Sequestration Hits Schools That Depend on ‘Impact Aid’ Especially Hard
by Michelle Fisher, School Transportation News
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Earlier this week, the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) announced preliminary results of a member survey on how schools that are heavily reliant on federal Impact Aid are handling sequestration. These automatic cuts eliminated $60 million of Impact Aid funding for public schools serving children who live on Indian reservations, military bases or in low-income housing.
NAFIS spokesperson Bryan Jernigan said schools reported they are cutting positions, postponing facility repairs and curtailing music and sports programs. In last year’s survey, 36 percent of school districts said they had budgeted the sequester cut into the 2012-2013 school year. The top areas for reduction were: defer maintenance and technology purchases (64 percent); eliminate non-instructional staff (54 percent); increase class sizes (46 percent); eliminate instructional staff (44 percent); and reduce professional development (35 percent).
“Other areas of reduction include academic programs, extra-curricular activities and summer programs, and transportation routes,” the report stated.
Approximately 1,400 school districts serving some 11 million children nationwide, including 376,500 students from military families, benefit from Impact Aid, according to NAFIS.
In Flagstaff, Ariz., schools in Indian Country are facing staff layoffs as well as a reduction in school bus service. Tuba City USD Transportation Director Orson Bigman told public station KRWG he has to drive six miles over sand dunes and rocks to reach two students at a remote bus stop. If it’s raining and the road is washed out, he might not make it there at all.
In this part of Indian Country, he noted, a school bus that should last the district 10 years lasts half that long. The likelihood of getting enough funding to purchase even one new school bus next year is slim, in his mind.
School Superintendent Harold Begay said he would like to take a few members of Congress on a bus ride over this rough terrain so they can see what it is like for their students, not to mention the drivers.
Superintendent Keith McVay of the McLaughlin School District in South Dakota, which serves a large number of American Indian students, said they no longer have the resources to offer summer school or provide bus service to transport students home after sports practice — even though some kids live 20 miles away or more.
Central Union School District in Lemoore, Calif., became the latest school system serving military families to suffer budget casualties. Besides losing a school counselor, the district has eliminated technology programs and stopped filling vacant positions.
In Yermo, Calif., Silver Valley Schools Superintendent Marc Jackson emphasized that schools near military bases survive on Impact Aid. Because of sequestration, his district has taken a half-million-dollar hit. He said he may need to cut school bus service, teacher training and school counselors.
“You should have excellent schools for our military that has done so much for us, and to cut them is just callous,” Jackson added.
In San Antonio, Texas, Randolph Field ISD officials counted on receiving $5.3 million (or 45 percent of its budget) in Impact Aid but now expect $1 million less. The district educates about 1,200 students from military families at the local Air Force base.
Cumberland County (N.C.) Schools Superintendent Dr. Frank Till said his district, which includes Fort Bragg, stands to lose over $3 million in federal dollars next year while also facing major state cutbacks. More than 60 percent of the school district’s budget comes from the state.
“We’ll have to completely eliminate schools from service and certainly have to cut back on staffing,” said Till. “We’ll have to cut back services to some of our most disadvantaged kids.”
