Vandalism
damages a school district’s physical plant,
has a negative impact on student learning, and demoralizes
hard-working staff and students. Every dollar spent
on repairing vandalism is a taxpayer dollar a school district
cannot invest in textbooks, teachers or technology.
In 2003, the Alaska Legislature took the first step by increasing
the amount school districts can recover from either parent,
both parents, or the legal guardian of an un-emancipated
minor under the age of 18 years, who, as a result of
a knowing or intentional act, destroys real or personal
property belonging to a school district from $10,000
to $15,000 for a parent without an insurance policy to
$25,000 for a parent with an insurance policy.
The Anchorage School Board urges the Alaska Legislature to allow a
school district to recover, with appropriate judicial
protections, the full amount of damages to school property
from an un-emancipated minor and from either parent,
both parents, or the legal guardian of the minor who,
as a result of a knowing or intentional act, destroys
real or personal property belonging to a school district.
We believe that
school districts will reasonably evaluate
when to seek full recovery, and that the courts will
remain able to weigh circumstances in which full recovery
is inappropriate due to family or financial circumstances,
but that an artificial ceiling is unfair to the taxpaying
public.
