Issue – Military Impact Aid

Senator Norman Sakamoto
June 25, 2006

At a recent Education Town Hall meeting at Schofield Barracks on May 24, there were questions about how federal impact aid benefits military children. The Hawaii Army Weekly noted that there was confusion about how "state Department of Education and legislative funding coffers, and even property taxes" figure in education funding. Below is an overview of federal military impact aid and how it relates to education funding in Hawaii.

Impact Aid is a federal program that funds part of the educational costs of federally-connected students. In this program, the federal government pays its "tax bill" to local school districts as a result of the military's presence in the area. In Hawaii, the funds are sent directly to the school district's education budget to pay for operational expenses such as the purchases of textbooks, computers, utilities, and teachers' salaries.

Impact aid goes to the Hawaii State Department of Education's budget. Public education in Hawaii is the responsibility of the state government. Unlike many school districts elsewhere that are funded through local property taxes, property taxes in Hawaii go to county governments who are not responsible for providing education. Impact aid is intended to partially offset the cost of educating military dependents; it is not intended to boost funding for military dependents beyond that of other students. Currently, military impact aid to Hawaii is $5,172 per on-base child and $766 per off-base child. In light of the fact that there are approximately 15,000 military children in Hawaii and that Hawaii's per pupil expenditure is $8,797 a year, military impact aid covers 59% of education spending for on-base students.