HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 1018

        A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Urging Congress to restore the impact aid program.

    WHEREAS, impact aid is the oldest elementary-secondary federal education program administered by the Department of Education to offset property tax revenue to local educational agencies due to federal government acquisition of previously taxable properties; and

    WHEREAS, property taxes paid by American families, individuals, businesses, farms, and all other property owners, as well as impact aid funding, support local educational agencies and the thousands of students served by those local educational agencies; and

    WHEREAS, the financial obligation to local educational agencies and the students they serve remains regardless of property owner, date of acquisition, or use of property; and

    WHEREAS, the impact aid program provides reimbursement to local educational agencies for Indian lands, military bases, low rent housing, and/or other federal property to make up lost tax revenue due to the non-taxable federal ownership status; 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, raising additional local tax revenue to support local educational agencies is unrealistic and overly burdensome on local taxpayers; and

    WHEREAS, South Dakota has thirty-eight local educational agencies which apply for impact aid funding due to the federal presence; and

    WHEREAS, South Dakota local educational agencies qualify under all subsections of the impact aid law; and

    WHEREAS, impact aid funding is of critical importance in providing quality educational opportunities for the more than 37,500 students educated in these thirty-eight local educational agencies; and

    WHEREAS, each generation of students on that generation's educational journey deserves the same opportunities to enrich the students' lives through education, and impact aid funding is a key component in providing those educational opportunities; and

    WHEREAS, it is the federal government's obligation to rectify the negative financial impact its

presence has caused:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature strongly opposes the elimination of section 8002 of the impact aid program by the President's Administration and advocates for the continuation of federal funding for this specific federal responsibility as has been the standard for more than sixty years; requests, in order to alleviate the local tax payer burden caused by federal land ownership, full funding by the federal government for all sections of the impact aid program; and requests the impact aid program be reauthorized this year either as part of the ESEA reauthorization or as a stand-alone bill.

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Adopted by the House of Representatives,

Concurred in by the Senate,

Val Rausch Speaker of the House	Karen Gerdes Chief Clerk of the House
Matt Michels President of the Senate	Fee Jacobsen Secretary of the Senate