(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) today announced victory for her amendment to help schools in military communities. Murray’s Impact Aid amendment, which was passed as part of the Senate Defense Authorization bill, provides critical assistance to those schools that are facing burdens as a result of personnel reassignment and military action overseas.
Impact Aid is a federal initiative that provides federal education funding to school districts where the federal government is a significant landowner.
"No matter how Americans feel about the war, we all owe a debt of gratitude to our troops and their families. Our military families and communities have made incredible sacrifices for our country – the least we can do in return is to ensure our military children are not penalized as their parents serve our nation," Murray said.
Murray’s amendment provides additional help for schools who see increasing enrollment and special needs as a result of accommodating more military children.
"Given the strain of a parent’s deployment, we know that military children often face unique and difficult situations that affect their success in school," Murray said. "This provision will help schools provide counseling, tutoring, after-school programs and dropout prevention activities for students whose parents are the men and women serving our country."
Under Murray’s amendment Impact Aid funds would be made available to schools that are impacted by the war or by the Department of Defense’s global rebasing plan. These schools must be serving large numbers of military dependent children – 20 percent of the school’s students or 1,000 students, whichever is less.
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