[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E121-E122]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IMPROVING THE IMPACT AID PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROBIN HAYES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2000

  Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
reauthorize and to make further improvements to the Impact Aid Program, 
Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. As you know, 
Impact Aid is part of the basic financial support for local school 
districts whose boundaries include military bases and other federal 
lands in lieu of local taxes which ordinarily support public schools.
  In my congressional district, Impact Aid is an element of the basic 
financial support for schools in Cumberland, Robeson, Hoke, Richmond 
and Scotland Counties, just as local taxes support other school 
districts. In some cases, Impact Aid supplies a significant portion of 
school districts' operating budgets. For example, in Cumberland County, 
home of Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base, over one-third of the 
school district's budget comes from Impact Aid and other Federal 
education programs. In fact, the Cumberland County school system 
receives the most Impact Aid of any other school systems in North 
Carolina.
  The ``Impact Aid Reauthorization Act of 2000'' builds on key 
improvements to the Impact Aid program enacted during the 103rd 
Congress. At that time, the program was rewritten so it would focus 
Impact Aid dollars on those school districts most heavily impacted by a 
Federal presence. Those changes have been extremely successful in 
getting funding to schools in greatest need of assistance, thus 
enabling them to improve the quality of education provided to students. 
In addition, those amendments created greater support in Congress for 
funding Impact Aid, and we have seen consistent increases in the Impact 
Aid budget ever since. The legislation I am introducing today will 
further improve the program, and should lead to even stronger support 
among colleagues for funding key needs in federally impacted school 
districts. As in my Congressional district, many of the children 
affected by this law are the children of members of the Armed Services. 
And, I believe all of you will agree that we should provide the best 
possible education to the children of those individuals who put their 
lives on the line to protect our great Nation.
  Key provisions of the bill I am introducing today would:
  1. Change to formula for payments for federal property to insure a 
more equitable distribution of funds.
  2. Incorporate into the Impact Aid law the pilot program for heavily 
impacted school districts included in the past two Labor/HHS/Education 
Appropriations bills.
  3. Insure equitable payment for children living on land formerly 
owned by the Federal Government. As the military privatizes more and 
more housing for military personnel, it is expected that school 
districts will not receive adequate funding under Impact Aid to make up 
for the difference in the amount of taxes paid on such property and the 
amount they would have received for each child if the property had 
retained its non-tax status. This provision would continue to count 
such children as on-base children, but would reduce the amount of their 
Impact Aid payment by the actual amount of the taxes used for 
educational purposes.
  4. Require the Department of Education to provide a notice to schools 
that miss filing deadlines and provide them a period of time within 
which to submit applications for Impact Aid. This change would address 
the growing number of yearly Impact Aid amendments necessary because 
school districts have missed filing deadlines.
  5. Revise the construction provisions of the Impact Aid to allow 
Federally impacted school districts with no bonding capacity or with 
schools that have health or safety hazards to apply for the existing 
Impact Aid construction program, and shift some of the existing 
construction money to serve these districts. The Secretary would then 
fund the highest priority projects.
  6. Provide a funding floor to small school districts with fewer than 
1,000 children who have a per pupil average lower than the state 
average. This provision would guarantee them a foundation payment of no 
less than 40 percent of what they would receive if the program were 
fully funded.
  As one of the over 150 Members of the House Impact Aid Coalition--one 
of the largest bipartisan coalitions in Congress--we have worked 
together to support our local school systems that provide support for 
military men and women and those citizens that are affected by Federal 
properties. This bill has the support of the National Association of 
Federally Impacted Schools, the association that represents over 1600 
school districts nationwide that will benefit from this legislation, 
and the National Military Impacted Schools Association. I would like to 
submit their letters of support for the Record.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a responsibility to assist those school 
districts impacted by a Federal presence. The ``Impact Aid 
Reauthorization Act of 2000'' will help insure school districts receive 
the support they need to provide children with the best possible 
education. These are thoughtful improvements to a very important law. I 
urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation.

                                                 National Military


                                 Impacted Schools Association,

                                  Bellevue, NE, February 10, 2000.
     Chairman Bill Goodling,
     House Education and the Workforce Committee, Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Goodling: The Military Impacted Schools 
     Association (MISA) is extremely proud of the leadership you 
     and your staff have demonstrated in developing the 
     legislative proposal to reauthorize the Impact Aid Program.
       There has been a real sensitivity to the needs of military 
     children and your support is greatly appreciated.
       Your discussion on the proper weight for a military (b) 
     child is also appreciated and I hope this can be discussed 
     further.
       On behalf of the public schools serving the educational 
     needs of over 550,000 military children, we wholeheartedly 
     endorse and support your Impact Aid reauthorization proposal.
           Warmest regards,
                                            John F. Deegan, Ed.D.,
     Chief Executive Officer.
                                  ____



           National Association of Federally Impacted Schools,

                                Washington, DC, February 10, 2000.
     Hon. Robin Hayes,
     U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Hayes: Over the past six months the 
     National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) 
     has been working closely with the Education and the Workforce 
     Committee in a bi-partisan manner to write legislation that 
     would reauthorize the Impact Aid Program. The legislation 
     that the committee is about to introduce is the product of 
     that effort. The legislation reauthorizes the Impact Aid 
     Program and includes only minor changes that NAFIS and the 
     committee agreed to that either refines the present law to 
     make the program work better and/or to address some changes 
     brought about due to actions of the Department of Defense 
     designed to implement policies to improve the quality of life 
     of our military personnel. The committee bill also addresses 
     issues of great concern to school districts educating Native 
     American children. NAFIS is very appreciative of the 
     willingness of the committee to allow us to work

[[Page E122]]

     with them on this legislation and we would urge all members 
     of the House of Representatives to join with yourself. 
     Chairman Goodling, Ranking Minority Member Clay, and 
     Representative Kildee in supporting this bill that is about 
     to be introduced.
       NAFIS is very pleased with the refinements included in the 
     bill to insure that all local educational agencies eligible 
     for funding under Section 8002 of the program (federal 
     properties) are treated equitably. Although the changes that 
     were made to this section of the program in 1994 did a better 
     job of measuring the financial impact that federal property 
     presents to the taxing authority of a local educational 
     agency, it did--due to the lack of funding for this element 
     of the Impact Aid Program--pose a real threat to primarily 
     rural school districts. The changes included in this 
     legislation will both insure that small rural schools are 
     provided a foundation payment while at the same time 
     recognizing the true fiscal impact of federal property to the 
     tax base of the community served by the school system.
       The bill also puts into law, a pilot project that has been 
     included in both the Fiscal Year 1999 and 2000 Labor, HHS, 
     and Education Appropriation Bill. The project being placed 
     into the Impact Aid statute will mean that ``Heavily Impacted 
     Local Educational Agencies'' will now receive their 
     additional funding under the regular Impact Aid basic support 
     program and will not have to wait up to 18 to 24 months after 
     the appropriation is made to receive their funding. This 
     change will make it easier for these school districts to 
     budget their Impact Aid funding and it also insures that the 
     Federal Government reimburses a school district only for the 
     cost of the impact of the federal dependent child rather than 
     the cost for all children, both federal and non-federal, 
     enrolled in the school district. These changes are welcomed 
     by the heavily impacted community and NAFIS appreciates the 
     understanding of the committee to incorporate the pilot 
     project that has already proved to work into the Impact Aid 
     reauthorization.
       NAFIS also supports the recognition by the committee of the 
     problems that a changing military force have placed on those 
     school systems educating military dependent children. 
     Committee language addressing the issue of privatization of 
     on-base housing will insure that the funding levels provided 
     under current law for on-base children will remain, even if 
     on-base housing and the land upon which it is built is turned 
     over to a private developer. This a realistic approach to an 
     issue that could become potentially a major threat to school 
     systems providing educational programs to the children of our 
     military personnel.
       NAFIS would also like to commend the committee for 
     recognizing the facility needs of school systems that are 
     highly impacted with Indian land and military children. The 
     committee bill recognizes that many of these school systems 
     lack the capacity to issue capital construction bonds and in 
     addition, many of these same school systems are currently 
     educating children in facilities that pose a serious health 
     threat to the students and faculty working within them. The 
     responsible approach taken by the committee to address this 
     very serious issue is welcomed by the impact aid community 
     and NAFIS urges the Congress to support the committee's 
     recognition of the federal obligation to address this serious 
     facilities issue.
       Although NAFIS would like to see an increase in the weights 
     for on-base military and civilian dependent children, we 
     strongly support the bill that the committee is about to 
     introduce and again offer our gratitude to you for 
     introducing this legislation and Chairman Goodling and his 
     committee staff as well as to Representatives Clay and Kildee 
     for the work that has been put into this legislation. In 
     summary, NAFIS urges all members of the House to support this 
     legislation when it comes before the full House for a vote in 
     the near future.
           Sincerely,
                                              John B. Forkenbrock,
                                               Executive Director.

     

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