Lawrence Morahan, CNSNews.com
Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2002

Some analysts fear the move, if implemented, could result in the closing of schools with a proven track record of academic success and send the students to inferior public schools.

Mike Antonucci, director of Education Intelligence Agency, a private research firm, said he supported the effort to cut federal dollars from education.

But the Defense Department could look at more appropriate ways to cut costs, including expensive weapons systems, pay raises and bureaucracy, and not its exemplary school system, Antonucci said.

"The schools do a good job, and it's clear they do a good job, especially with poor and minority students, so why do you want to close down those schools and send the students to public schools of less quality?" he said.

Cost cutters could also fix their sights on public schools across the country that are known to be doing a poor job but have somehow managed to retain funding, Antonucci said.

Study Contracts Worth $1.6 million

The DoD Education Agency recently awarded contractors $1.6 million over 15 months to examine the operational costs of individual DoD elementary and secondary schools in the United States, and to project the costs of transferring each of these schools to its local education agency.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the Pentagon could save $1.5 billion over the next 10 years by closing the schools.

But $1.1 billion of that would have to be paid to local communities to support the additional students, resulting in a possible net savings of $400 million, according to Federal Education Association, an affiliate of National Education Association.

The study would affect Pentagon schools at 14 bases in the United States, mostly in North Carolina and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia, and more than 32,000 students.

It would not affect 73,500 students in U.S. military schools overseas, including Guam and Puerto Rico.

While the possible savings is important, no decision should be made to transfer the schools without looking at the broad spectrum of issues, said Joyce Raezer, director of government relations with National Military Family Association.

"Our focus right now is to make sure that parent input is considered ... to make sure that we're comparing apples and apples and not apples and oranges," Raezer said.

In addition to the cost comparisons, analysts need to compare educational quality, standardized test scores, graduation rates and funding for special programs, she said.

High Achievers

Military schools boast the highest academic standards and the highest degree of parental involvement. In all subjects, military students' test scores are among the highest in the nation, even among students from families that barely clear the poverty line, studies show.

In addition, military schools have narrower achievement gaps between minorities and whites than public schools do.

The parents of enlisted and officer children favor living on base so that their children are eligible to attend Defense Department schools. Moreover, teachers favor Pentagon schools, where they have the support of administrators and parents, and where there is an atmosphere of discipline in classrooms, teachers said.

"Our organization's function is to make sure DoD gets all the info it needs to make a decision, that this isn't just a dollars-and-cents issue," Raezer said

Military families have concerns about quality and support by districts that understand the mobile lifestyle of DoD families, she said. They're also concerned about the funding differences between DoD and some of the surrounding local education agencies.

What marks the difference between this and studies of previous years is that researchers for the first time will look at each district individually, Raezer said. While they may find districts where they will recommend a transfer, any proposal will require congressional approval, she said.

The contracts also call for an estimate of construction and renovation costs of bringing some DoD schools into compliance with federal, state and local regulations of the local education agency.

DoD announced it awarded the contracts for the transfer study to the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute and the renovation estimates to the firm of Parkhill, Smith & Cooper.

Copyright CNSNews.com

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