"It's a states' rights issue," said Wielechowski. "It would be shocking for the Supreme Court to basically force a state to say, 'you have to allow public dollars to go to private institutions.' That would be almost unheard of."

'An education dividend'

The statutes struck down in the ruling were enacted in 2014, a year after they were first proposed by Dunleavy, then a state senator.

Dunleavy acknowledged at the time that the state constitution prohibited the use of public funds at private schools and proposed a constitutional amendment that would remove the relevant provision. That amendment was never adopted by lawmakers. Legislative attorneys also warned lawmakers that the provisions could be unconstitutional.

Dunleavy said that what he meant at the time was that the state constitution banned direct payments to private schools. However, he said he believed that the current use of allotments was allowed under the constitution because the funding flowed through public schools to parents, who then used it to pay private schools.

"We don't think that's a direct benefit. The plaintiffs want to make the case that it is," said Dunleavy.

Still, Dunleavy said he would support "vouchers," meaning the state's ability to spend money directly at private schools, if they were allowed under the constitution. Dunleavy said he was considering putting forward a constitutional amendment — though it would not likely be proposed in the current legislative session, which will end in less than a month.

Wielechowski said he believes the administration is committed to advancing a constitutional amendment, rather than a regulatory fix, because "they want to allow public dollars to go to private and religious schools."

Passage of a constitutional amendment requires support from two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate to place the question on the ballot before Alaska voters. It would then take a majority of voters supporting the amendment for it to be implemented. Lawmakers this week indicated that reaching those thresholds was unlikely this year.

Aside from a constitutional amendment, Dunleavy said he is considering advancing what he called an "education dividend," which would allow parents of homeschooled children to spend public funds with even fewer guardrails than those that existed under the allotment program.

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