Last modified Wed., October 21, 2009 - 06:00 PM
Originally created Thursday, October 22, 2009

Impact Aid program benefits NAS Jax military family/DoD civilian school children

By Staff

In an economy where retail sales are slow, home property resale values receding, and even the sale of lottery ticket purchases down, local public schools continue to feel the pressure when competing for budget dollars. Parents or guardians, both military and civilian, who live or work on NAS Jacksonville (Jax) can help ease some of this financial strain by actively participating in the Impact Aid program.

Traditionally, property taxes, sales taxes and personal income taxes account for a large portion of the average school district's annual budget. However, federally connected students do not contribute as much to the local tax base because their parents or guardians do one or more of the following in the school districts that their students attend:

Often pay no income taxes or vehicle license fees in their state of residence;

Live on non-taxable federal property;

Shop at stores that do not generate taxes; or

Work on non-taxable federal land.

The Impact Aid program is designed to help compensate by reimbursing public school districts for the loss of these traditional tax revenue sources. Since its inception in 1950, this program has been amended many times and now includes five different types of impact aid. Public school districts are eligible to receive basic impact aid support payments if they have at least 400 "federally connected" students or these students comprise at least three percent of the average daily attendance. Unlike most other forms of educational assistance, Impact aid goes directly to the participating school districts from the federal government rather than through state agencies.

Basic impact aid support payments are computed using a rather complicated formula that includes a variety of factors. These factors weight the amount paid per student proportionally against the amount of expected tax revenue lost (see table below for some examples of weight factors). The calculation varies the amount of per-pupil funding districts receive, but in 2008 the average per pupil impact aid for students living on base was $2,400 while the average for students living off base was $450.

Military student living on federal property, weight 1.00

Non-military student living on federal property and parent works on federal property, weight 1.00

Military student not living on federal property, weight .20

Civilian student whose parent works on federal property, weight .05 There is a catch, though: basic impact aid dollars are not automatically sent to the local school districts. Participating school districts must conduct a student survey every year to identify the number and types of federally connected children it is enrolling. The school district then completes the basic impact aid application and submits it directly to the U.S. Department of Education each year. A copy of the application is also sent to the state for information purposes.

Both the Duval and Clay County School districts are sending out their Basic Impact Aid student survey forms this week. To help ease these school districts' administrative burden, parents or guardians who work and/or live on NAS Jax are encouraged to fill out these forms and return them to their children's school as soon as practical.

Parents who do not receive a Basic Impact Aid survey form are urged to contact their student's school and request a form be sent home with each child they have enrolled. Additionally, parents or guardians who need assistance obtaining or completing their Basic Impact Aid student survey form can contact NAS Jax School Liaison Officer Dawn Mills at dawn.m. mills@navy.mil or 486-8221.

Although not all of the 24,000 plus people working at NAS Jax have children in the public school districts, it's easy to see how the numbers of those that do can add up. Let's make sure NAS Jax does its part to help our local public school districts obtain their fair share of the roughly $1.3 billion annually distributed in impact aid. Our public schools are entitled to these funds and our children deserve it.

Additional information on all five types of impact aid can be found at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/impactaid/index.html.