Don’t short schools serving military families - Army Community - Army Discussions - Army Times

Don’t short schools serving military families

A newly released assessment of 157 schools run by local school districts on military installations has sobering news for parents.

The assessment looked at each school’s physical condition and its ratio of student enrollment to capacity, then coded each school red, yellow or green in both areas.

Fifteen are red and 48 are yellow for their conditions; 14 are red and 14 are yellow because they are overcrowded.

Some might see that as more than enough reason for the Defense Department to run these schools instead of local communities.

But the survey tells only part of the story. In fact, school districts across the nation are struggling with these same problems.

Fairfax County, Va., for example, is home to Fort Belvoir Elementary School, which is 57 percent over its student capacity.

But the county system has seen an enrollment explosion, gaining 8,500 students since the 2006-07 school year — and the boom is expected to accelerate. Meanwhile, funding simply hasn’t kept up.

Local school districts rely heavily on the $34 million in annual impact aid paid by DoD to offset the cost of educating military kids. But it’s not enough.

This year’s defense budget includes $250 million in grants to improve locally run schools on military bases. Congress is mulling another $250 million for 2012. But the current squeeze on Pentagon spending puts the second set of grants at risk.

Impact aid is insufficient to the task, and scrimping on that aid is shortsighted. Communities are happy to have military bases in their backyards, but only as long as the balance of income vs. costs is on their side.