2012-03: Urge the U.S. Congress to Prevent Sequestration and the $100 Million Cut to Impact Aid

WHEREAS, the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) was established in 1970 for the purpose of advocating, planning, and promoting the unique and special educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, NIEA, as the largest national Indian organization of American Indians, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian educators, administrators, parents, and students in the United States, provides a forum to discuss and act upon issues affecting the education of Indian and Native people; and

WHEREAS, through its unique relationship with Indian nations and tribes, the federal government has established programs and resources to meet the educational needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, residing on and off their reserved or non-reserved homelands; and

WHEREAS, Impact Aid is the oldest elementary and secondary federal education program administered by the U.S. Department of Education and is designed to reimburse local educational agencies for the loss of traditional revenue due to the presence of tax-exempt property or Federal activity; and

WHEREAS, Impact Aid payments are allocated directly to local educational agencies for military bases, Indian lands, low-rent housing, and other federal property in lieu of local tax dollars to assist with the basic educational needs of the thousands of students served by those local educational agencies; and

WHEREAS, existing property owners in affected local agencies already bear a significant burden in financial support of local educational agencies due to federal acquisition of private lands; and

WHEREAS, Impact Aid funding is of critical importance in providing quality educational opportunities for the local educational agencies which apply for and receive Impact Aid in support of the federally connected Native students educated in these schools throughout Indian Country; and

WHEREAS, the Budget Control Act of 2011 established sequestration to cut $1.2 trillion from the federal budget due to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reductions failure to reach a broader compromise; and

WHEREAS, Impact Aid, as the only current-year funded education program, will be cut immediately on January 2, 2013, by $100 million in the middle of the 2012-2013 school year; and

WHEREAS, all other federal education programs, including Title I and the Individual Disability Education Act, will also see a reduction in funding of between 8-9% starting in the 2013-2014 school year; and

WHEREAS, it is the federal governments obligation to rectify the negative financial impact its presence has caused; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that NIEA strongly opposes the negative affect on Impact Aid that will result if sequestration, as created by the Budget Control Act of 2011, is triggered; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NIEA advocates for the continuation of funding for this federal obligation to alleviate the local taxpayer burden caused by federal land ownership as has been the standard for more than sixty years; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that NIEA requests the US Congress recognize the importance of the Impact Aid Program in ensuring that federally connected children receive a high-quality public education by fully funding the Impact Aid Program.