Mat-Su School Board rejects charter school proposal for former Meadow Lakes Elementary

What you need to know:

• The Mat-Su School Board voted 5-0 to reject a proposal to open Alaska Adventure Charter School in the former Meadow Lakes Elementary building. The proposed school would serve about 200 K-8 students and focus on outdoor and adventure-based learning.
• District officials said opening a new school would cost an additional $1.5 million annually, undermining savings from last year's school closures. They also identified missing or incomplete information in 46 of the application's 52 required sections.
• Organizers said they wanted to restore a neighborhood school option after Meadow Lakes Elementary closed but felt the district was unwilling to work with them on the proposal. They said they might revise and resubmit the application.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER — The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School Board this week unanimously rejected a proposal to open a charter school in the former Meadow Lakes Elementary School building, saying the plan would undermine savings from closing the school last year.

The proposed Alaska Adventure Charter School would serve about 200 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, with a focus on outdoor exploration and adventure-based learning.

The charter school’s creators, including members of the Meadow Lakes Community Council, hoped to create a unique program while also filling a gap left by the closure of Meadow Lakes Elementary. The school was one of three shuttered last year as the district worked to close a funding shortfall of more than $20 million. The roughly 200 students who attended Meadow Lakes were reassigned to Big Lake, Houston, Knik and Goose Bay elementary schools.

“The concept of the charter is something that people in the community definitely believe in,” said Camden Yehle, a community council member who helped craft the application. “Having talked to so many parents in the area, they are desperate to have somewhere in the area they can take their kids close by.”

But district officials said opening the charter school would eliminate the annual savings from closing Meadow Lakes Elementary. They also found missing or incomplete information in 46 of the application's 52 required sections, ranging from a missing signature to details about staffing needs.

“It would cost $1.5 million more to offer this choice, and what would those overall effects on district students be?” District Superintendent Randy Trani said during a special board meeting on the matter Monday. “We conclude that it would increase costs and erode the consolidation savings that we realized last year. So our recommendation is that we deny the application as submitted.”

The board voted 5-0 to reject the application. Board member Lori Colee was absent, and member Tom Bergy, who attended by phone, was disconnected just before the vote.

The application and resulting board decision echo a similar effort in Fairbanks, where parents sought to open a charter school in the recently closed Pearl Creek Elementary School building. 

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board rejected that proposal, citing errors in the application and concerns about costs. The state later approved the Pearl Creek application despite the local board's rejection, prompting a legal dispute that remains unresolved.

Yehle and Alan Leonard, who also helped prepare the Alaska Adventure application, said they did not realize how many sections failed to meet district requirements until Monday's hearing.

District officials said they did not have time to provide feedback because a 2014 state law requires them to hold a hearing, take a vote and issue a written decision within 60 days of receiving an application. That period was further shortened to about 40 days because the school board does not meet in early November due to the election, officials said.

Successful charter school applications have typically involved years of planning and review, giving applicants time to receive feedback before formally submitting their proposals, district officials said. That approach was used by administrators at Knik Charter School, the only new charter school to open in the district in more than a decade.

“Some of the areas that are listed as non-compliant would have been very easy for the application to correct. Others are quite a bit more complicated and would require extensive time to address,” Assistant District Superintendent Katie Gardner told the board.

But Yehle and Leonard said they did not want to wait years to address the loss of Meadow Lakes Elementary and were instead trying to beat an Oct. 1 submission deadline so they could open for the 2027-28 school year. They also felt district officials were unwilling to work with them immediately on the proposal, they said.  

Leonard said he plans to consult supporters before deciding whether to revise the application and reapply or appeal the board's decision to the state.

He said he does not want to waste time and district resources by repeatedly submitting applications that are rejected.

“We’re still committed to the concept. We’ll take time to talk to people,” he said. “I don't like the concept of just spamming charter submissions and eating up administrative time and cost.”

The Mat-Su School District currently has seven charter schools.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com