John Sarbanes: “The amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that the Department of Defense should set aside funds to assist those…”

“The amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that the Department of Defense should set aside funds to assist those school districts with school-aged populations that are severely affected by the Army's Residential Communities Initiative-- RCI. In essence, it urges the Department to build and improve its housing with an eye toward the needs of the surrounding civilian community, to contribute to that community's public school system and to assist with those expansions and accommodations that are driven by an increased military presence. In 1996, the Department began a project that will result in approximately 120,000 new housing units at 34 installations across the United States. The increase in family housing units will bring a corresponding increase in school-age children to these bases. These children will be educated primarily at public schools. Indeed, of the approximately 750,000 current school-aged children of members of the active duty Armed Forces in the United States, approximately 650,000 attend public schools.”