Congressman Dennis Cardoza
18th Congressional District of California

“The families of those serving in the Armed Services are called upon to make many sacrifices,” Cardoza said.  “Disrupting a child’s education should not be one of them.  We need to make deployment as easy on military families as we can.”

The National Guard and Reserve continue to play a vital role in the war against terror, making up approximately one-third of the forces in Iraq.  Single-parent service members, however, often have no choice but to move their child to live with another parent or relative while they are deployed overseas.  The child has to enroll in a new school while adjusting to the fact that their mother or father is in harm’s way.

The Safeguarding Schoolchildren of Deployed Soldiers Act would simply waive school residency requirements for children who move outside their original school district because of a parent’s deployment. 

Cardoza’s original co-sponsorship of the legislation is part of his continued effort to support military families.  He is also the author of the Military Adoption Act, H.R. 1373, which would make it easier for military service members to adopt children by allowing them to take paid leave.