[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 69 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTRODUCING THE FAIR FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS ACT

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                          HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 6, 2009

  Ms. HIRONO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce the Fair 
Funding for Schools Act, which reauthorizes and improves the Impact Aid 
program. 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 federal 
lands within the borders of their districts and the number of military-
connected students in the district.
  The majority of public school funding in America comes from local 
property taxes. Unfortunately, this vital funding stream is drastically 
reduced in school districts where the federal government controls part 
of the land in the district. For instance, the many U.S. military bases 
located in Hawaii 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 and forests, 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 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 this program.
  Even great programs need to be tweaked every so often, and this Fair 
Funding for Schools Act makes necessary changes in Impact Aid. The bill 
addresses the effects of military 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 59-
year history. This bill simplifies the law by eliminating some outdated 
provisions that added 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 in 
a district.
  Madam Speaker, this is a vitally important bill for Hawaii 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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