Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Lexington (KY) Herald Leader
March 1, 2008
Pg. B1
Defense Dept. pupil count off by 70,000
By Halimah Abdullah
When the Defense Department announced its military base realignment in 2005, it undercounted -- by more than 70,000 -- the number of school-age children of military personnel who will need to attend new schools.
School superintendents near those bases say that gaffe will cost their districts more than $2 billion in additional school construction.
Communities near Fort Knox, in Kentucky's Hardin County, are bracing themselves for the arrival of roughly 2,000 additional students when human-resource personnel from Virginia, Missouri and Indiana and an infantry combat brigade team from Fort Hood, Texas, move to the area.
The counties surrounding Fort Knox will need nearly $300 million to improve schools, roads and other infrastructure to accommodate the planned influx of military personnel, said state Sen. Elizabeth Tori, R-Radcliff.
School officials in Hardin County, which will absorb most of the students, said they know they need an additional $18 million to build a new elementary school and $11 million to renovate an old middle school to accommodate the growth. But they don't have the money.
To complicate matters, there will be a period when the children of families who are moving out of the area are attending at the same time that new students are enrolling, said Nannette Johnston, superintendent of Hardin County Schools.
Students also might wind up in nearby Meade, Breckinridge, Bullitt or Jefferson counties.
"Meade County is a good example," Tori said. "They have a school that is falling down and another that is overcrowded already."
Districts across the country are going to be up against a tight deadline to finance and build schools before the first wave of students arrives. In some cases that's little more than a year.
Tori's Senate Bill 111, which has been passed by the state Senate and awaits action in the House, would issue $296 million in bonds that would finance grants to local agencies, such as school boards looking to build new facilities, Tori said.
Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed budget contains authority to issue $100 million worth of bonds for the Fort Knox area, but Tori called that insufficient. If the House doesn't approve her bill, the Senate probably will include the larger bonding amount in its version of the state budget bill, she said.
Others looking for aid
In the meantime, other communities are banking on state aid to help them deal with the financial pinch.
Near Fort Benning, Ga., the fast-growing Muscogee County school district already has tapped local means of raising money for other school projects, and officials are pressing state and federal lawmakers for help.
The Muscogee district also created the Seven Rivers National Coalition, an organization of school officials from more than 50 communities near Fort Knox; Fort Lee, Va.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Bliss, Texas; and other bases to press the federal government for help with money for schools.
During the past three years, the school officials have testified at congressional hearings and met with Pentagon and Education Department officials. The group's leaders said they've seen little for their efforts.
"There is a lot of empathy but no money," said John Phillips, superintendent of the Muscogee County school district near Fort Benning.
"Trying to get numbers from the Department of Defense is like pulling teeth," said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., who sits on the House Appropriations' defense subcommittee. "My theory is that back in 2005, when we were dealing with the unpopularity of the war and the administration was trying to hide what the costs would be, they were also trying to downplay the (base realignment and closure) costs so the Department of Defense budget wouldn't skyrocket. They weren't even dealing with it realistically."
Some communities are finding it difficult to ask for such aid because school district officials say the Pentagon hasn't provided an accurate estimate of the number of school-age children who might enroll in schools near military bases or a deadline on when those students will arrive. Without those figures, many school districts said, they are having a hard time lobbying their city and state governments for additional emergency aid.
The Defense Department's new estimates "are much improved from where we started in 2005," when the sweeping round of changes was first announced, said Chris Isleib, a Pentagon spokesman.
Staff writer John Stamper contributed to this report.
March 1, 2008
Pg. B1
Defense Dept. pupil count off by 70,000
By Halimah Abdullah
When the Defense Department announced its military base realignment in 2005, it undercounted -- by more than 70,000 -- the number of school-age children of military personnel who will need to attend new schools.
School superintendents near those bases say that gaffe will cost their districts more than $2 billion in additional school construction.
Communities near Fort Knox, in Kentucky's Hardin County, are bracing themselves for the arrival of roughly 2,000 additional students when human-resource personnel from Virginia, Missouri and Indiana and an infantry combat brigade team from Fort Hood, Texas, move to the area.
The counties surrounding Fort Knox will need nearly $300 million to improve schools, roads and other infrastructure to accommodate the planned influx of military personnel, said state Sen. Elizabeth Tori, R-Radcliff.
School officials in Hardin County, which will absorb most of the students, said they know they need an additional $18 million to build a new elementary school and $11 million to renovate an old middle school to accommodate the growth. But they don't have the money.
To complicate matters, there will be a period when the children of families who are moving out of the area are attending at the same time that new students are enrolling, said Nannette Johnston, superintendent of Hardin County Schools.
Students also might wind up in nearby Meade, Breckinridge, Bullitt or Jefferson counties.
"Meade County is a good example," Tori said. "They have a school that is falling down and another that is overcrowded already."
Districts across the country are going to be up against a tight deadline to finance and build schools before the first wave of students arrives. In some cases that's little more than a year.
Tori's Senate Bill 111, which has been passed by the state Senate and awaits action in the House, would issue $296 million in bonds that would finance grants to local agencies, such as school boards looking to build new facilities, Tori said.
Gov. Steve Beshear's proposed budget contains authority to issue $100 million worth of bonds for the Fort Knox area, but Tori called that insufficient. If the House doesn't approve her bill, the Senate probably will include the larger bonding amount in its version of the state budget bill, she said.
Others looking for aid
In the meantime, other communities are banking on state aid to help them deal with the financial pinch.
Near Fort Benning, Ga., the fast-growing Muscogee County school district already has tapped local means of raising money for other school projects, and officials are pressing state and federal lawmakers for help.
The Muscogee district also created the Seven Rivers National Coalition, an organization of school officials from more than 50 communities near Fort Knox; Fort Lee, Va.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Bliss, Texas; and other bases to press the federal government for help with money for schools.
During the past three years, the school officials have testified at congressional hearings and met with Pentagon and Education Department officials. The group's leaders said they've seen little for their efforts.
"There is a lot of empathy but no money," said John Phillips, superintendent of the Muscogee County school district near Fort Benning.
"Trying to get numbers from the Department of Defense is like pulling teeth," said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., who sits on the House Appropriations' defense subcommittee. "My theory is that back in 2005, when we were dealing with the unpopularity of the war and the administration was trying to hide what the costs would be, they were also trying to downplay the (base realignment and closure) costs so the Department of Defense budget wouldn't skyrocket. They weren't even dealing with it realistically."
Some communities are finding it difficult to ask for such aid because school district officials say the Pentagon hasn't provided an accurate estimate of the number of school-age children who might enroll in schools near military bases or a deadline on when those students will arrive. Without those figures, many school districts said, they are having a hard time lobbying their city and state governments for additional emergency aid.
The Defense Department's new estimates "are much improved from where we started in 2005," when the sweeping round of changes was first announced, said Chris Isleib, a Pentagon spokesman.
Staff writer John Stamper contributed to this report.