Schools Worry Over Military Base Closings

Pentagon Proposal Isn’t Final, but Some Districts Face Big Loss of Students

By Christina A. Samuels and Andrew Trotter

The Pentagon’s proposal to close or downsize dozens of military facilities nationwide has school districts facing the loss of federal impact aid and the military populations they have embraced over the years.

“This would be a tremendous loss,” Ann E. Shortt, the superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, school district, said of the proposal to radically downsize Eielson Air Force Base, where the district has three schools.

The district’s enrollment of about 14,500 students would decline by about 3,000 if the base some 23 miles south of the city of Fairbanks closes. The district stands to lose up to $10 million in federal impact aid and reduced enrollment-based state funding from its overall...