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- Spreadsheet: Blank Sample Source Check Form (LEA will fill out for you to certify)
- Data: Find out how much school districts in your local area receive from Impact Aid. (Search by County and State)
- Slide Deck: Overview of Section 7003 Grants for Local Educational Agencies
- Playlist: Impact Aid Training for Local Educational Agencies
Slide 1: In this video, we will give an overview of the Impact Aid Program and focus on the Uniformed Services Source Check requirements. This video is intended for School Liaison Officers and/or Military Leadership who have been asked to complete a source check for their Local Educational Agency (LEA).
Slide 2: Hello, I’m Faatimah Muhammad, Director of the Impact Aid Program in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, at the U.S. Department of Education.
I want to extend my sincere thanks in advance for your critical role in verifying the source check forms for your local educational agencies. Your work is vital in ensuring the success of the Impact Aid Program, which provides essential funding to school districts grappling with the financial challenges associated with federal land within their areas.
The Impact Aid Program is a vital source of funding for local school districts that face unique challenges due to the presence of federal land. This program has provided financial assistance to districts that have lost local property tax revenue or incurred additional costs due to the enrollment of federally connected children, such as those living on Indian lands, military bases, or other federal properties. The program ensures that these districts can continue to provide a quality education to all students, despite the financial constraints caused by federal land ownership.
For families of service members, the Impact Aid Program is particularly important. Many military families move frequently and may live on or near military bases where local schools rely on Impact Aid to maintain essential services and programs. The funding supports a wide range of educational needs, from paying teacher salaries to purchasing textbooks and technology, ensuring that children of service members receive a stable and supportive educational environment, regardless of where they are stationed. This program not only aids in sustaining the quality of education in these areas but also helps to alleviate some of the burdens that military families may face due to frequent relocations and the unique circumstances of their service.
We recorded this video to provide you with an introduction to the Impact Aid Program requirements and help you understand how you can support your local school districts with the data collection required to receive funding.
Thank you for your dedication and effort in this important work. Your commitment is key to maintaining the educational standards that support our students and their families.
Slide Three: Since 1950, Congress has provided financial assistance to local school districts through the Impact Aid Program. Impact Aid was designed to assist local school districts that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of tax- exempt Federal property, or that have experienced increased expenditures due to the enrollment of federally connected children. The Impact Aid Section 7003 grants are for local educational agencies (LEAs) that educate Federally connected children. These include the children of members of the uniformed services. Children who live on Indian lands. Children who live on federal property or certain types of Federally subsidized low rent housing. Children whose parents work on federal property. In this video, we will focus on certifiers who are verifying parents in the uniformed services.
Slide Four: Impact Aid funds provide crucial financial support for school districts. Most of our appropriated funding, over 1.4 billion dollars in 2024, is unrestricted, meaning the school district can spend it just like they would local tax revenue. We typically receive about 48 million dollars in Children with Disabilities funds that must be spent on special education for Federally connected children. Lastly, we have a small amount of Construction funds, 19 million dollars in 2024, that may only be spent on construction or debt service for construction.
Slide Five: Our program statue highlights certifiers’ role in Local Educational Agency’s Impact Aid Application. It requires that Federal agencies with information that can help school districts receive Impact Aid funds, provide that information to the maximum extent possible. This means that the Department of Defense needs to collaborate with local school districts to help the school district determine whether a student has a parent that qualifies for Impact Aid funding.
Slide Six: To verify counts of Federally connected children, school districts conduct a survey on a date of their choice. The survey confirms where the child was living and where the parent was working on the chosen survey date. There are two types of survey tools LEAs can use to verify parents’ information. The first survey tool is called a Parent Pupil Survey Form or also known as a Survey Form for short. These forms are sent home to parents with students or by email. They are completed and signed by parents. The next survey tool is a Source Check. A Source check lists all children that the school district thinks are in a certain category, then LEA takes the form to a certifying official to certify information as of the survey date. The Source Check can be emailed to signatories and the certifier may sign electronically.
Slide Seven: LEAs that educate children with parents that in the Uniformed Services may be eligible for Impact Aid Funds. The uniformed services include the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Public Health Services Commissioned Corps, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps, and Space Force. Parents must be on active duty in the uniformed services under Title 10 on the school district’s chosen survey date. National Guard or Reservists active under Title 32 are excluded. It is important to know that children living in military housing generate 5 times more funding in the Impact Aid payment formula as children who do not, so involving the on-base housing office is vital in the student verification process.
Slide Eight: When certifying parents who are on active duty, there are a few different source checks that a school district may use depending on parents’ situation. The Impact Aid statute puts federally connected children into categories, and each category has a different weight in the payment formula. Please use the Category A(ii) Source Check for parents that are Officials of a Foreign Government and are Foreign Military Officers that live on federal property. Please use the Category B Source Check for parents that are on active duty and live on federal property. Use the Category D(i) Source Check for parents that are on Active Duty and live off federal property. Lastly, use the Category D(ii) Source Check if you have parents that are Officials of a Foreign Government and are Foreign Military Officers and live off Federal property.
Slide Nine: When certifying a source check, please make sure the Category of Children is correct. The category and description can be found on rows 2 and 3. Next, LEAs should have completed rows 5-6. These lines include the LEA name, school year, Impact aid number, and survey date. Next, rows 9 and below include parent and student information. Please verify that the information is accurate as of the survey date at the top. If there are any parents or children that should not be included on the list, because the parent was not on active duty under Title 10, on the survey date, please cross through that entire line on the source check. This source check form is a SAMPLE form that contains the minimum information that the Impact Aid Program needs to confirm that a child is Federally connected. The certifier can ask the school district to provide additional information if it helps make the certification process faster.
Slide Ten: The bottom of the source check has a space for signatures. Please look at the Military Certification section. Please pay close attention to the certification language that reads: I certify that the parents listed above were active-duty uniformed service members on the survey date. I also certify that any parents listed above that are designated as National Guard were activated under Title 10 on the survey date. If the statement is accurate, please sign. Next, please look at the Housing Certification section. Read the certification language carefully: I certify that the parents listed above resided on the federal property on the survey date shown above. If this statement is true and accurate, please sign. The person who confirms the child’s address on Federal property may be different from the person that confirms the parents’ active duty status.
Slide Eleven: These are the certifications required for children in category Di. There is no housing certification required because this list is for children living off Federal property. The bottom of the source check has a space for signatures. Please look at the Military Certification section. Please pay close attention to the certification language that reads: I certify that the parents listed above were active-duty uniformed service members on the survey date. I also certify that any parents listed above that are designated as National Guard were activated under Title 10 on the survey date. If the statement is accurate, please sign.
Slide Twelve: Its important you keep an open line of communication with your local school districts, so that you understand how they gathered their information. This can help alleviate some of the burden of certifying. LEAs can use various approaches to determine which parents are on active duty. Some methods your LEA might have used to determine their military connected counts might include parents completing survey forms or using their Military Student Identifier as a starting point. The district can place children that were not verified via survey form on a source check. LEAs may then compile a list of all parents they think are eligible onto the source check and send it to the certifier for review.
Slide Thirteen: The LEA should also collaborate early with nearby installations to determine the key points of contact, including whether someone from the base housing office needs to be involved. Sometimes a School Liaison Officer will be delegated authority to certify parent and student information, but they will need to obtain additional access to information to do so. The LEA will also need to work together with the certifiers to determine when it needs to submit the source check so it can be verified and returned before the January 31 application deadline.
Slide Fourteen: This concludes our brief overview of the Impact Aid Program’s Uniformed Services Source Check requirements. For more information, please visit us at our website. There you will find other training videos, user guides, and copies of our live webinar slides.