DOE Withdraws Funding For Alaska Christian College

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education withdrew around $450,000 of Congressionally earmarked funds from Alaska Christian College after a federal investigation found that the school has been spending the money on religious instruction. The Anchorage Daily News reported that a letter from the DOE's Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education said that the school failed to separate religious proselytizing from its avowed purpose of preparing rural Native students for college life. The ruling by the Department of Education came as part of a settlement of a lawsuit against it challenging the constitutionality of federal funding for the school. (See prior posting.)