What is MISA

Military Impacted Schools Association (MISA) is a national organization of school superintendents.  Our mission is to serve school districts with a high concentration of military children.
 
Formed in 1986 in Omaha, Nebraska, MISA works on funding, legislation, partnerships and programs for military families on the move.  MISA conducts workshops for educators and provides resources on connectedness, building resilience, military life, transition, and deployment.
 
Education is an important quality of life program for military families.  MISA partners with the Department of Defense, National Military Family Association, and military leaders to ensure that all military children are afforded a quality education.  MISA works with local school districts and commanders to highlight best practices and partnerships that can further meet the needs of military families.
 
Specific areas that MISA works on include:
 
·      Funding
 
§  Impact Aid began in 1950.  It is basically the federal government paying its “property taxes” to local school districts as a result of the presence of a military installation.  Funds that are received by local school districts go into the general fund to pay for operating expenses—textbooks, teachers, computers, utilities, etc.—just as the local property taxpayers funds go into the school district general fund.  Over half a million children of military personnel are served through this program.  Impact Aid, funded through the Department of Education, is currently funded at only 60% of need, as defined by law.  It is the only education program not forward funded.  Therefore, delays in funding decisions affect the current school year.
 
·         STATUS:  President Obama and the Senate have proposed a freeze for FY’10.  The House has proposed a $25 million (1.9%) increase.
 
§  DoD Impact Aid Funding for Military Childrenbegan in FY'91. The funding was established to help school districts with significant concentrations of military students that have faced: lack of adequate funding for over a decade, challenges associated with base closures and realignments, deteriorating facilities, and safety issues since 9-11.  School districts with 20% or more military students are eligible for this funding.
 
A new provision was implemented during FY’06 to address school districts that are dealing with BRAC, Global Re-basing, and Army modularization.  The funding is specifically for school districts that qualify for DoD Impact Aid Funding for Military Children that experience an increase or decrease of 250 or more military students, or a 5% increase or decrease of military students during the school year, with a $1 M cap.
 
·         STATUS:  Senate authorized $50 million for general distribution and $15 million for BRAC/Global Rebasing; House authorized $30 million for general distribution, $10 million for BRAC/Global Rebasing, and $5 million for special education.  The House appropriation markup includes $44 million for general use and $0 for BRAC/Global Rebasing.  The Senate appropriation markup includes $30 million for general use and $0 for BRAC/Global Rebasing.
 
§  Section 8007—school construction.    Heavily impacted school districts are in need of construction/renovation funding.   Many schools were built in the 1950s and have received little funding, if any, for renovations.  Programs have changed during this time and schools have to be rewired for technology, made handicap accessible, deal with lead and asbestos abatement, and modified for safety.  Section 8007 of the Impact Aid program, as it is written, offers little assistance to school districts serving military children—the program is written to send the funds to other recipients of Impact Aid.  MISA is working with other recipients of the Impact Aid program and Congress to provide additional funding and a more equitable means of distribution.
 
·         STATUS:  the proposed amendment to Section 8007 provides:
o   80/20 split between “straight distribution”
§  40% military and 40% Indian lands
§  20% “grant program” (only Indian land schools can qualify)
§  qualifiers for distribution are lowered from 50% impacted to 40%
 
·      Legislation
 
§  MISA works with the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools, Congress, and members of the House and Senate Impact Aid Coalition.  At this time there are approximately 46 senators and 142 congressmen that are members of the Coalition.
 
§  MISA is currently working on legislation to reauthorize Impact Aid in 2010
 
§  Privatization of military housing
 
§  The reauthorization bill contained a provision to ensure no unintended consequences regarding Impact Aid funding for local schools as long as the land where the privatized housing is located remains federal or leased by the federal government.
 
·         STATUS:  waiting for Department of Education to rule on leased federal property.  Expecting the ruling to indicate that no offset is made to Impact Aid payments if local taxes are collected on improvements.
 
§  Another unintended consequence as a result of privatization of military housing that MISA has been working on relates to income-driven programs.  The intent of privatized housing is to provide quality housing for military families with no out-of-pocket expenses.  However, due to an accounting procedure on the military members BAH, many military children living in base housing would no longer qualify for free or reduced-price meals.  This could result in a $70 per month per child additional out-of-pocket expense for military families.  In addition, school districts would loose Title I and state aid funding.  
 
MISA has worked with Congress to solve the issue in the following areas.  There is now an income disregard for military families living in privatized military housing so that they will continue to be eligible for these programs:
·         Free and reduced meals
·         Supplement Security Income—the administrator of the Social Security Administration has ruled to exclude privatized housing payments in SSI eligibility.
·         Head Start—legislation is in place to exclude payments in Head Start
      eligibility.
·         Title I—Free or reduced-price meal legislation will keep Title I formula in place.
 
MISA is working with legislators to include an income disregard for military families eligible for:
 
·         Food Stamps
 
·      BRAC, Global Re-basing, and Army Mobilization
§  MISA is working on funding, information, and transition issues to address the 45,000 military children that will be moving from overseas schools to the U.S. through Global Re-basing, as well as the impact on school districts as a result of BRAC and the Army mobilization.
 
·      Council of State Governments
§  MISA is a member of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.  The Council of State Governments was hired by DoD to work with agencies and states to “remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families because of frequent moves and deployment of their parents.”
 
§  Major areas of focus include:
Ø  Educational records and enrollment
Ø  Placement and attendance
Ø  Eligibility
Ø  Graduation
 
§  STATUS:  The Interstate Compact was approved in January, 2008.  Twenty-six states have approved the legislation.  MISA is working with CSG, school districts, and elected leaders to approve legislation in all states.  Many of the “solutions” to concerns are “best practices” of school districts.
 
SOAR
 
MISA has partnered with the University of Northern Iowa, Princeton Review, and US Skills to provide SOAR.  Student Online Achievement Resources (SOAR) is an online program to ease the transition of military families and provide resources for students, parents and teachers in math, reading, and language arts.  The program provides state standards for all 50 states and DoD schools. 
 
Partnerships
 
§  MISA works to develop many partnerships with a common cause--doing what’s best for our military children and families.  Some of our many partners include the Department of Defense, DoDEA, National Military Family Association, National PTA, military associations, etc.
 
§  MISA provides workshops for counselors, principals, and administrators on transition, deployment, best practices, connectedness and resilience.  The workshops include a notebook of resources, powerpoints, and toolkits that are free of charge to MISA members.
 
§  MISA has developed many materials that are available free of charge to school districts and military personnel:
·         videos
o   Impact Aid
o   Smooth Transitions for Students
o   Family Support Center
o   Transition Lab
·         Books
o   “Resources for Supporting Military Children” notebook
o   “Promising Practices”
o   “Partnering for a Smooth Transition for Military Families”
o   “Parents + Teachers + Reading = Success”
·         Information Materials
o   First Count Packet
o   Tips to work with students, families, and staff when parent deploys
 
§  MISA works with local school districts to:
·         include a military representative on the school board
·         open lines of two-way communication between school district and base--including, the commander, school liaison officer, public affairs officer, family advocacy officer

Military Impacted Schools Association** Bellevue, Nebraska
Email:  carolmisa@aol.com
Phone:  800-291-6472