Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

NAFIS Supports Legislation to Invest in School Infrastructure

  • 09/19/18

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Federally Impacted Schools (NAFIS) strongly supports new legislation that invests in the facilities of federally impacted school districts. H.R. 6830, the Impact Aid Infrastructure Act, was introduced earlier this week by Representative Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ). It would provide a one-time infusion of $1 billion into the Impact Aid Construction program to address the significant backlog of infrastructure projects in these districts.

Federally impacted school districts are located on or near nontaxable Federal property, including military installations; Indian Trust, Treaty and Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act lands; Federal low-income housing facilities; and national parks, national laboratories and other Federal buildings and property. Because of the presence of the Federal government, these districts may have minimal assessed land value or few local taxpayers. Therefore, they have minimal capacity to raise funds for school construction in the way that most public school districts do – through bonds – and many lack the local resources needed to address urgent facilities needs.

A recent NAFIS survey identified more than $4.2 billion in pressing construction projects in 218 federally impacted school districts nationwide, including emergency repairs for health and safety – such roof and foundation maintenance, asbestos abatement, mold remediation and fixing fire code violations – and modernization and expansion needs. A large majority cited lack of funds as a reason to defer these projects.

“The Federal government has a clear obligation to ensure that federally impacted school districts and the students they educate are not disadvantaged by its presence,” said NAFIS Executive Director Hilary Goldmann. “There has been Impact Aid construction funding since the program’s inception in 1950, but it is – and for decades has been – woefully inadequate. This legislation is an important and necessary step in the right direction.” 

In addition to established precedent for Federal investment in federally impacted school facilities, the expertise to review, distribute and monitor the proposed funding already exists within the Impact Aid Program Office at the U.S. Department of Education.

For additional information on the facilities needs of federally impacted school districts, read Foundations for Learning: The Facilities Needs of Federally Impacted Schools (2017).

Featured

  • UT System Approves First Funds for New Campus

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently approved funds to build the first facility of a new campus in far west Fort Worth, Texas, according to university news. UTA West will serve as a branch of the University of Texas at Arlington and is scheduled to open in fall 2028.

  • El Paso District Breaks Ground on New Elementary School

    The Canutillo Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, recently announced that construction has begun on a 119,000-square-foot elementary school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Pfluger Architects, Carl Daniel Architects, and LDCM Solutions on the new Davenport Elementary School, which has an expected completion date of 2027.

  • South Carolina District Starts Construction on $50M Middle School Renovation

    The Aiken County Public School District in North Augusta, S.C., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $50-million renovation and expansion of North Augusta Middle School, according to a news release. The project’s funding comes from the 2024 renewal of a one-cent sales tax approved by local voters.

  • T&T Construction Management Group Completes Pasco High School Expansion

    Pasco High School in Dade City, Fla., recently announced that it has completed an expansion project in partnership with T&T Construction Management Group, Inc., Harvard Jolly Architecture, and Williams Company.