Case history and Moore Settlement
Case background:
In 2004, a coalition of plaintiffs sued the State of Alaska in Moore, challenging the adequacy of the educational system under the Alaska Constitution’s guarantee of “a system of public schools open to all children.” In 2007, Judge Sharon Gleason for the first time defined the constitutional obligation and narrowed the case to the State’s failure to support and oversee chronically underperforming schools. CEAAC alone carried on the litigation through the “compliance phase,” achieving positive rulings in 2009 and 2010, until settling with the State on January 26, 2012.
Settlement structure:
The State pays $18 million total for four programs over an anticipated three years. The money is allocated by the Moore Collaborative Committee, with three voting members appointed by the State and three by CEAAC. The committee designs most program details, creates simplified grant applications, and reviews outcomes. Grants are scored and evaluated by independent contractors. After the $18 million is expended, the committee and the programs end unless extended by future action of the State. Read the settlement here.
|
Program |
Purpose |
Beneficiary |
|
Two-year kindergarten and related programs |
Standards-based instruction for four-year-olds to prepare them for school. |
The 40 schools with the lowest performance and demonstrating community support for the program. |
|
Targeted resource grants |
Non-competitive grants to support proven educational strategies. |
The 40 Alaska schools with the lowest performance. |
|
Teacher retention grants |
Competitive grants for initiatives or physical improvements to reduce teacher turn-over. |
Any Alaska school with high teacher turn-over and low test scores, depending on proposals. |
|
HSGQE Remediation Reimbursement |
Remedial support for students who fail the graduation exam after attending an underperforming school, up to $3000 per student. |
Any Alaska school with a junior or senior failing the HSGQE who attends or previously attended high school at one of the 40 lowest schools. |
Other obligations In exchange for settling, CEAAC and the State agreed to:
Dismiss the litigation without recovering legal expenses;
New accountability measures for school districts accessing settlement funds;
New attendance requirements for students benefiting from settlement funds;
The $18 million appropriation in new education funds (without offsets) during the 2012 session;
Refrain during the 2012 session from advocating for increases to the settlement.
Moore Settlement Evaluation
The terms of the Moore settlement were fulfilled at the end of the 2016-2017 fiscal year, with a total of $18 million being disbursed through grants and other support mechanisms as detailed below:
$8.9 million to early learning grants
$5 million to targeted resources grants
$2.6 million to teacher retention grants
$128,000 to HSGQE reimbursement grants
$1.3 million to support services, including Ed Connector, Research-based Educator System Support (RESS) pilot study, and program evaluation
Evaluation of the grant programs can be found in the Moore Settlement grant reports.
2019 Final Report: Lessons Learned from Stakeholders Implementing Targeted Resource Grants
2018 (Year 5) Targeted Resource Grants Evaluation Report
Final (Post hoc) Early Learning, Teacher Retention, HSGQE Grants Evaluation Report
2017 Year 4 Targeted Resource Grants Evaluation Report
2016 Year 3 Targeted Resource Grants Evaluation Report