Sen. Johnson's amendment would protect Impact Aid
2007-09-29
Source: Rapid City Journal
South Dakota school districts that count heavily on Impact Aid payments can rest easy, at least for this year.
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rss feedSen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., along with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., introduced an amendment added to the Department of Defense Authorization bill, HR1585, to protect Impact Aid payments to schools.
Impact Aid is federal reimbursement funding to make up for lost property tax revenue due to federal lands in a district. Johnson's amendment would apply specifically to school districts with a high concentration of students who are considered federal dependant because their parents are in the military or they live on or near an Indian reservation.
Johnson's amendment would designate school districts that meet the federally-dependant qualification that received a payment in fiscal year 2007 eligible to continue to receive a payment until the program is reauthorized.
The Impact Aid program is scheduled to be reauthorized alongside the No Child Left Behind Act this year, which could cause delays.
"It could be 2008; it could be 2009," Douglas School District Superintendent Loren Scheer said.
Douglas is one of 30 school districts in South Dakota that are affected by Impact Aid funding. The eight school districts that currently receive heavily impacted funding include Douglas -- which serves families from Ellsworth Air Force Base -- Andes Central, Bonesteel-Fairfax, Isabel, McIntosh Independent, Oelrichs Public School District, Timber Lake and Wagner Community School District.
