When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Making Sure Every Child Is Counted



It's been a long time since I had a child in school, but I remember the deluge of forms that heralded the beginning of a new school year. Among those forms today is a Federal Survey Card. Schools send these cards home in the early part of October. By taking a few minutes to complete this card, parents and guardians allow schools to report an accurate number of military dependents enrolled. This data is the only way that schools are able to qualify for Federal Impact Aid funding.

By returning Federal Survey Cards, school districts with significant numbers of military children will receive funding from the federal government through the Impact Aid Program. The Impact Aid Program directly compensates local school districts for local revenue lost due to the presence of federally owned, and therefore tax-exempt, property, as well as costs incurred due to “federally connected” students, such as the children of armed services personnel working at a nearby military base. Unlike most other forms of educational assistance, Impact Aid disburses roughly $1.3 billion annually in unrestricted Federal funds directly to local school districts rather than through state agencies.

Schools face many fiscal challenges today, negatively impacting all children’s education. Lamentably, in the past, return rates of the Federal Survey Card have been low. Active participation is the only way to ensure that public schools receive the federal aid dollars to which they are entitled. A low return rate leads to loss of federal dollars that could otherwise benefit military children’s education.
Posted by About AART at 7:54 AM

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