A new K-12 charter school is on track to open its doors in Nikolaevsk next school year. That’s after school board members voted Monday in favor of an application from the community. For charter organizers, the vote is a long-awaited victory, but he approval came despite concerns from district officials about the charter’s viability.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District board of education vote came down 5-3 in the charter group’s favor, including the two new members seated last month. Board President Jason Tauriainen was absent.
Of the members who supported the charter, more than one suggested approval would reward the organizers’ hard work. Here’s Mica VanBuskirk, the new eastern peninsula representative.
“It's a bumpy road,” she said. “I think there's some uncertainty here. I can absolutely appreciate the administration's concerns. I think as a school board, it's time for us to take a chance on these guys. They have, they have really worked hard.”
That uncertainty refers to a number of problems identified by school district administrators – including the Nikolaevsk Charter group’s proposed budget, facility, enrollment projections, operating plan and compliance with state law.
Kari Dendurent is the district’s assistant superintendent and oversees charter schools. She says she tried unsuccessfully to review the district’s concerns with organizers as it’s gone through different iterations.
“There have been several suggestions to try to assist through this whole entire application process, but the application has not been the same application that was originally submitted on October 1,” she said.
Blake Sawyer is a Nikolaevsk parent and helped write the charter as president of the group’s governing committee.
“I understand the opposition to it, and I appreciate the concerns, but I feel like we have done our due diligence to try to address everything as best as we can. And this is the best presentation that we have for this application,” he said.
This year marks the fourth in a row that the Russian Old Believer village has tried to get a charter school off the ground. This year, the stakes for organizers were especially high. That’s because the district closed the community’s existing K-12 school to save money.
The closure sent the community’s students to a home-school program, or to schools in other communities. The closest are Homer High School, about 20 miles away, and Chapman Elementary, about 10 miles away in Anchor Point.
Sawyer says his group has a commitment from the Kenai Peninsula Borough to get into the now-vacant school building. The borough owns and maintains school district facilities. Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche says an agreement hasn’t been put in writing yet, but that the borough supports the charter’s efforts to use the facility.
Organizers are not required to have a facility locked down in order to get their application approved. But not having a building lined up has been problematic to opening other charter schools in the past. School board members approved a charter from a Homer group that envisioned a school based in the outdoors. But that school never opened its doors after its tentative facility fell through.
Clayton Holland is the school district’s superintendent. He said at the Monday meeting the lack of an itemized budget from the group is concerning.
“Nikolaevsk Charter School’s application relies extensively on Alaska Homestead Education Inc., or AHE, to operate and provide resources for the school,” he said. “However, AHE has not provided financial documentation verifying its fiscal capacity to pay fair market lease or sustain operations.”
According to Alaska’s state corporation database, Alaska Homestead Education Inc. was created as a nonprofit in 2023 to provide “educational support services.” The group’s latest filing with the state shows that six registered agents are also current or former Nikolaevsk Charter School organizers. Currently, three nonprofit officials are also named as charter school academic policy committee members.
Mariah Kerrone is one of those dual members. She has spearheaded efforts in Nikolaevsk for a charter school for years and said the borough has pledged to loan the nonprofit money, if needed.
“They've said that they have loans available so if something broke and AHE didn't have the funds to cover it – because, like we've stated before, we’re a relatively new nonprofit – then the borough would loan us the funds to be able to make the repairs on the building, because the borough really wants to see this go through,” she said.
Micciche pushed back on the word “loan,” but said the charter may need a pool of borough money to draw from for operations until state funding for the new school is distributed. Dendurent, the assistant superintendent, says that state money would become available next fiscal year.
But some board members still have doubts. Homer representative Tim Daugharty says the district is already strapped for cash. He says that makes uncertainty around Nikolaevsk’s budget proposal seem like a risky investment.
“I am concerned about the liability of the district through the legislative process, and how that's going to come to us, if indeed, some of this fails,” he said. “That being said, the people that are sitting in this room are absolutely fabulous, and you need to know that.”
But Dianne Macrae was another board member who applauded the community’s hard work. She pointed to the conduct of the children who accompanied charter school organizers to Monday’s meeting.
“These children are in a boring, boring meeting after driving all the way on up here, and that they're doing pretty good, very good,” she said. “And I think the culture that you have gets rid of some of the issues that a lot of public schools face with the children, because you're all together and you work together with the children. And so I think I'm in favor 100%.”
Monday’s vote caps another busy year of charter school decisions by the school board. The board received three proposals this year, including from Nikolaevsk. Earlier this month, the board rejected a proposal from the K-8 Aurora Borealis to add a high school program to its school. And it renewed Soldotna Montessori’s charter for another decade.
The Nikolaevsk charter isn’t a done deal yet. Now that it has school board approval, the charter moves to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development for review and then to the state board of education for final approval.
