HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Parents of school-aged children in Davis School District who work or live at Hill Air Force Base can contribute to improving the quality of their child’s school facilities, resources, and education simply by completing a federal survey card.
By filling out a quick survey accessed through the MyDSD Parent Portal (look for the yellow box and remember to sign the card), which becomes available Nov. 1, it will help determine the amount of impact aid compensation the school district receives from the federal government.
What is impact aid?
Taxes are a main source of funding for schools and impact aid is a federal education program that reimburses money to the school system for lost revenue and additional costs associated with the presence of nontaxable federal property, including military installations. Impact aid also applies to Native American trust or treaty lands, federal low-rent housing facilities, and national laboratories, federal dams, national parks and other federal buildings or lands. School districts containing such property are known as “federally impacted school districts.”
How is the amount of impact aid determined?
For the school district to receive funding, the federal government requires it to collect specific information from parents and guardians after the start of every school year. The school district provides the information gathered in the federal survey to the U.S. Department of Education. Since enrollment can vary, the district must do the survey every year. The amount of impact aid a school system receives depends on the number of federally-connected students, as determined by the survey.
Who is a federal-connected student?
A student is federally-connected if their parent or legal guardian lives or works on federal property. This includes military service members, federal civilian employees and contractors, postal workers, National Guard and Reservists on active-duty orders, international service members on status-of-forces agreements, families residing in federal (military) housing facilities, and families residing on Native American trust or treaty lands.
How are impact aid dollars used?
Impact aid goes into the school district’s general fund to support all students. The general fund is the main bank account for the district. The funding received is used for textbooks, computers, instructional materials, salaries, transportation, facilities, and enrichment programs such as before-after school. Impact aid reimburses a community for the revenue that would otherwise be generated by property, income, and sales taxes.
For the 2021-22 school year, the Davis School District received $432,747 in impact aid funding ($330,360 in basic support and $102,387 for children with disabilities.) Of the cards submitted, 906 federal surveys were not considered in this funding because the cards were missing a signature.
Parents are highly encouraged to participate in this year’s federal survey beginning Nov. 1. Every card completed (and signed) could mean thousands of dollars in federal funding for the school system.
For more information, contact Leslie Flynn, school liaison for Hill Air Force Base, at leslie.flynn@us.af.mil or at 801-775-5960.