A recent proposal has brought the feud of public school proponents vs. school privatization proponents into the forefront in Arizona. The state of Arizona has the highest concentration of children living on Federal land and attending public schools in the country. This has pushed Arizona to the head of recipient list for the federal program known as Impact Aid. Impact Aid is a federal program that got its start in the 1950s to help fund public schools that are on federally owned land such as military bases, reservations/tribal lands, and other federally controlled areas.
With a staggering total of $169 million, Arizona received the highest amount granted under the Impact Aid in the states. The statics of the program from the US Department of Education show that of that $169 million, upwards of $11 million went to bases or military bases public schools in the state. The rest went to tribal lands, government wage-based housing and all other federal properties.
A recent study from conservatively skewed think tank The Heritage Foundation led to them writing a policy with a proposal that would fund an education savings account (ESA) for each individual child of any person actively serving in any branch of the United States Military. Each one of these ESA’s would get funded annually with no less then $2,500 and no more then $4,500 for the sole purpose of use towards subsidizing private school tuition or getting tutors or online schools to help enhance the education of these children.
Lindsey Burke is the current education policy Director for The Heritage Foundation. Burke has presented this proposed policy with much excitement, touting it as the next big thing for the military. She has stated that this could be used as a retention and recruiting tool for the military in general. Burke points to a study run by the Military Times that stated approximately 35% of those polled were not satisfied with the educational opportunities being provided to their families, and that it was an important factor in re-signing decisions. The current Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos has also voiced support for this proposal, despite the lack of research or study of it by the Department of Education.
The ESA’s proposed by The Heritage Foundation would be funded by funneling money out of the Impact Aid budgets to the public schools that fall into these categories for each military child that chose to avail themselves of this new option. Burke says that it should shake out to the school only losing about 1% per child, but the numbers are soft. The truth is there is no way to know without further research what the true impact would be on the entire school systems budget under this policy.
Eileen Huck is with the National Military Family Association as the Deputy Director of Government Relations. Huck and the National Military Family Association have come out strongly against the ESA proposal. Per Huck, this system would do more harm then good for the schools effected, the children and the relationships between military and community. Having kids involved in the public schools helps to tie the military bases and families to the communities they are in. She stated over 80% of military kids go to the public schools associated with them, and through sports and other activities, it ties the military and civilian communities together. She also feels there is not enough in the Impact Aid budget to be spread between the two programs.
It is important to note that 90% of school regulation falls to the states. Burke is sure that this policy would fit securely in the 10% relegated to the responsibility of the federal government in this issue. DeVos seems to support it already, and hopefully before it goes to any kind of a vote there will be research done by the Department of Education to ensure that no child will get a lessor education due to it.
