Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2959) to provide that, due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19, applications for impact aid funding for fiscal year 2023 may use certain data submitted in the fiscal year 2022 application.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: S. 2959

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act''. SEC. 2. IMPACT AID PROGRAM.

Due to the public health emergency directly relating to COVID-19 and notwithstanding sections 7002(j) and 7003(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7702(j), 7703(c)), a local educational agency desiring to receive a payment under section 7002 or 7003 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 7702, 7703) for fiscal year 2023 that also submitted an application for such payment for fiscal year 2022 shall, in the application submitted under section 7005 of such Act (20 U.S.C. 7705) for fiscal year 2023--

(1) with respect to a requested payment under section 7002 of such Act--

(A) use the data described in section 7002(j) of such Act relating to calculating such payment that was submitted by the local educational agency in the application for fiscal year 2022; or

(B) use the data relating to calculating such payment for the fiscal year required under section 7002(j) of such Act; and

(2) with respect to a requested payment under section 7003 of such Act--

(A) use the student count data relating to calculating such payment that was submitted by the local educational agency in the application for fiscal year 2022, provided that payments for fiscal year 2023 shall be calculated by the Secretary using the expenditures and rates described in clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) of section 7003(b)(1)(C) of such Act that would otherwise apply for fiscal year 2023; or

(B) use the student count data relating to calculating such payment for the fiscal year required under section 7003(c) of such Act.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. 2959.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge Members to support the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act introduced by Senator Smith from Minnesota and Senator Thune from South Dakota. The companion bill was introduced by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) and the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).

It is difficult to overstate the importance of Impact Aid for our Nation's children. For over 70 years, this program has been critical to ensuring that schools that serve children connected to Federal lands have the resources to help their students thrive.

Unlike most public schools in America, these schools do not receive funding from property taxes from these Federal assets. This means that without Impact Aid support, because they still have to educate the children attached to those assets, this means that without Impact Aid schools serving the children connected to military bases, affordable housing units, or Native Americans on reservations and many other institutions would be significantly shortchanged, and therefore, unable to offer high-quality education.

The need for this program is now greater than ever as our school communities grapple with a resurgence of COVID-19.

In response, Democrats and Republicans worked together in the last Congress led by, again, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) and the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) to enact the Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act. That bill ensured that during the pandemic schools continued to have access to Impact Aid funding that accurately reflected their student populations, whether or not those students could accurately be counted as physically in those schools because of the complications created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, we have the responsibility to, once again, join together in providing schools the support and flexibility they need to serve their students.

The Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act will go a long way toward ensuring that all students in this country, no matter where they go to school, will have access to high-quality education.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 2 years, Congress has taken historic steps to help schools recover from the pandemic because we know that every school and every student and every family has felt the tragic effects of COVID-19.

However, we cannot fully achieve that goal if we fail to address the unique challenges facing schools that serve students connected with military bases, affordable housing, Native American reservations, and other Federal properties.

Last Congress, Democrats and Republicans came together and, as a Nation, tackled the first strain of COVID-19. We came together to address these challenges and to provide urgent support for Impact Aid schools.

Now, as we confront a new COVID threat, we must provide the support that federally connected children need under the Federal Impact Aid program. By providing the support and flexibility in this legislation, we will help ensure that Impact Aid schools can keep their teachers and staff on the payroll, purchase textbooks and learning supplies, and keep the lights on in their classrooms. And this bill will help ensure that hundreds of thousands of students have access to a quality education.

Again, I thank the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Smith) and the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Thune), as well as, in the House, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) and the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson) for sponsoring the legislation; and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens) and the committee ranking member, Ms. Foxx, as well as the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen) and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), for their help in advancing this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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