{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E668A82B-4CF7-4BCA-BF64-71CE5AC8763B", "Thune, Smith Introduce Bill to Assist School Districts as They Apply for Impact Aid Program Funding", "2021-10-07", "2021", "2021-10", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) today introduced the Supplemental Impact Aid Flexibility Act, legislation that would allow school districts participating in the Impact Aid Program to use previously reported student headcounts on their Impact Aid applications for the 2022-2023 school year. School districts will soon begin to complete their Impact Aid application for the 2022-2023 school year, and this bill would ensure that they do not need to recalculate federally connected students due to prolonged uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Impact Aid Program reimburses school districts located on federal property or for their students who live on federal land and, therefore, collect less in local property taxes to fund their schools.\n\n\u201cIn order to support the South Dakota school districts that participate in the Impact Aid Program, it\u2019s imperative that we again provide them with the ability to use previously reported student headcounts on their Impact Aid applications that they will complete this fall,\u201d said Thune. \u201cNot only would this free up time and resources that can be directed to their students, it would also protect school districts from future Impact Aid funding reductions due to temporary enrollment declines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe pandemic continues to hit many Minnesota school districts hard, and for those districts that receive Impact Aid, it\u2019s important that they maintain reliable, stable funding,\u201d said Smith. \u201cThis bipartisan legislation will ensure that while the pandemic continues to affect school operations, our Impact Aid districts won\u2019t have to recalculate their student headcounts.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs COVID-19 continues to impact students and school districts across the country, federally impacted school districts face significant challenges in conducting accurate Impact Aid student counts,\u201d said Hilary Goldmann, executive director of the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools. \u201cThese counts determine the districts\u2019 Impact Aid, which pays for staff salaries, student transportation, education technology, social emotional supports for students and more. This legislation is a commonsense way to enable all 1,100-plus federally impacted school districts \u2013 including Indian lands, military and federal property school districts \u2013 to submit timely applications and secure the Impact Aid needed to provide high-quality education to students. The National Association of Federally Impacted Schools supports this legislation and thanks Senators Thune and Smith for their leadership.\u201d\n\n\u201cFederally impacted school districts once again find ourselves in a similar position to 2020 in regards to the volatility of our student counts from the effects of COVID-19. Across the nation, we appreciate the fact that Senator Thune and Senator Smith are willing to address our concerns,\u201d said Trista Olney, chair of the Impacted Schools of South Dakota and business manager of the Douglas School District. \u201cHaving legislation that will allow federally impacted school districts to submit timely applications and utilize flexibility in how families are counted will help ensure that our communities who serve federally impacted students are able to continue to serve students and families. This flexibility will allow us to meet the ongoing academic, social emotional, and safety needs of our students.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:24:51Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=E668A82B-4CF7-4BCA-BF64-71CE5AC8763B"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.506952801719308, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}