07.16.15

Cantwell & Murray Applaud Advancement of Key Provision to Help Central Kitsap School District

Senators will fight to make sure CKSD provision remains in final bill

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray applauded the advancement of a provision in the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) that would help the Central Kitsap School District. The provision would both fix the current Impact Aid formula to remove the subjectivity from the program and direct the U.S. Secretary of Education to release up to $14 million in unobligated funds to CKSD for the fiscal years in which CKSD was deemed ineligible for these investments. The Impact Aid Program provides federal funding for areas with high populations of military families and children living in tribal communities.   

“Central Kitsap School District needs this funding to provide its students with the educational opportunities they deserve – opportunities that were threatened by a four-year funding loss,” Senator Cantwell said. “It’s time we stand by our service men and women to provide their children with the tools and services needed for a quality education, by restoring some of the funds they are eligible for under the Impact Aid program.”

“I’ve heard from parents, teachers, and administrators in Central Kitsap School District about just how important the Impact Aid Program has been in providing critical services and improving educational outcomes for our children,” Senator Murray said. “I was proud to include this important provision in the bill, and as this process moves forward, I will keep fighting to make sure CKSD gets this much-needed certainty and support.”

Sen. Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, wrote the Every Child Achieves Act with her Republican counterpart, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. The ECAA would replace the badly-broken No Child Left Behind law, which set ambitious goals but failed to give schools the resources they needed to help students succeed. Sen. Murray’s bill would help ensure all students have access to a high-quality public education.

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