What is Federal Impact Aid?

The Impact Aid Program was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1950 and is actually the nation’s oldest K-12 federal education program. Impact Aid reimburses school districts for the lost revenue associated with nontaxable federal property. Most districts are largely funded through local taxes and since federal property is exempt from taxation, districts with federal land are at a financial disadvantage in funding their schools.

Who Qualifies for Impact Aid Funding and How is it Used?

To be initially eligible for the program, districts had to have at least 10 percent of the total property value within the district become federal land at the time of acquisition. Today, approximately 1,200 school districts enrolling more than 11 million students benefit from Impact Aid funding, which is appropriated annually by Congress. The program includes school districts with military installations, Indian Trust, Treaty and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Lands, federal low-rent housing facilities, federal properties such as national parks and Army Corps of Engineers projects and federal facilities such as national laboratories and veterans affairs (VA) hospitals.

Through an annual application and approval process, Impact Aid funding is provided directly from the federal government to eligible local school districts. The funding is flexible in that spending decisions are controlled at the local level. This flexibility and local control allows school district leaders to target funds supporting all students wherever the needs are greatest.

How is Cass School District 63 Impacted?

Argonne National Laboratory is federally owned property that has a huge impact in Cass School District 63. Of the school district’s 2,807 total acres, 1,026 acres are federal land as part of Argonne, which also impacts Burr Ridge School District 180 and Lemont High School District 210. This means that roughly 37 percent of the school district’s total real estate is federally owned property.

Despite the fact that such a large percentage of our property is federal land, the fiscal year 2020 federal impact aid payment was $423,933. In comparison, the other 1,781 acres (approximately 63 percent) would have generated an estimated $5,272,197 in local property taxes if it was taxable land. This means that on a per acre basis, federal impact aid replaces just 8 cents of every dollar lost to federal property, which puts our school district at a huge disadvantage.

Federal impact aid has received bipartisan support, but we continue to need the support of Congress to maintain our funding. Congressmen Bill Foster along with Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are our representatives in Washington, D.C. have been very supportive of this program.

What National Organizations are Involved with Impact Aid?

Cass School District 63 is actively involved in National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) and the Federal Lands Impacted Schools Association (FLISA). Cass School District 63 Superintendent Mark Cross serves on the national Federal Land Impacted Schools Association (FLISA) Executive Board. NAFIS represents all of the impact aid school districts described above and serves as the umbrella organization for four subgroups, including FLISA as well as Mid-to-Low LOT Schools (MTLLS), Military Impacted Schools Association (MISA) and the National Indian Impacted Schools Association (NIISA).

Where Can I Learn More?

For more information, visit www.nafisdc.org and www.flisa.org. Also here is a NAFIS informational video (3:27 in length) and here is one for FLISA (6:20 in length).