I have included in the previous paragraph the total Federal

and State owned property to emphasize the fact that there is less

than half of the real property in Okaloosa County that produces revenue for local school support.

It is my understanding that P.L. 874 was enacted in 1950 specifically to provide revenue to school districts in lieu of local ad valorem caxes where real property is removed from the tax rolls. If, in fact, that was the original intent of P.L. 874, then I submit to this Subcommittee that the Federal ownership of property in Okaloosa County has not changed since the original enactment of P.L. 874. Therefore, we feel very strongly that there is a current and continuing rationale for both category "A" and "B" funding in Okaloosa County. The primary purpose of our visit here with this Subcommittee today is to present a statement of justification for continuing the funding of category "B" students. Some of these are listed below:

1.

2.

The "B" pupil's parent works at a property that
cannot be taxed for school support. The "B" pupil
resides either in a rented or owned home off of
Federal property. However, only about one-half
of the property taxes in our school district are
paid on the basis of residential property, the
other half being paid on the basis of commercial,
industrial or agricultural property. Therefore,

the ratio of "B" pupil payments at one-half of
the "A" pupil payments was established according
to sound logic in the original Impact Aid law.
The conditions underlying the original Impact
Aid law have not changed.

The concept of general Federal aid to education
is closely approached by the Impact Aid philosophy.
The plan puts money where the need is. It puts
money in places where the heavy pupil load has been
placed. It puts money for education where Federal
activity has increased the pupil load and decreased
the tax base.

3. In most impacted school districts the greatest load
on the educational system has been imposed by the
influx of "B" pupils, rather than by any other kind
of pupils.

4.

To reduce the amount of Impact Aid still further
would be to continue the trend of withdrawing
support from school districts which have already
been made less able by reason of increased Federal
enrollment. Generally, reduced Impact Aid leaves
"B" pupils in school districts which are less
capable than their neighboring school districts
of providing an adequate or an excellent education.
Thus, the Federal government tends to reduce
educational opportunity for children of its
employees to a level below the average.

We have a student membership of 26,114. There are 8,762 eligible "B" category students which constitutes an eligibility of approximately $1,300,000. If these funds are deleted, the School Board has absolutely no legal way in which to replace them by local or state effort since we are currently levying the maximum millage allowable under state law. For a complete analysis of Okaloosa County's P.L. 874 entitlement and loss of revenue if the "B" category students are not funded see: Table 1--Public Law 874, IMPACT FUNDS, Approximate Revenue, 1976-77; Table 2--Student Membership, Analysis of P.L. 874, Okaloosa County, 1976-77; Table 3--Total Entitlement for Category "A" & "B" Students before Proration of Funds; Table 4--Estimated Operating Budget Part I, 1977-78. The educational program that we are offering at the present time and the opportunities for boys and

girls will be seriously damaged without this revenue.

There is a critical need to continue the funding of "B" students, preferably, at the original rate of one-half the amount paid for "A" students. The continued proration of funds during the past several years has created a fiscal nightmare in budget planning. On behalf of the office of Superintendent, the School Board

of Okaloosa County, the military contingency, and the people of Okaloosa County, I want to seriously appeal to you to support the funding of the "B" pupils and establish stability with this source of

Federal funds in order that we can be more effective and efficient

in planning educational programs for the 26,114 students that we

serve.