U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

September 30, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

Fountain/ Ft. Carson School Children Slated To Receive Over $1M in Federal Education Funds Denied By Washington Earlier This Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Fountain-Ft. Carson School District, which educates the children of Fort Carson, is poised to regain access to over $1 million in federal education funds which were taken from the schools earlier this year on a technicality. The funds would be returned to the District under an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2006 (HR 2863) introduced by United States Senator Ken Salazar.

“These children and families have already given up so much for our Nation. We shouldn’t be asking them to forego over $1 million in education funds because of a technical mistake,” said Senator Salazar.

Senator Salazar’s amendment (S.A. 1903) to the Defense Appropriations Act corrects a technical misunderstanding between the Fountain-Ft. Carson School District and the Department of Education. In doing so, it restores $1.2 million in Impact Aid federal education funding to the children of the service personnel in Fort Carson, Colorado. The money that has already been appropriated is sitting untouched at the Department of Education.

Earlier this year, the Fountain-Ft. Carson School District was denied access, by the Department of Education, to $1.2 million in federal funds set aside for that school district’s programs. The denial came after the district filed its paper application for the funds on time but failed to submit its application electronically on time, the first time the District had missed a Department deadline.

As a result of the lost funds, Fountain-Ft. Carson School District:

  • Faced the risk of firing as many as 12 teachers, teacher’s aides and administrative positions;
  • Froze hiring of in-classroom educational aides for the District’s nearly 800 children with mental or physical disabilities;
  • Was unable to purchase new and updated textbooks for its 1,300 high school students; and
  • Cut funding for staff training and development.

Over 60 percent of the 5,500 students in Fountain-Ft. Carson School District are the children of thousands of service men and women serving our nation at the Fort Carson military base. Over 11,000 soldiers from Fort Carson are currently deployed in Iraq, over one-half of the Fort’s total force, with many starting their second or third tour of duty in Iraq.

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