HIDOE Urges Parents to Complete Federal Survey Cards

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education sent a Federal Survey Card home with Hawaiʻi’s public school students on Wednesday (Sept. 5, 2018).  Parents are strongly urged to complete the surveys and return them to their schools as soon as possible.

The completed Impact Aid survey cards will allow the DOE to qualify for a partial reimbursement for educating federally connected students, such as children whose parents work or live on federal property.

Completed survey forms will benefit students at all public schools statewide. In Hawaiʻi, Impact Aid reimbursements help to offset such costs as student transportation, school utilities, substitute teachers, portable classrooms and many others necessities.

The program was created by Congress to assist school districts that lose tax revenues (e.g. income, sales and property taxes) due to a federal presence. Received funds go to all qualifying local school districts and can be used to hire teachers, purchase textbooks and computers, pay for utilities and more.

Every public school has a 100% return rate goal in order to better fund the DOE and support its students and faculty.

“Federal Impact Aid funds contribute about $35 million annually and support all of our public schools statewide,” said Dr. Christina Kishimoto, HIDOE Superintendent. “Each school is eligible to receive additional funds based on the number of surveys completed and returned, so we ask parents to support their local school in maximizing access to these funds.”

For more information, visit HIDOE’s Impact Aid Program webpage.