IV
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 150
Expressing the sense of the Congress relating to the timely distribution
of payments to local educational agencies under the Impact Aid program.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 10, 1997
Ms. WOOLSEY
(for herself, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. CHRISTENSEN, Mr.
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DICKS, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. KEN-
NEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. SAXTON, and Mr. SKELTON)
submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress relating to the timely
distribution of payments to local educational agencies
under the Impact Aid program.
Whereas there are over 1,800 local educational agencies lo-
cated throughout the Nation enrolling over 17,000,000
children that are impacted by a Federal presence and to
varying degrees depend on Federal funds allocated under
the authority of the Impact Aid program (title VIII of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
20 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.);
Whereas Congress recognized the Federal obligation that this
Nation has to local educational agencies impacted by a
Federal presence through the passage and enactment of
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the Impact Aid program in 1950 (Public Law 874, 81st
Congress);
Whereas Congress has continued to show its support for the
program through the subsequent reauthorizations that
have maintained and improved the program over the past
47 years;
Whereas the timely receipt of payments under the Impact Aid
program is important to these local educational agencies
allowing such agencies to pay for school supplies, includ-
ing text books, general upkeep (including transportation
costs), staff salaries, and other operation and mainte-
nance expenses normally paid for from locally derived
revenue;
Whereas because the Impact Aid program is the only major
Federal education program that is not forward funded,
the receipt of these dollars as soon as possible after the
passage of the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act must be of the highest priority of the
Department of Education;
Whereas the Department of Education has not yet distrib-
uted over $145,000,000 of Impact Aid funds appro-
priated for fiscal years prior to fiscal year 1997 and still
has over $250,000,000 or 34 percent of the money ap-
propriated for fiscal year 1997 to distribute;
Whereas many federally impacted local educational agencies
have communicated their need for these dollars to both
the Department of Education and to the Congress as
their 1996–97 school fiscal year is nearly 75 percent
complete;
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Whereas local educational agencies not only have not received
final payments for fiscal years 1995, 1996, and 1997,
but such agencies cannot with any certainty prepare their
school budgets for the 1997–98 school year making it
very difficult to plan and to finalize contracts;
Whereas it is unfair to the communities and students served
by a federally connected local educational agency to be
faced with the uncertainty of when they will receive their
Impact Aid funds and it places an additional burden on
local taxpayers, school board members, and school offi-
cials of these communities to plan, prepare, and imple-
ment an operating budget for each school year; and
Whereas the Congress and the Department of Education
should make every effort possible to ensure that federally
connected school districts receive their payments under
the Impact Aid program in a reasonable amount of time
following the passage and enactment of the Departments
of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for each fiscal
year and that the continued disruption and delay of Im-
pact Aid payments makes it difficult for a federally im-
pacted local educational agency to carry out its mission
of educating children: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the Impact Aid program (title VIII of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
20 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.) should be funded at an ap-
propriate level in order to allow funds under such
•HCON 150 IH
program to be made available on a forward funded
basis as is currently required by law; and
(2) upon completion of the Departments of
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education,
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for each
fiscal year, the Secretary of Education should dis-
tribute payments under the Impact Aid program to
eligible local educational agencies not later than 45
days after the date of enactment of each such Act,
if other congressional action has not caused a delay
and State education agencies have supplied all the
necessary information to the Department of Edu-
cation for such distribution of payments.
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