Schools urge parents to submit federal impact aid forms

MADISON — County school officials convened Thursday morning at Discovery Middle School to explain how crucial federal impact aid is to the success of schools and students.

Federal impact aid is government funding given to school systems who have lost potential funding from a lack of property taxes that would contribute to education. Military parents, as well as parents who work on federal land, are exempt from these local school taxes.

With NASA, Redstone Arsenal and a large military presence in the Tennessee Valley, schools in the area are hurt if they do not receive funds from federal impact aid.

Superintendents Robby Parker (Madison City), Christie Finley (Huntsville City) and Matt Massey (Madison County) touched on the role of impact aid in their school systems and how students benefit directly from this funding.

According to Parker, federal impact aid has helped tremendously by helping Madison City Schools qualify for Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) grants. Parker said MCS has received more than $8 million through the grants since 2010.

“That’s huge for us,” Parker said. “… I can’t verbalize how important this is to us and how much we appreciate it.”

These DoDEA grants have brought high quality professional development technology tools, student support programs, content specialists, tutors and counselors to support military-connected students, according to Parker.

Finley also touched on the various ways federal impact aid has helped Huntsville City Schools, saying it impacts students “every day.” HCS has seen benefits through classroom technology and an ability to push for more Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

“It has a direct impact on what we are doing for students to make sure that they’re college and career ready,” Finley said.

Massey explained that school systems receive a certain amount of dollars per student for every student that qualifies for assistance. Madison County has used these funds to help with programs like Junior ROTC. He also echoed Parker’s emphasis on DoDEA grants and said Madison County schools received $750,000 that helps them with Project Lead the Way, a STEM-based program.

“We had a few schools that were just shy of the threshold that’s needed to meet those, so even while we’re going to make a districtwide push for this, we’re also going to target those areas that [come up short],” Massey said.

Col. Kelsey Smith, Redstone Arsenal garrison commander, emphasized the importance of submitting impact aid forms as a military parent who has submitted the same form over the years.

“As a parent, I believe that it is my job to ensure that I help to affect the school systems that I have been a consumer of, and I certainly appreciate what I have been afforded and what’s been afforded to my children in the past,” Smith said.

Smith also expressed a passion for the work of teachers in helping students learn and prepare for their futures. He also urged parents to instill a love of reading into their children and be present when children need homework help.

“If everyone in the world could read and write, many of our problems and many of the reasons that I exist today would disappear,” Smith said. “For kids, what you learn and how well you learn it [in school] sets the conditions for your success in the future and allows you to determine how that world will be changed by you.”

Finley said federal impact aid cards have been distributed as of today. Forms are due back no later than Sept. 28.

“Our three school systems have worked together on how to streamline this form and how to count it,” Massey said. “We want every single kid’s parents to fill this out and to get those back to see if they qualify because a lot of folks qualify, but they don’t realize they do.”