Schools

Capo Unified to Determine Whether It Can Tap into Federal Funds

A program existing since 1950 allows school districts to get extra help to educate the children of federal employees.

The Capistrano Unified School District may be able to tap into a new-to-the-district source of federal funding.

Under what’s called “federal impact aid,” school districts can receive direct-to-them federal dollars to help educate the children of federal employees or those who work or live on federal lands or Indian reservations.

The program has actually been around since 1950, according to one website, and disburses $1.2 billion annually for education. Capo has received a small portion of this money from Fallbrook Union School District, when Camp Pendleton employees decide to send their children to Capo instead.

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Marcus Walton, spokesman for Capo Unified, said this “pass-through” is threatened by the state’s new way of funding schools, so it was time to see if Capo could qualify all on its own. A survey was sent out Monday to all parents in the district.

To qualify, according to New America Foundation, a nonpartisan resource on federal education dollars, school districts must have 3 percent of their student population or at least 400 students who:

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  • Have a parent in the United States military;
  • Are Native American;
  • Live on federal property, including an Indian reservation or in public housing; or
  • Have a parent who works on federal property (such as the Chet Holifield Federal Building, Department of Homeland Security, Ronald Reagan Federal Building or U.S. Courthouse)

“We don’t yet know if we have the number of students necessary to be eligible,” Walton said. “The survey will help us determine that. Additionally, there is a complicated calculation to find out how much we’d receive per student and that calculation depends on the type of student.”

The mass email includes a form to fill out and indicate whether any of these conditions apply. The district is asking the form be returned by Oct. 7. 


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