Districts straddling Drum garner aid
For Indian River and Carthage central schools, the line that divides them plays a big role in determining the financial picture of each district.
And as new housing has gone up at Fort Drum, Indian River has gotten the majority of the housing units and military students and the federal impact aid that comes with them.
"We have more students, and when the government pays by the head, we're going to see more aid," Indian River Business Manager James R. Koch said.
Both school districts rely on impact aid from the federal government because their student populations have large segments coming from military families.
Indian River is receiving a greater number of new students and more impact aid than Carthage because when the district dividing lines were redrawn in the mid-1980s, Carthage had much of the existing housing. That left the Indian River district open for growth, and as new housing has been built, much of it has gone on Indian River's side of the line, Mr. Koch said.
Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes has 2,620 homes on Fort Drum in the Indian River district; there are 1,049 homes on the post in the Carthage district. Po Valley Road divides the two districts on Fort Drum, said Jennifer Liles, communications coordinator with Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes.
As new housing has gone up on Fort Drum, both districts are experiencing student enrollment fluctuations, which determine how much aid they receive.
The more students from military families a district has, the more aid it will receive. School districts must have a minimum of 20 percent military-connected students to qualify for impact aid.
In the 2009-10 school year, Carthage received $5,022,148 in impact aid, compared with $146,226 for the 2000-01 school year.
The Carthage district is around 52 percent military with roughly 3,400 students, 1,768 of them coming from military families. There are 724 military students who live on post, and more than 600 military students who live off post, district Business Manager Amy M. Marrocco said.
Indian River received $11,241,683.18 this school year, compared with $7,044,132.45 for the 2000-01 school year. At that time, the district qualified for federal heavily impacted aid; it has not qualified for that aid since 2005.
More than 60 percent of Indian River's student population comes from military families. Of the district's roughly 3,900 students, 2,356 come from military families. Of those students, 1,483 live on post, Mr. Koch said.
"If we didn't get the aid, we would be in trouble," Mr. Koch said.
School districts also receive more impact aid for students who live on post than they do for off-post students. A military student who lives on tax-exempt federal property within the district with a parent who is on active duty or employed on federal property is weighted as 1.00. A military student who doesn't live on federal property is weighted as 0.20, according to the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools.
The amount of impact aid specific school districts will receive for the next school year hasn't yet been appropriated by the federal government, Mr. Koch said. In 2009, a total of $1.26 billion was appropriated for school districts. Both the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Defense contribute a share to the impact aid funding.
The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel approved $50 million for impact aid for school districts through the Defense Department in May. Last year, the Defense Department's share for impact aid was $40 million; in 2007, it was $30 million.
