[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 191 (Thursday, December 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             IN SUPPORT OF THE FAIR FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS ACT

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                          HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2007

  Ms. HIRONO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Fair Funding 
for Schools Act, which reauthorizes and improves an important education 
program called Impact Aid. Impact Aid benefits millions of American 
students attending elementary and secondary schools in every State in 
the country. Through this program, the Federal Government does the 
right thing by reimbursing local school districts for lost tax revenue 
due to its actions.
  The majority of public school funding in America comes from local 
property taxes. Unfortunately, this vital funding stream is drastically 
reduced for school districts where the Federal Government takes control 
of part of the land. For instance, the many U.S. military bases located 
in Hawai`i take up a vast amount of space and house large populations, 
but these bases do not generate local property taxes. In other States 
large national parks, Federal prisons, and Indian lands all similarly 
decrease local property tax revenue. Left uncorrected, this loss of 
revenue would leave the children living in these areas with a second 
class education, funded by substantially fewer dollars than their peers 
living in areas with no federally impacted land.
  In 1950, Congress recognized the need to address this inequity and 
created Impact Aid, a program by which we provide additional Federal 
dollars to school districts feeling this kind of financial strain.
  Impact Aid is one of the most effective programs run by the 
Department of Education because it sends money directly to local school 
districts with very few strings attached. Just like the property tax 
revenue it replaces, Impact Aid dollars can be used to fund the most 
essential needs identified by the school district--textbooks, 
computers, utilities, and salaries, for instance. Many districts rely 
heavily on this money, and without it their students would be 
shortchanged. Therefore, we must reauthorize the program.
  Even great programs need to be tweaked every so often, and this Fair 
Funding for Schools Act makes necessary changes in Impact Aid. It 
addresses the military realities of base realignment and troop 
redeployment by allowing Impact Aid payments to be calculated using 
current student counts instead of prior year data. This change will 
allow districts receiving an influx of new military families to receive 
their Impact Aid dollars in a timely manner.
  The Impact Aid law also has become overly complicated during its 57-
year history. This bill simplifies the law by eliminating some outdated 
provisions that were adding unnecessary complications. It also 
maintains the program's traditional focus on need, whereby payments to 
school districts are calculated based on the percentage of the budget 
lost due to Federal actions and on the number of federally connected 
children.
  Madam Speaker, this is a vitally important bill for Hawai`i and for 
many school districts across the country. The students most impacted 
are often from families serving in our military. Given the sacrifices 
we ask of military families, they deserve nothing less than the best 
education for their children. This bill will take us in that direction, 
and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

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