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ORANGE COUNTY, N.Y. -- A federal budget proposal calls for the elimination of the Impact Aid program. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer are pushing to keep that program alive because they say its end would be devastating for the Highland Falls School District.
Impact Aid is a federal program that provides funding to districts that include land that is federally owned. More than 90 percent of the Highland Falls School District's land is exempt from taxes because it's federally and state owned.
The senators say the program provided $1.9 million last year to make up for the loss of property tax funds. They say losing this funding could result in layoffs, cancellation of sports and music programs and other negative impacts.
Schumer and Gillibrand sent a letter to fellow senators which reads in part, "Eliminating this funding would have serious ramifications for the community in and around West Point and the over 250 other school districts around the country that rely on these funds to operate. We feel the federal government should continue with the promise it made in 1938 to contribute to the education of students in areas where their land was removed from potential taxation."