By Marc Jackson
As the phone in the superintendent’s office is answered, a frustrated parent’s voice calls out for help: “I am an exhausted military spouse who just arrived here at Fort Irwin from Fort Hood, Texas, and I have been told by one of your school principals that I can’t enroll my child until the official school records arrive here from Fort Hood. By the time those records arrive, my child will already be three weeks behind in her subjects. Can you help me?”
In California, there are approximately 93,750 military children, second to only Texas. According to the Department of Defense, about 1.5 million children of military families attend schools other than those sponsored by the Department of Defense.
The average military family moves between six and nine times between kindergarten and high school graduation. As their parents move from one military installation to another, children often face transition issues of their own. School records and Advanced Placement courses are not the only problems. Military children must cope with the stress of frequent moves, making new friends and leaving others behind. They have to become acquainted with new schools at awkward times and work out the details as they see their parents march off to another assignment, sometimes war.
The Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University has stated that “multiple relocations, as well as separation anxiety when parents are deployed, often play a role in military children’s school performance” (Washington Times, May 21, 2009). Since our country has been at war for eight years in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense reports that more that 700,000 children have been affected – left with a single parent or another relative while a parent deploys.
California joins the Interstate Compact
With the signing of the Interstate Compact in 2009, Gov. Schwarzenegger has taken a giant step to help reduce the tremendous turmoil that military families deal with as they transition from one installation to another; from one state to another. The signing of this legislation will lead to change at the state and local levels and ensure that California’s military children are afforded the same opportunities and educational success as their counterparts. Twenty-four states had adopted the Interstate Compact before California finally joined the effort. Each state must be willing to adopt the Compact through legislation, as participation is completely voluntary.
Military families encounter a host of challenges when dealing with school enrollment, eligibility, graduation or placement due to the frequent relocations in the course of service to our nation. The Compact addresses some of their problems and allows for a uniform treatment of these issues at the state and local district level.
The Council of State Governments, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense, drafted the Interstate Compact to address the educational transition issues for military families. Since July of 2006, CSG has been working with federal, state and local officials representing educational groups and military families to create the interstate agreement. The Compact provides a detailed governance structure at both the state and national levels with built-in enforcement and compliance mechanisms
Provisions of the interstate education compact
• Schools can use hand-carried education records to enroll and place students, pending validation by official records — those sent from the sending school district to the receiving one.
• A sending school district will have 10 days after it receives a request to process and furnish official records to the receiving school.
• States in the Compact will give 30 days from the date of enrollment for students to obtain any immunization required by the receiving state.
• Students will be allowed to continue their enrollment at grade level in the receiving state at the same grade level regardless of age.
• Students should be placed in educational courses — including Advanced Placement, honors, and vocational and technical programs — and in educational programs, such as gifted and talented, based on their enrollment in the sending state and/or educational assessments conducted in the sending state, if the courses are offered. However, the receiving state can still conduct its own evaluation.
• Students should receive the same special education services they received in the sending state.
• Local schools can waive course/program prerequisites for placement in courses/programs.
• Students should be granted additional excused absences for missed school related to the deployment activities of their parents. However, the compact allows the receiving state to determine how many additional excused absences should be granted.
• Local schools should waive specific courses, such as a state history class, required for graduation if similar course work has been satisfactorily completed in another state.
• States should accept exit or end-of-course exams required for graduation from the sending state, national norm-referenced achievement tests or alternate testing in lieu of testing requirements in the receiving state.
• Students who transfer during the senior year of high school and who become ineligible to graduate from the receiving districts should be able to receive a diploma from the sending district if the student meets graduation requirements for that district. The compact encourages both school districts to work together to achieve this result. If one jurisdiction is not a member of the compact, the member state will work with the nonmember state to achieve this result.
— Source: National Center for Interstate Compacts, 2008
Reducing bureaucratic barriers
Rather than having states operating under an interstate agreement without any national coordination, an Interstate Commission was created to provide a venue for solving issues and disputes. The Commission provides general oversight of the agreement, creates and enforces rules governing the Compact’s operations, and promotes training and compliance with the Compact’s requirements.
The Commission maintains various policy and operations committees, with each state allowed one vote. With this enforcement capacity, the Compact can be used to force states and districts to comply for the good of military children. Each state also has a council to provide coordination among its government agencies, local education agencies and military installations. Membership is determined by each state council.
The Compact is basic in scope, and its intent is to allow the rulemaking process to be dynamic in its ability to adapt to changing issues. The strength of the Compact will be reflected as problems are worked out at the local level. Consequently, by providing for a uniform treatment between school districts and states, some long-term bureaucratic barriers can be recognized so that transferring from one installation to another or from one state to another can be less traumatic and harmful.
Who is covered?
The new compact applies to children of:
1. Active duty members of the uniformed services, including members of the National Guard and Reserve on active duty orders;
2. Members or veterans of the uniformed services who are severely injured and medically discharged or retired for a period of one year after medical discharge or retirement; and
3. Members of the uniformed services who die on active duty or as a result of injuries sustained on active duty for a period of one year after death.
Who is not covered?
• Inactive members of the National Guard and military reserves;
• Members of the uniformed services now retired not covered above;
• Veterans of the uniformed services not covered above; and
• Other U.S. Department of Defense personnel and other federal agency civilian and contract employees not defined as active duty members of the uniformed services.
Schools key in quality of life
Military families place a high emphasis on the educational opportunities provided to their children. We know that 50 percent of today’s military leaders are former military dependents. We also know that good schools support readiness, recruitment and retention programs in an all-volunteer service. Schools will continue to be the key component in a quality of life program as reflected in the support for the Interstate Compact. Yet military children do not have the luxury of staying for long periods of time in one school district.
Though the diverse experiences of the military lifestyle have their rewards, we do know that it is not easy. Military families often live through long separations and continual deployments that reflect many moves and constant change. For their children, this lifestyle can be very difficult and stressful. Consequently, the Interstate Compact could not have come at a better time for California. By joining other states in service to our military families – who do so much for our nation – we are giving them the support they need and the opportunities their families deserve.
References
Connections. (Spring 2008). “New Compact Aims to Ease Education Challenges Faced by Military Children.” Lexington, KY: National Center for Interstate Compacts.
“Education compact endorsed,” Watertown Daily Times, June 5, 2009.
“Military transfers made easier on families,” The Washington Times, May 21, 2009.
“Lawmakers can smooth way for state’s military kids,” The News Tribune, Jan. 9, 2009.
“Teaching military families to make smooth move,” ENC Today, April, 28, 2009.
“Move After Move, Military Families Caught in Schools’ Red Tape,” Voices of San Diego, Dec. 4, 2008.
U.S. Department of Defense, No. 592-08, July 11, 2008.
“Military Families Number of Minors School Age Dependents (age 5-18),” Military Child Education Coalition, June 30, 2006.
Marc Jackson is superintendent of Silver Valley USD in Yermo, CA. It serves the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA. He is also a member of ACSA’s Superintendency Council.