Abstract
The provision of public education in Alaska is a task as monumental as the state itself, requiring innovative solutions to unique challenges faced within the state. The drafters of the Alaska Constitution understood this dilemma and granted the state legislature broad power under the education clause. Early supreme court jurisprudence interpreted this mandate broadly and granted considerable deference. However, recent school funding cases have seen the court’s jurisprudence shift to focus on different constitutional provisions and neglect an education clause analysis. The supreme court now has an opportunity to change this. Alaska Legislative Council v. Dunleavy is currently pending before the court and offers the chance to expand on the superior court’s cursory education clause analysis. This Note argues that the court should decide the case under an explicit education clause analysis in order to realign its school funding jurisprudence with the early education clause cases.
Citation
Sarah Laws,
The Alaskan Variable: A Call for Education Clause Analysis in School Funding Cases,
37 Alaska Law Review
87-118
(2020)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/alr/vol37/iss1/5