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[Impact Aid: Maintenance and Operations]
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[Allen J. Ellender Fellowships]
Chapter 110
Purpose: Impact Aid provides funds for the construction of urgently needed minimum school facilities in districts whose membership increased substantially during a 4 year period as a result of Federal activities (section 5) or in financially needy districts that have large areas of Indian lands or educate a substantial number of children living on Indian lands (sections 14(a) and (b)). Funds are also provided for districts that have a substantial number of children in need of minimum school facilities and that contain a substantial portion of Federal (tax-exempt) property (section 14(c)). In addition, funds are provided for emergency repair of schools for children residing on Federal property (usually military installations) where State and local tax revenues cannot be spent for their education or a suitable education cannot be provided for those children, and to upgrade buildings currently owned by the Department in order to transfer them to local school districts (section 10).
Funding History
| Fiscal Year | Appropriation | Fiscal Year | Appropriation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | $74,500,000 | 1986 | 16,747,500 |
| 1965 | 58,400,000 | 1987 | 22,500,000 |
| 1970 | 14,766,000 | 1988 | 22,978,000 |
| 1975 | 20,000,000 | 1989 | 24,700,000 |
| 1980 | 33,000,000 | 1990 | 14,998,000 1/ |
| 1981 | 50,000,000 | 1991 | 26,349,000 |
| 1982 | 19,200,000 | 1992 | 27,990,000 |
| 1983 | 80,000,000 | 1993 | 11,904,000 |
| 1984 | 20,000,000 | 1994 | 11,904,000 |
| 1985 | 20,000,000 |
A 1987 study by the Departments of Education and Defense surveyed the construction and repair needs of educational facilities on U.S. military bases (Section 10) and recommended policies to deal with these needs. The study found that 124 existing on-base school facilities had renovation and repair needs totalling an estimated $183 million, including schools owned or operated by the Department of Defense ($93 million), the Department of Education ($74 million), and local education agencies ($16 million) (III.2).
The study recommended that the cost of meeting verifiable school facility needs should be shared among local, State, and Federal agencies according to fiscal cost-benefit analyses. These fiscal analyses would compare revenues and expenditures generated by military installations in order to determine the fair share of construction costs to be borne by local, State, and Federal agencies. For ED-owned schools, Federal assistance would be contingent upon the LEAs accepting ownership of the facilities once the repairs or renovations are complete. For DoD-funded Section 6 schools, case-by-case fiscal analyses would be used to determine the feasibility of transferring ownership to LEAs.
In response to this study, the Department of Education has identified several school districts that are interested in accepting title to the ED-owned school facilities in their districts. Facilities at nine installations have already been transferred or otherwise disposed of, and negotiations are continuing for transfer of facilities at other installations.
Large amounts of Impact Aid construction funds are frequently not awarded during the fiscal year for which funds were appropriated. For example, out of the $11.9 million appropriation in FY 1993, only $6.3 million had been awarded as of March 1994, six months after FY 1993 had ended. Because the funds are available until expended, there is no time limit for these awards; however, slow awards may further delay construction assistance to eligible school districts.
A 1990 General Accounting Office (GAO) study (III.1) concluded that project rankings may be outdated and invalid, as ED does not annually re-evaluate all rankings after projects were placed on waiting lists. Most project requests remain unfunded for at least 12 years, and enrollments may change and construction costs increase while projects wait for funding; nevertheless, funding is often based on financial data from the initial application. ED does review wait-listed applications periodically, including annual reviews of the 15 or 20 applicants at the top of the waiting list; however, for Section 5, current law does not permit the program to use current financial and enrollment data for ranking applicants.
GAO's recommendations included 1) that Congress should amend P.L. 81-815 to require that Section 5 funding be based on current information on construction costs, and 2) that school districts should be required to apply annually for school construction assistance so that project requests reflect current information on enrollments of federally connected children, school construction needs, and the estimated Federal share of construction costs.
In response to GAO's report, ED now reviews all applications at least once every two years, and has instituted a policy of asking all pending, unfunded construction applicants to confirm their continued need once every two years. This practice has caused some applications to be discontinued, although the number of unfunded applications remains at about 200 because some LEAs submitted applications for new projects. However, the Department cannot base school construction awards on current information unless Congress amends the existing law.
[Allen J. Ellender Fellowships]