Congresswoman Hirono Reintroduces Legislation to
Reauthorize Impact Aid
Impact Aid Funding Provides More than $43 Million for Island Schools
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai‘i) yesterday reintroduced the Fair Funding for Schools Act (H.R. 2280), which reauthorizes and updates the Impact Aid Program, created to provide essential funding to thousands of federally-impacted schools in Hawai‘i and throughout the country. Hirono reintroduced this bipartisan bill with Congressman Lee Terry (R-Nebraska).
The Impact Aid Program utilizes federal funding to reimburse public schools in areas that feature military bases, national parks, federal prisons, tribal lands, and other federal land to compensate for lost tax revenue.
“The many U.S. military bases located in Hawai‘i take up a vast amount of space and house large populations, but these bases do not generate local property taxes,” said Hirono, who serves on the House Education and Labor Committee. “In other states, large national parks and forests, federal prisons, and Indian lands all similarly decrease local property tax revenue.”
Congress created the Impact Aid Program in 1950 in recognition that schools with an abundance of federally-connected students operated at a financial disadvantage because most public school funding comes from local property taxes. The state of Hawai‘i has received more than $43 million in federal funding this year through the Impact Aid Program.
“Impact Aid is an important and highly effective program but one that needs to be updated and simplified,” said Hirono. “This legislation makes the distribution of Impact Aid funds more efficient and equitable.”
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