Money goes to help educate children of military personnel.
By:Eve Collins
MANSFIELD The Northern Burlington County Regional School District could be facing a $100,000 cut in federal aid that the district relies on to educate the children of military personnel.
In the recent release of President Bush’s proposed Fiscal Year 2004 budget, several cuts were made to the education department, including some major cuts to the Impact Aid Program.
Congress has provided financial assistance to these local school districts through the Impact Aid Program since 1950. The program provides assistance to local school districts with concentrations of children residing on Native-American lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties, or other federal properties and, to a lesser extent, concentration of children who have parents in the uniformed services or employed on eligible federal properties who do not live on federal property, according to the Department of Education Web site.
It is the children of military personnel who live off Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base properties that will be excluded from funds if the budget is adopted, said Dr. James Sarruda, superintendent of the Northern Burlington County Regional School District.
"I think the important thing is that it hasn’t officially been cut yet," said Dr. Sarruda, who explained that it is hard to anticipate the impact of the cuts, but said they would not be significant to the school district. Only about 14 percent is in danger, which is about $100,000 for the district, he said.
The military aid cuts would not cause a lot of damage, he said, because most of the district’s students already live on the military base properties.
"Money gets reappropriated every year," he said. "The question is what percentage we’ll get."
Dr. Sarruda is the state chair of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NASIF), and will work with superintendents from area districts and officials in Washington D.C. in the next few days and again in March to make sure the House and Senate appropriations bills don’t make the same cuts.
Dr. Sarruda said the cuts were very disappointing, but explained that it was not uncommon for such a proposal to cut aid.
This area is very fortunate, he said, because Dr. Richard Carson of the North Hanover School District, as well as other superintendents in the area, also are involved in leadership roles in NAFIS.
Four out of five of North Hanover’s schools are on McGuire Air Force Base property.
"We’ll make sure New Jersey’s voice is heard," Dr. Sarruda said.
The NAFIS community at large is in danger, he said, because there are hundreds of districts across the country with thousands of students that will lose money if the cuts are made.
"The important thing is to make sure the community knows that local educators are very involved in this issue," Dr. Sarruda said. "I am confident that we will be successful in the next couple of months."

