The Transition Team – Transition Team Form Details
Tips For Writing – Samples - Regulations at Issue

Transition Team members

The Department of Education Transition Team Leader is Larry Ledoux, principal of North Star Elementary School in the Kodiak Island Borough School District. He's also the district's technology director and head of disaster planning. Larry served on Governor Palin’s Campaign Education Policy Committee. (We have a call into the governor’s office and will inform you as we hear more.)

Transition Team Form Details

At the Education Transition Team’s website (http://gov.state.ak.us/transition_ideas.php), you’ll scroll to the link for Education and Early Development. Once that is clicked, you’ll see a form where you will be asked for input in the following areas:

• Your name, email address and what city you live in. - If you have an e-mail address that is not affiliated with a program, we advise using that one.
• Your organization - We recommend you leave this field blank or type in AHEA.
• To summarize the issue or problem you would like to address: ~ 100 words max
• To summarize how you would suggest resolving the issue or problem? ~ 300 words max
• To provide additional background information that may be helpful. ~ 1000 words max

The Transition Team promises to read the summary of your challenge and your suggestions for resolving the issue. If needed they will read the background information.

After the team reads your comments, they will respond in one of three ways:

1. By email indicating receipt of your comments. The team may ask questions or suggest some additional research that can assist the team further.
2. They may call if they need verbal clarification.
3. They may ask you to come to the transition team and present your information to one or more team members.

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Tips For Writing

1. Create a rough draft in a word processing program.
2. Be polite and respectful.
3. Short and succinct is always best.
4. Explain any negative impact (of regulations or policies) on the education of your children or other homeschoolers that you know.
5. Identify yourself as a homeschooler.
6. Use your alternate email, if you have one, and not the email address provided by your program. Leave the “Organization” field blank.
7. If you have ideas to share, provide helpful suggestions in a positive way.
8. You don’t need to be a “professional” ~ They want to hear from the general public.
9. Have a friend review your comments because input always has more weight if it is written without spelling or grammatical errors.
10. Remember your audience. Spend time on a re-read asking yourself, “If I were a Transition Team member and read this, would I want to listen to more.”
11. Please send us a copy of what you write. We will make your comments available to legislators who will help our cause!

Samples

Click here to view sample submissions to the Transition Team.

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Regulations at Issue

4 AAC 33.421 (k) A statewide correspondence study program may not pay for or provide funding for ……. (2) annual passes or family memberships to a sports or recreational facility; except that an annual pass or membership for the student may be purchased for entry into a facility in which the student is provided lessons under the student’s individual learning plan, if the cost of the pass or membership is prorated to include only the cost of the student’s instructional time;

Many parents are very qualified (many are even certified) to teach their children in health facilities.....and can take advantage of the savings without having to pay for an instructor or pay per visit. This regulation is abusive towards funding. It requires parents to pay someone for a service they don't need. (Example: Dad is swim instructor, but must pay for the pool time as well as the instructor....all he needed was the pool.)

4 AAC 33.421 (l) (letter L) A statewide correspondence study program, or a parent under 4 AAC 33.422, may contract with a private individual to provide tutoring to a student in a subject described in 4 AAC 04.140, fine arts, music, and physical education, if …..(4) the money spent on fine arts, music, and physical education for a student does not exceed 15 percent of the base student allocation provided in AS 14.17.470, whether spent by the district or the parent through a fund account under 4 AAC 33.422.

The school district of your choice, in partnership with the parent, is capable of determining the percentage of allotment for PE, art & music as it pertains to your child’s learning plan.

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