Correa's Legislation To Protect National Guard and Reservist Children Passed Defense Committee

Statement

Congressman Lou Correa's (D-CA-46) legislation to provide children of all military service members, including the National Guard and Reserve, access to educational benefits was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-3) offered the amendment. Congressman Correa's legislation fixes an error in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that failed to define children of National Guard and Reservist as belonging to a military family.

Rep. Lou Correa said, "We continue to address the challenges faced by the children of our warriors in the National Guard and the Reserve. These kids face the same stress as the children of active duty soldiers without any of the support those families receive. Our National Guard and Reservist families face unique challenges that we must address. This legislation does that."

BACKGROUND: H.R. 1896 - The Supporting Children of the National Guard and Reserve Act requires public schools to identify and report on the outcomes of children of National Guard and Reserves members via the Military Student Identifier (MSI). Before this legislation, only the children of active-duty service members were identified under the MSI. The bill answers the call made by the Government Accountability Office for more data concerning military-connected public school students. This data is crucial for assessing the academic performance of military-connected students and better understanding the unique stressors placed on the children of those in the armed forces. This no-cost, technical improvement to the MSI is a common sense solution to the huge knowledge gap on military-connected students and their academic status.

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