Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, writes here about an alarming development. Republicans want to use Impact Aid to provide vouchers for military families, who don’t want them.
Impact Aid is funding provided to school districts whose tax base has been reduced because of the loss of tax revenues due to the presence of federal facilities.
What is Impact Aid?
“Many local school districts across the United States include within their boundaries parcels of land that are owned by the Federal Government or that have been removed from the local tax rolls by the Federal Government, including Indian lands. These school districts face special challenges — they must provide a quality education to the children living on the Indian and other Federal lands and meet the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, while sometimes operating with less local revenue than is available to other school districts, because the Federal property is exempt from local property taxes.
“Since 1950, Congress has provided financial assistance to these local school districts through the Impact Aid Program. 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. The Impact Aid law (now Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)) provides assistance to local school districts with concentrations of children residing on Indian lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties, or other Federal properties and, to a lesser extent, concentrations of children who have parents in the uniformed services or employed on eligible Federal properties who do not live on Federal property.
”Over 93 percent of the $1.3 billion appropriated for FY 2016 is targeted for payment to school districts based on an annual count of federally connected school children. Slightly more than 5 percent assists school districts that have lost significant local assessed value due to the acquisition of property by the Federal Government since 1938. More than $17 million is available for formula construction grants.”
Burris writes:
”Thirty Republican U.S. congressmen and three Republican U.S. senators have signed onto national voucher bills that would direct federal tax dollars from public schools (perhaps your public school) and let military families use these funds for religious schools, private schools, online schools, college tuition and other educational services.
“What is most remarkable is that the bills are moving forward in the face of significant military family opposition.
“The Military Child Education Coalition, the Military Impacted Schools Association, the Military Officers Association of America, and the National Military Family Association all oppose the idea of taking federal money from the public schools that over 80 percent of all military families use, to give vouchers to a few.
“But despite opposition to these bills by key organizations dedicated to the needs of military families, HR 5199 and S. 2517, have the full support of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.”
Please read the article in full. Then, email your Congressman or Senator and Express your views.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I WROTE ABOUT THIS AT OPED recently. The same ploy is being employed to privatize VA benefits. The VA secretary a good man who has worked tirelessly for veterans is the subject of media harassment. When he is gone, then —just as they did with ‘schools’– the push will be to privatize benefits that are now free! And, the will, inter Orwellian way, callout ‘choice.’
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As a veteran, I am delighted with this proposal. Military families are subject to frequent transfers, and relocations. When placed in an area with low-performing public schools (Like Tinker AFB Oklahoma, or Fort Sill, Oklahoma) they are stuck. Why not give military families a choice, to opt-out of schools they are not satisfied with, and select a more appropriate education for their children?
I agree that some military families will be opposed to the proposal. But to state that there is “significant” opposition, is not correct.
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Charles, if the organizations representing military families are opposed, that is significant opposition. You are neither active duty military nor a parent, so your support is not significant
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I am a citizen, so I get just as much support as if I were the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, and I had a dozen children.
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“Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce new low-cost iPads and education software next week in a bid to win back students and teachers from Google and Microsoft Corp.
In its first major product event of the year, Apple will return to its roots in the education market. The event on Tuesday at Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago will mark the first time Apple has held a product launch geared toward education since 2012 when it unveiled a tool for designing e-books for the iPad. It’s also a rare occasion for an Apple confab outside its home state of California.”
How great is that? This multi-billion dollar corporation is using public school students as unpaid promotional tools for their new device!
They’re shameless, they really are.Google is just as bad. I saw photos of a Google product promotion disguised as an “education event” the other day. They had little kids sitting on blocks adorned with the logo. Those kids had no earthly idea their school had been hijacked by adults pushing product and that THEY were the product. Little kids! This is what passes for a “field trip” I guess.
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I live in a military community in which many of the students in the public schools are children of parents in the military or military contractors. These families want quality public education for their children, and many of the schools in this area are among some of the better schools in the state. The school districts also serve some less advantaged local residents. The school districts already offer various options for students, which they won’t be able to do, if their funding is decimated. As far as I know this horrible plan was hatched in Florida, a state that always schemes to undermine public education. The government should not be in the business of promoting “choice” to people that don’t want it.
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Hatched In Florida because that is where low energy Jeb Bush lives and works on destroying peoples lives. People in public education if we can thank Donald Trump for anything we can thank Trump that he made Jeb Bush look like a complete idiot.
Imagine if we had Jeb Bush for President. For public education he is worse than trump and devos – no doubt about it – low energy Jeb Bush is a big time public school basher and killer and thats why devos always says look at florida and all the choices they have….lol my ass off
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“…provide vouchers for military families, who don’t want them.” Where education is concerned, the public is being treated increasingly as nothing more than an opportunist’s commodity: if we can use you and your money, you will be used.
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