STATEMENT OF CHARLIE AKINS, SUPERINTENDENT, HARDIN COUNTY

PUBLIC SCHOOLS, ELIZABETHTOWN, KENTUCKY

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am Charlie Akins, Superintendent

of the Hardin County Schools, Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I am honored to appear

before a Committee that has had unparalleled effect in bringing about needed reform

and improvement in public education. I thank you for being allowed the opportunity

to make this statement.

I have been associated with the Hardin County Schools in various capacities for

the past 25 years, serving in the position of Superintendent for the last seven years. Throughout this period of service, I have also been closely associated with the

nature of the federal impact situation in our area as a result of the military

installation at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

In my opinion, this situation, except for some

changes in the numbers of students involved, basically remains the same as it did

in 1952.

Each succeeding Congress since the 81st has analyzed impact aid and has deter

mined that the circumstances prompting the establishment of this aid deserved and

justified continued federal assistance.

The wisdom and concern of the Congress over

these years has helped the Hardin County Schools to survive and maintain a reasonable

school program for the thousands of mobile, federally connected students who have

moved through our school system over these many years.

For the sake of brevity, I do not wish to explore all the problems that are

imposed on local school districts as a result of their close proximity to a large

military installation. I do, however, wish to emphasize four areas that constitute continuing difficultues for such school systems. It is imperative to the very existence of school programs such as ours that these problems be addressed by some level of

the federal government must concern itself with a solution to these difficulties

for so long as the following conditions continue to exist.

In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, there is a most definite lack of realistic

state equalization of financial resources per pupil. According to the latest

figures available, the disparity ranges from the state high per pupil expenditure

of $1,259 to a low of $430. Hardin County, with a per pupil expenditure of $762,

is some $70 below the state average per pupil expenditure of $832. I admit that

if Kentucky had true state equalization of educational funds, there would be no

need for the existence of federal impact aid to the local educational agency.

Although there is a move underway to initiate equalization in Kentucky, it will be

a

many years before this is completely achieved.

In addition, local school districts in Kentucky depend heavily on local property

taxes for a substantial portion of their total revenue per pupil. The average in

the state of Kentucky shows that local revenue makes up 33.7 per cent of total

receipts with state revenue supplying 51.6 per cent and federal revenue 14.7 per

cent.

Because of major diversities in the amount of assessment per child, this

dependence on local property taxes perpetuates an uneven distribution of revenue per

pupil across the state.

The tendency of P. L. 874 3(B) catagory student population

to dilute the local property tax assessment per pupil furthers and adds to this

problem.

The situation in the Fort Knox area, because of the concentration of 3(B)

students, is a good example of the local dilution of tax base. With the exception

of the per cent of school population being federally connected, the school districts

The following table shows the assessments

Because of the presence of industry and commercial development in the area of:

Elizabethtown in Hardin County that does not exist in such counties as Green and

Breckinridge, I contend that our assessment per pupil, if it were not for impact,

should exceed the assessments for both Green and Breckinridge counties.

It is also

significant that Meade County and Hardin County are the only districts with high

percentages of federal impact pupils.

Because of the mobile nature of many of the federally connected families, I feel that their presence reduces the local property tax assessment per pupil in the

following manner.

A. THE NATURE AND ASSESSMENT OF THE RESIDENTIAL HOUSING

OCCUPIED BY SUBSTANTIAL NUMBERS OF THESE PEOPLE

Hardin County has the greatest number of mobile homes per capita of any county

in Kentucky. We have 3,520 trailers located in 183 trailer parks.

Some 85 per cent

of these parks are located within a fifteen minute drive of the Fort Knox post. Over

1,000 additional mobile homes are located on lots and small farms, the majority of

which are situated in the north end of the county adjacent to the military post. The tax assessor's office reports that slightly over 50 per cent of these mobile homes

appear on the tax rolls.

One of his major problems is the ownership of these mobile

homes by military personnel. The Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act and Kentucky's classification of mobile homes as personal property allows military personnel to be exempt from the local property tax levy. In the event a mobile home is on the tax

rolls, it would generate an average school tax payment of $18.88.

Federally connected families, because of the limited term of their expected stay

in the district, tend to be renters rather than owners of residential property.

The

value of available rental property is substantially less than the average value of

residential property occupied by the owner. These major factors concerning the housing

of impact families continue to keep our revenue per pupil one of the very lowest in

the nation at $762 for FY 76.

B. TOTAL LACK OF ASSESSMENT ON PROPERTY CONNECTED

WITH THE POINT OF EMPLOYMENT

Several thousand residents of Hardin County work on post in government facilities

worth millions of dollars but, because of government ownership, no local school tax

is paid on the wealth at this point of employment. In a normal situation, close to

50 per cent of the school district's property tax revenue is derived from taxes on

property connected with points of employment. On these people, our only major source

of revenue is from taxation connected with their residence.

In the area adjacent to Fort Knox, where approximately 80 per cent of our impact

population reside, we find commercial and service property development being dictated

by commercial and service activities conducted on post. Businesses that one would

expect to find in a normal city of 14,000 to 18,000 do not exist.

In the Radcliff

Vine Grove area, medical facilities are practically absent, hardly any entertainment

and recreational establishments exist, and an extremely small number of retail businesses

are operating for a community this size. Also, industry is noticably absent in the

area.

Commercial development in the community cannot pay local taxes and compete with

these same types of businesses that operate tax free on the military post. Further

serving to discourage commercial and service development is the fact that many impact

families have remained in this area upon retirement to use their post privileges. This directly affects the commercial assessments and the total tax base for the

school district.

Couples who come to the Fort Knox area because of the federal activity do so for

employment opportunities during their working years.

Most of these couples are of an

age to have school age children.

This has a tendency to increase the average number

of children per family in the district above the average, thus making a further

contribution to the dilution of the tax base per student.

Hardin County has been faced with providing school programs and facilities for

an everchanging student population. Changes made by the Department of Defense for military or other reasons have brought about sudden changes in the numbers and makeup

of the 3(B) impact student population. As an example of this, the elimination of the

draft and its effects on the administration of on-post family housing in 1973 and

1974 resulted in a net loss in the northern half of Hardin County of 162 students in

grades 1-7 during this period and an increase of 281 students in grades 8--12. Prior

to this period, our impact population was heavily in grades 1-4.

Another prime example would be the reactivation of the 194th Armored Brigade.

In February of 1976, this brigade was operating at 30 per cent strength.

By December,

1976, it had been increased to 111 per cent of normal brigade strength. This action

was largely responsible for creating an increase of 206 students in the immediate area

of the post.

In addition to this, we suffer shifts of total numbers from year to year and some