McCarthy Applauds Impact Aid Program Bill Signed Into Law

Statement

Today, Congressman Kevin McCarthy released the following statement after President Trump signed H.R. 8472, the Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act, into law. This bipartisan bill will help to provide necessary relief to school districts participating in the Impact Aid Program.

McCarthy released the following statement:

"This year has presented difficult challenges for Americans across the country, including, unfortunately, our nation's school-aged children. Schools have had to quickly adapt to online learning, and federally impacted schools are no exception.

"The Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act would allow school districts to utilize their 2020-2021 school year student headcount data in their applications for the 2021-2022 school year. During a time when funding is most needed, this bill will ensure that the challenges that school districts may encounter in collecting student data amid a pandemic do not unnecessarily reduce their Impact Aid payments for the upcoming school year.

"I am grateful to President Trump for signing this bill today. I also thank Congressman Joe Courtney, Congressman Dusty Johnson, Senator John Thune, and Senator Tina Smith for recognizing this problem and taking action to help ensure that all our students receive the high-quality education that they deserve."

Local school districts responded to H.R. 8472 becoming law:

"Sierra Sands Unified School District greatly appreciates the hard work and continued advocacy by Congressman McCarthy as the recent passing of the Impact Aid Coronavirus Relief Act will ensure stability of vital resources for our district's military-connected students." -- Dave Ostash, Superintendent, Sierra Sands Unified School District

"On behalf of the Muroc Joint Unified School District, I wish to express our sincerest appreciation to Congressman McCarthy, his staff, and those that worked tirelessly on H.R. 8472 for our students. In these unprecedented times, when families have faced numerous challenges in the pursuit of supporting their children's education, the knowledge that these critical funds have been safeguarded, allows our district to focus on serving students. It provides much needed certainty that critical programs for student academic and emotional support will remain in place. The students attending our schools in Boron and on Edwards Air Force Base will directly benefit from this exciting news; this was a victory for children." -- Kevin D. Cordes, District Superintendent of Muroc Joint Unified School District

Background

The Impact Aid Program is a federal education program created to reimburse school districts with high populations of children living on Indian lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties, and other federal facilities for lost revenue due to the presence of nontaxable federal property and the inability to collect the local property taxes needed for adequate funding.
In order to receive the yearly reimbursements that federally impacted schools rely on to supplement low property tax payments, school districts must submit an Impact Aid application every year and include data on student enrollment.
Because of COVID-19 and distance learning that has been widely put into place as a result, collecting student information has become a daunting task that threatens to jeopardize the Impact Aid payments that participating school districts may receive for the 2021-2022 school year. This bill helps to rectify that.
You can learn more about Impact Aid program here.
You can read the text of H.R. 8472 here.

Source