Funding For Tribal-Run School Running Out

Josi Willcox is the education director at Palmer’s Ya Ne Dah Ah school in Palmer. Photo by Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

A tribal-run K-8 school near Palmer has made the study of Alaska Native language and culture its cornerstone. But, funding to continue the Ahtna language studies at Ya Ne Dah Ah school is drying up. The school has applied for Bureau of Indian Affairs assistance, but it’s been turned down because of old state education legislation.

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APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org  |  907.550.8446 | About Ellen

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