Homeschool correspondence, healthcare, mental health laws signed by governor

WASILLA, Alaska (KTUU) – As the state waits for a final court decision on the state’s homeschool correspondence program, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a series of bills Friday, which included temporary homeschool regulations and healthcare legislation.

Since the Alaska Supreme Court reversed a Superior court judge’s ruling in June, declaring the state’s correspondence laws constitutional, the lower court must now consider whether state dollars can be used to reimburse parents’ education expenses, including private school tuition and other case-by-case expenses.

The law Dunleavy signed directs Alaska’s Board of Education and Early Development to write temporary correspondence regulations, establishing compliance with the state constitution.

It also requires the education department to begin monitoring spending allotments.

“So in their ruling, the defendant was the State of Alaska, Department of Education. However, they remanded it back because the question of the actual distribution of funding, the level of authority lies within each school district,” said Laurel Shoop, Special Assistant to the Commissioner as their legislative liaison.

In a late session move by lawmakers, the correspondence language was rolled in a larger bill requiring opioid-overdose-reversing drugs in Alaska schools, which is also now law with the governor’s signature.

Sandy Snodgrass, a mother who lost her son in 2021 to a fentanyl overdose, reacted to the bill’s signing with mixed emotions.

“The fact that we have to have Naloxone to save our children’s lives in their own schools, in their own communities, is horrifying and unacceptable to Americans, should be absolutely unacceptable to Americans. We need to stand up a response to the scourge of fentanyl in this country immediately.”

Earlier in the day, the governor signed a healthcare law supporters say offers an innovative solution to the high insurance costs by allowing patients and providers to establish direct healthcare agreements.

The approach, supporters say, saves patients money and simplifies healthcare providers’ process, by allowing contracts where patients directly pay providers a monthly charge in exchange for routine visits.

Wade Erickson, owner of Capstone Clinic, said doctors are now able to reduce the workload and paperwork associated with the bureaucracy of insurance provider-patient relationships and offer affordable basic care services through direct care agreements.

“Healthcare insurance has become very complicated and very expensive, and this is a way to simplify the way that the doctor and the patient interact with each other, and it makes it direct from the patient to the doctor and vice versa. So it takes a lot of the complexity out of the relationship,” Erickson said.

Other bills signed by the governor included Senate Bills 74 and 75, which supporters say will allow Alaskans in remote parts of the state better access to physical therapists, audiologists, and speech-language pathologists by allowing eligible professionals to obtain licenses to practice in other member states more easily.

Finally, supporters say House Bill 126 streamlines the process and helps Alaskans have better mental health services options by allowing Associate Counselor licensure, which supporters say is a pathway toward full accreditation as Licensed Professional Counselors in Alaska.

Rep. Stanley Wright, R-Anchorage, the bill sponsor, said it will help attract and retain talented professionals to the state by providing opportunities for career advancement and professional development.

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