Education aid going unused, to tune of $1B

Those districts suffer when they don’t get the full amount they’re entitled to under a 60-year-old federal program designed to ease the burden of having military bases or tribal reservations that pay no local property taxes within the districts’ borders, yet send hundreds of students to their schools.

"Not getting the full funding has a multitiered effect, on school maintenance, teacher hiring, etc.," says Lacey, whose 19-year-old son, R.J., attends a high school special-needs program in the Lawton, Okla., school district. Lawton encompasses Fort Sill, where he is garrison commander.

About 7,000 of the district’s 16,000 students have a connection to Fort Sill, schools Superintendent Barry Beauchamp says. Even with its huge military presence, Lawton has received only $5.2 million of the $11.2 million it was entitled to get for 2010-11.

By Jeff Schweers, USA TODAY

Full Story; http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-02-04-fedaidimpact04_ST_N.htm