School parents urged to complete Federal Impact Aid forms

Dr. Dee Fowler, Superintendent of Madison City Schools (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – In the last 10 years, the Madison City Schools district has received $2 million in Federal Impact Aid. The funds result from Federal Impact Aid forms, which Madison parents have received and need to complete to add more dollars to school coffers.

Madison students received the surveys on Sept. 16 to take home for parents or guardians. The federal government awards money to schools for military families, civilian employees working at federal agencies and families living in a federal housing project.

Deadline for returning the forms is by Sept. 24.

Schools receive federal funds if a student’s parent or guardian satisfies any of these scenarios:

* Works on federal property. Examples are Redstone Arsenal, U.S. Postal Service and Federal Aviation Administration.

* Works in active, full-time duty in the uniformed services or reserves with the U.S. military.

* Lives in a federal housing project.

* Any combination of these requirements.

Parents or guardian should complete one form for each student.

“We’re blessed to live in an area with an abundance of good jobs. Nearly 37,000 of you work daily on Redstone Arsenal,” superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler said in a district-prepared video.

“Washington sends extra money to communities with a lot of jobs on federal installations,” Fowler said. “If you simply work on federal property, that could qualify our school district for federal impact aid money.”

In the video, parent Rajiv Doreswamy said he works at Marshall Space Flight Center for NASA. His son is a sophomore at Bob Jones High School. He encouraged fellow employees on Redstone to fill out the forms.

Lt. Col. Kevin Chaney said his two children attend West Madison Elementary School. “Every year, we’re asked to fill out the impact forms. We look forward to filling these out because those are federal dollars coming to Madison City Schools to help better the kids’ education and opportunities for them.”

For more information, visit madisoncity.k12.al.us.