Schumer Pushes for Highland Falls "Fix"; Measure is Included in Key Education Bill & Would Dramatically Increase Federal Aid to Cash-Strapped School District - Permanently

Press Release

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that he has successfully included a permanent fix in the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act (ESEA) of 2011 for the chronically low funding received by the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery School District. The school district is in a unique position, with the land within the district approximately 93% exempt from property taxation due to wholly exempt federal- and state-owned land. Highland Falls therefore has a very small tax base and, to make matters worse, has been drastically and constantly shortchanged by the state and federal government.

Schumer's solution would send the school district approximately $2 million more per year in federal aid. Though the ESEA bill must pass before the fix becomes law, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is poised to act on the bill this week. The legislation, including the Manager's Amendment that includes the fix, was officially introduced by Senate HELP Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) yesterday.

"This is an important step forward in what has been a tough fight to get Highland Falls students, taxpayers and teachers the funding they deserve," said Schumer. "For far too long, the district has been handcuffed by a an unfair burden that has kept valuable resources out of our classrooms. We still have a long way to go, but I'm going to do everything I can to get this fix passed, and ensure that our Highland Falls kids have the technology, books, and resources they need to thrive."

Schumer has worked tirelessly in the previous months and years to include this provision in various bills, lobbying colleagues and even bringing the problem to the attention of President Barack Obama. The solution's inclusion in the ESEA reauthorization bill is an important step forward, and the Senate HELP committee is set to act on the bill this week with action in the full Senate hopefully shortly after. The ESEA Reauthorization Act of 2011 includes several other important changes to the Impact Aid program.

The Impact Aid Program is designed to directly compensate local school districts for local revenue lost due to the presence of federally owned, and therefore tax-exempt property and costs incurred due to "federally connected" students, such as the children of armed services personnel working at a nearby military base. These school districts face special challenges -- they must provide a quality education to the children living on Indian and other federal lands while often operating with less local revenue than is available to other school districts, because their federal property is exempt from local property taxes or their presence of larger numbers of federally connected students.

Established in 1950, the Impact Aid Program is a major general aid source for over 1,300 school districts nationwide, or almost 10 percent of all districts. For some school districts, Impact Aid supplies as much as 75 percent of the local education operating budget.

Highland Falls already receives revenue from this program, but there currently exists an artificial cap that prevents the school district from getting its full share of aid, shortchanging it by approximately $2 million. The legislative language included in the Senate HELP ESEA Reauthorization bill removes this cap permanently, providing approximately an additional $2 million per year to the cash strapped school district.

The ESEA Reauthorization Act still needs to pass the Senate HELP committee and the Senate as a whole, but inclusion in this critical bill is a huge step forward.

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