Courtney Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Protect Educational Impact Aid for Public Schools
NORWICH, CT—On December 2nd, Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) re-introduced his signature, bipartisan bill to support local schools that serve large numbers of military families, and that rely on federal Impact Aid to help fill out their resources. Courtney's Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act (H.R. 6126) would once again reduce barriers to full participation in the Impact Aid Program, which supports school districts in towns like Ledyard, Groton, and others across the country where high portions of land is removed from the local tax rolls, such as military bases and tribal lands. Courtney first began this effort for local schools last year, when his bipartisan Impact Aid bill was signed into law by President Trump. Click here to read more.
Courtney's new bill would allow these school districts to use their student headcount from the 2021-2022 school year, which has already been calculated, for their Impact Aid applications for the 2022-2023 school year, which are due on January 31, 2022. Amid the complexity of returning to school during the recovery, many schools are worried that they will be unable to get an accurate headcount of eligible students, and will receive less funding than they need from the Impact Aid program.
"We need to make sure our local schools have all the resources they need to stay open for in-classroom learning, and part of that is making sure they don't get shortchanged for funding they deserve and really rely on," said Rep. Courtney. "The federal Impact Aid Program is a critical source of support for our local schools in eastern Connecticut with high populations of military and tribal students, especially in Ledyard and Groton. Last year, our bill to protect Impact Aid funding for them was signed into law by President Trump, and this schoolyear it wound up supporting the educations of more than 850 kids in Ledyard, and over 1,000 kids in Groton. Our bill name is a bit different this year, but it would cut through the red tape in the same way last year's bill did, streamlining the Impact Aid process so that our schools can focus on teaching, addressing learning loss, and staying open—not filling out paperwork. Our students and teachers need to be in school and in class, and support through this bipartisan bill helps make that happen."
Courtney's Work to Support Local Schools That Rely on Impact Aid
Impact Aid was designed to assist local school districts that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax- exempt Federal property, or that have experienced increased expenditures due to the enrollment of federally connected children, including children living on Indian lands and military families. The program supports local school districts with concentrations of children who reside on Indian lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties, and other Federal properties, or have parents in the uniformed services or employed on eligible Federal properties.
In the Summer of 2020, Courtney met with the superintendents of Groton and Ledyard Public Schools, who shared concerns that amid the confusion of returning to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic, schools would be unable to get an accurate headcount of eligible Impact Aid students, and would receive less funding than they needed from the federal program.
On August 25, 2020, Courtney announced the introduction of the bipartisan Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act to the 116th Congress. The bill allowed schools to use their student headcounts from the 2020-2021 school year, which had already been calculated, for their Impact Aid applications for the current 2021-2022 school year. This flexibility removed an administrative requirement parents and school administrators and ensured that schools in eastern Connecticut with high numbers of military and tribal families maintained the financial support that they are entitled to during a time.
On December 7, 2020, Courtney's Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act was signed into law by President Trump, making it one of only a handful of COVID-19 relief bills signed into law under the previous Administration.
"This is a big deal for us," Michael Graner, former superintendent of Groton Public Schools, said at the time. "Groton has about 1000 military-dependent children who live in military housing, and because their parents don't pay property taxes on their military housing, the town misses out on that revenue." Click here to read more from the CT Examiner.
In 2021, many schools across the country have reported concerns about getting an accurate headcount for the 2022-2023 school year as the recovery continues. The Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act (H.R. 6126) would ensure that federal Impact Aid for public school districts with high concentrations of children of U.S. servicemembers will not be adversely affected by COVID-19 during the upcoming school year because of a paperwork requirement.
Like the legislation from last Congress, Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-SD) joined Rep. Courtney in co-sponsoring this bipartisan legislation. The Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act is sponsored by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) in the Senate, where it is expected to pass in the next few weeks. The House anticipates voting on the legislation in early January 2022.
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