; parents regularly share that they choose to live in Anchorage to access these options.

Finally, ASD’s spring lottery data suggests that many local families are interested in schools offering longitudinal and/or secondary options. More families (418 applications) applied for ASD’s only brick-and-mortar K-12 school (Polaris), than for all of ASD’s charter schools combined. Although I am awaiting more information on grade-level demand within Polaris and from ASD’s K-8 and 6-12 schools, my initial sense is that more families may be looking for alternatives to ASD’s mainstream middle and/or high school offerings and/or are seeking programs that promote continuity than are currently offered. I plan to dig deeper into this question in the future.

How can other local and state leaders use this lottery data to chart a path forward? Information about the demand for our schools and programs should be widely available, and I hope ASD can find a means to do so. Once this happens, state and local policymakers need to work together to translate the data into both facilities-based and operational action.

Regarding the question of facilities, it’s important to flag that ASD will resume school consolidation discussions in the coming months. Although this process will be challenging, “right-sizing” the district will improve the delivery of instructional services. One outcome of this process is that ASD should be able to better support brick-and-mortar charter schools hoping to improve the facilities in which their students learn (and/or their financial solvency) by offering them space in a district-owned facility.

But the moves and/or facility improvements that this may entail could be costly. It may, therefore, behoove state leaders who support the concept of increased access to charter schools to facilitate this work by providing funds — i.e. by using the State’s slightly increased revenue forecast — to help ASD and other districts undertake such transitions or improvements by seeding the process with funds for a bond match of some kind. This will take vision and leadership.

To the question of operational actions, it seems to need to be said again that while state policymakers have a constitutional responsibility to maintain Alaska’s public schools, the Base Student Allocation supports charter students, neighborhood students, students enrolled in non-chartered programs of choice, and correspondence students alike. Yes, the Alaska Reads Act needs to be funded. Yes, transportation needs to be adjusted, and yes, other levers would offer distinct benefits to subgroups of students. But moving forward with a long-overdue increase to the BSA — as 39 legislators nearly made possible — is the single most meaningful way that districts across Alaska can support students in every educational setting.

ASD’s parents have overwhelmingly told us that they value neighborhood schools alongside schools and programs of choice. I urge our state leaders to take a close look at this data and use it to meet their constituents’ needs.

Kelly Lessens is an ASD parent and member of the Anchorage School Board. This piece does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Board or District.

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