But its classrooms are filled to capacity. And Principal Michael Smith says his toughest job is having to turn away weary families who have just moved into the base housing that surrounds the school. He tells them their children will have to be bused to off-base schools instead. We've had to bus 70 students each year. The district couldn't build the new classrooms, though, until its federal impact-aid payments arrived.
Many districts nationally have problems finding funding to build and renovate their facilities.
Because they have little or no tax base, such districts often are unable to raise revenue through bonds or to take out loans for building projects. The bill, S 897, would restore and modify a program that budget-minded appropriators cut in 1994. Prior Funding Before then, the impact-aid program included money specifically for school construction. But it drew criticism because members of Congress sometimes earmarked its funding for their home districts, leaving none for other schools receiving impact aid. Today, such support would greatly benefit districts such as Bellevue, which have some tax base but not enough to sustain major bond issues.