[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 18, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H203-H205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPLEMENTAL IMPACT AID FLEXIBILITY ACT
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (S. 2959) to provide that, due to the disruptions caused
by COVID-19, applications for impact aid funding for fiscal year 2023
may use certain data submitted in the fiscal year 2022 application.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
S. 2959
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Supplemental Impact Aid
Flexibility Act''.
SEC. 2. IMPACT AID PROGRAM.
Due to the public health emergency directly relating to
COVID-19 and notwithstanding sections 7002(j) and 7003(c) of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7702(j), 7703(c)), a local educational agency desiring to
receive a payment under section 7002 or 7003 of such Act (20
U.S.C. 7702, 7703) for fiscal year 2023 that also submitted
an application for such payment for fiscal year 2022 shall,
in the application submitted under section 7005 of such Act
(20 U.S.C. 7705) for fiscal year 2023--
(1) with respect to a requested payment under section 7002
of such Act--
(A) use the data described in section 7002(j) of such Act
relating to calculating such payment that was submitted by
the local educational agency in the application for fiscal
year 2022; or
(B) use the data relating to calculating such payment for
the fiscal year required under section 7002(j) of such Act;
and
(2) with respect to a requested payment under section 7003
of such Act--
(A) use the student count data relating to calculating such
payment that was submitted by the local educational agency in
the application for fiscal year 2022, provided that payments
for fiscal year 2023 shall be calculated by the Secretary
using the expenditures and rates described in clauses (i),
(ii), (iii), and (iv) of section 7003(b)(1)(C) of such Act
that would otherwise apply for fiscal year 2023; or
(B) use the student count data relating to calculating such
payment for the fiscal year required under section 7003(c) of
such Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens) each will
control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.
General Leave
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2959.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge Members to support the Supplemental
Impact Aid Flexibility Act introduced by Senator Smith from Minnesota
and Senator Thune from South Dakota. The companion bill was introduced
by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) and the gentleman from
South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).
It is difficult to overstate the importance of Impact Aid for our
Nation's children. For over 70 years, this program has been critical to
ensuring that schools that serve children connected to Federal lands
have the resources to help their students thrive.
Unlike most public schools in America, these schools do not receive
funding from property taxes from these Federal assets. This means that
without Impact Aid support, because they still have to educate the
children attached to those assets, this means that without Impact Aid
schools serving the children connected to military bases, affordable
housing units, or Native Americans on reservations and many other
institutions would be significantly shortchanged, and therefore, unable
to offer high-quality education.
The need for this program is now greater than ever as our school
communities grapple with a resurgence of COVID-19.
In response, Democrats and Republicans worked together in the last
Congress led by, again, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney)
and the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) to enact the Impact
Aid Coronavirus Relief Act. That bill ensured that during the pandemic
schools continued to have access to Impact Aid funding that accurately
reflected their student populations, whether or not those students
could accurately be counted as physically in those schools because of
the complications created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, we have the responsibility to, once again, join together in
providing schools the support and flexibility they need to serve their
students.
The Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act will go a long way toward
ensuring that all students in this country, no matter where they go to
school, will have access to high-quality education.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2959, the Supplemental
Impact Aid Flexibility Act. This bill would allow school districts
participating in the Impact Aid program to use previously reported
student headcounts on their Impact Aid applications for the 2022-2023
school year.
Impact Aid supplements funding for schools and students in areas that
collect less in local property taxes due to the Federal Government's
presence. School districts that receive Impact Aid payments include
those with military bases, Indian reservations, and Federal low-income
housing in or near the school district.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a big toll on school districts and
communities across the country. It is especially difficult for
federally impacted school districts to calculate headcounts due to
fluctuations during the pandemic.
Headcounts determine how much aid more than 1,000 federally impacted
school districts receive. That aid helps pay for staff salaries,
bussing, technology, and other educational supports and services for
students. This bill ensures the Impact Aid recipients will not be
affected negatively by the pandemic and temporary falling enrollment
that have resulted. This frees up valuable time and resources to help
students, while schools maintain a reliable source of funding as they
address the academic, social, emotional, and safety needs of the
students.
This bill will have no impact on government spending because Impact
Aid is a discretionary program, and its funding level is established
through the annual appropriations process.
The trade association for Impact Aid school districts, the National
Association for Federally Impacted Schools, is strongly supportive of
this bill.
This bill is similar to the one signed into law by President Trump on
December 4, 2020.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support S. 2959, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney), the sponsor
of the House version of the bill.
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan
Impact Aid Flexibility Act, S. 2959, which is a companion bill to H.
6126, which I introduced on December 2, 2021. I thank Chairman Scott
and Ranking Member Foxx, and her representative this evening, Mr.
Owens, of the Education and Labor Committee, and the committee staff
for accelerating consideration of this important measure which provides
Federal support to 11 million K-12 schoolchildren across America, and
whose passage is very time sensitive, which I will explain in a minute.
Mr. Speaker, Federal Impact Aid is our Nation's oldest K-12 Federal
education program. Impact Aid has its origins in 1821 when Congress
first authorized support for schools to educate military dependent
children.
In 1934, Congress passed the Johnson-O'Malley Act, which extended
help to school districts located at federally recognized Tribal lands.
Congress recognized that, like military school districts, kids residing
on Native American Tribal lands, which were not subject to State or
local taxation to fund schools, deserved assistance.
[[Page H204]]
In 1950, President Harry Truman signed into law the statutory
framework for Impact Aid which still stands today. Impact Aid is an
important statement to communities that host children who reside in and
are connected to Federal property and facilities, namely, that the
Nation will not force them to bear an unfair disproportionate cost to
public education.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent a district with two of those
host communities, Groton and Ledyard, Connecticut. Groton is the home
to our Nation's oldest Navy submarine base with approximately 9,000
sailors and officers who work every day to protect our Nation. Ledyard
is the town next door where many personnel live. Groton has over 1,000
Navy kids, and Ledyard has 850. Ledyard is also the site of the
Mashantucket Tribal Nation, many of whose children attend Ledyard
schools. Impact Aid is critical to these towns' school budgets.
The bill before us addresses an urgent logistical problem with Impact
Aid, that, unless we act, will harm military and Tribal districts all
across the country, namely, the obstacle created by COVID, to get an
accurate headcount of eligible students that must be filed with the
U.S. Department of Education by January 31, 12 days from now. And that,
again, is the time-sensitive urgency this evening. Military and Tribal
districts across the country have reported that COVID restrictions have
slowed down the paperwork process, and this hindrance will result in an
undercount, and thus, an artificially low Federal reimbursement.
The Impact Aid Flexibility Act will solve this problem in an elegant
way by simply carrying over last year's student census, thus ensuring
no Impact Aid district will be harmed financially. This is a 1-year
fix, the same as the fix the last Congress passed in December 2020, the
Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act, which I sponsored with my Republican
colleague, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota.
Mr. Speaker, this vote is being watched nervously by school officials
and military staff all across the Nation, such as Groton school
superintendent, Susan Austin, Ledyard superintendent, Jason Hartling,
and Miranda Chapman, the Navy School liaison officer at the Groton
SUBASE, New London, who have worked with the National Association of
Federally Impacted Schools, and I salute them and all their colleagues
across the country for their work raising this issue before Congress.
The bill before us has already passed the U.S. Senate unanimously and
has the support of the Biden administration. It is a bill that keeps
the promise to host communities that a high-quality education will not
be denied because of military service or Tribal recognition.
I urge the House to pass this bill tonight with an overwhelming vote
of confidence and thanks for those who wear the uniform of this country
and our Tribal nations and their families.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, the Impact Aid program represents the Federal
Government's promise to provide school districts with additional
assistance when property taxes are lower because of the presence of
military, Federal, or Tribal lands.
Every year, affected school districts take count of the federally
connected students through a take-home survey.
This headcount determines the district's Impact Aid reimbursement,
which can help pay for teacher salaries, technology, and student
support services.
Throughout the pandemic, school systems across the Nation have worked
through many challenges to continue serving students. Conducting these
Impact Aid surveys have been no different.
That is why the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act will allow
school districts to reuse their FY22 student counts and property tax
data when submitting their upcoming FY23 applications at the end of
January.
This additional reporting flexibility will be helpful to many of the
1,100 federally impacted school districts, including Richmond County
schools in my district, which serves the great community of Fort Gordon
and our great base there, a U.S. Army installation.
I am proud to support the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act. I
believe that it will provide much-needed assurance for school systems.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South
Carolina (Mr. Wilson).
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Owens for
yielding and for his leadership on this issue.
I rise today in support of the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility
Act. The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on our school systems and
the way students are learning, both in and out of the classroom. Many
parents have made the decision to homeschool their children due to
uncertainty around vaccine and mask mandates in schools. With many
resources of local educational agencies dedicated to fighting the
pandemic, it has also become a burden on them to maintain an accurate
count of federally connected students.
I am grateful for the bipartisan leadership today of Chairman Scott
and Ranking Member Foxx, who support this legislation. This bill takes
proactive measures to ensuring that teachers and students are
adequately supported when returning to the classroom. By allowing local
educational agencies to use the same number of federally connected
students that they enrolled on their fiscal year '22 applications as
they do fiscal year '23 applications, we can allow them to focus on
recovering from the pandemic and serve the children of our United
States servicemembers adequately.
As a representative of Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, and
also nearby Fort Jackson in Georgia, ably represented by Congressman
Rick Allen, we have multiple beneficiaries of Impact Aid funding. I am
grateful to support this legislation and encourage my colleagues to do
the same.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
The Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act ensures that students and
schools relying on Impact Aid will not be affected negatively by the
pandemic.
Specifically, the bill allows schools to use their previously
reported headcounts so that services students rely on will continue.
This frees up administrators to use their valuable time and resources
addressing the educational needs of the students.
Students in over 1,000 federally impacted districts deserve the
resources they receive from the Impact Aid program. This aid helps pay
for a wide range of services that students rely on from bussing and
technology to educational support services.
I encourage my colleagues to support S. 2959, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
{time} 1800
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
Mr. Speaker, over the last 2 years, Congress has taken historic steps
to help schools recover from the pandemic because we know that every
school and every student and every family has felt the tragic effects
of COVID-19.
However, we cannot fully achieve that goal if we fail to address the
unique challenges facing schools that serve students connected with
military bases, affordable housing, Native American reservations, and
other Federal properties.
Last Congress, Democrats and Republicans came together and, as a
Nation, tackled the first strain of COVID-19. We came together to
address these challenges and to provide urgent support for Impact Aid
schools.
Now, as we confront a new COVID threat, we must provide the support
that federally connected children need under the Federal Impact Aid
program. By providing the support and flexibility in this legislation,
we will help ensure that Impact Aid schools can keep their teachers and
staff on the payroll, purchase textbooks and learning supplies, and
keep the lights on in their classrooms. And this bill will help ensure
that hundreds of thousands of students have access to a quality
education.
Again, I thank the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith) and the Senator
from South Dakota (Mr. Thune), as well as, in the House, the gentleman
from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) and
[[Page H205]]
the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for sponsoring the
legislation; and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens) and the committee
ranking member, Ms. Foxx, as well as the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Allen) and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), for their
help in advancing this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Supplemental Impact
Aid Flexibility Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, S. 2959.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and
nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3(s) of House Resolution
8, the yeas and nays are ordered.
Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion
are postponed.
____________________