Servicemen’s kids aim of school pact

Bill would credit out-of-state courses

The state Senate passed a bill last week that would add Arkansas to a 43-state compact that waives state-specific academic requirements for the children of active-duty military members who have met similar requirements in other states.

The bill to adopt the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children - Senate Bill 15 - next heads to the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs. If the panel recommends the bill it would then go before the full House for final approval.

The national compact was established in 2008 as an agreement between 10 states to accept the kindergarten enrollment, advanced placement status and graduation requirements of children of active-duty military members. Active duty military members sometimes move every two to four years.

Arkansas is one of seven states that has not joined the compact. The others are Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, New York and New Hampshire. Washington D.C. also hasn’t joined the compact.

Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, said he filed the bill to support the active duty personnel at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, to help strengthen the base against future Pentagon cuts.

“First of all, it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It is so important to take care of the military families. And by doing so we help protect the future of the base. It’s very competitive out there.”

Many bases have been closed and consolidated over the past 20 years by the Pentagon in an effort to identify inefficient facilities and cut surplus infrastructure. Gov. Mike Beebe cited the continued vulnerability of all military installations as a reason for his support of the bill at a meeting of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council earlier this month.

“As we remain mindful of our men and women in uniform protecting us at home and those abroad, we have to take steps to help military families who find themselves stationed in Arkansas,” Beebe said in his State of the State address Jan 15. “I am supporting legislation to join an interstate education compact to give incoming students of these families a smoother transition into our schools.”

The bill would add Arkansas to a growing number of states that have entered into an agreement to accept each other’s educational requirements for the children of active duty servicemen who move between states. The measure would allow differing core requirements to be accepted between states for military children to allow them to graduate on time without having to duplicate some state-specific classes such as state history.

For example, right now an incoming high school student must take state history. If a student took state history in Texas while his parents were stationed there, however, it wouldn’t count.

“By law, we might not allow that student to graduate,” Williams said. “And we can’t have that.”

The compact allows students to carry their Advance Placement status between states and allows elementary schoolchildren placed in Gifted and Talented programs in other member states to enter the program in Arkansas without testing.

The compact was filed as legislation four years ago. It died in committee over concerns about funding.

The national compact requires member states to pay annual dues to pay for the administration of the compact and annual meetings of the state representatives. Dues are determined using a formula based on the size of each state and the number of eligible children. The national compact commission in 2011 set limits on dues, with a minimum of $2,000 per year and a maximum of $60,000.

“It’s a minimal cost to join the compact,” Williams said. “The feeling is our dues would be the minimum when we looked at it.”

He said the dues and the requirement of a state representative to serve on the national commission would not require general revenue funds, but be “absorbed” by the Arkansas Department of Education.

The fiscal impact statement filed Tuesday listed “Potential fiscal impact to the Arkansas Department of Education and Public School Fund Components,” as possible revenue affected by the compact because of the dues requirement and possible reprogramming needed for the Arkansas Public School Computer Network to track eligibility of students within specific districts.

The compact has been endorsed by the National School Boards Association and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/28/2013

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