A new Department of Defense study will examine the future of on-base schools.
Parents with children who attend base schools will receive a letter explaining the assessment, which is being conducted by the National Defense Research Institute and is expected to be completed by summer.
Nationwide, 23,000 students attend DOD schools at 60 locations across 15 military installations.
The study will consider five alternatives to the way DOD schools are operated and may include, but are not limited to, retaining the status quo; closing on-base schools, transferring schools and students to another authority, such as the local school district; keeping the same district boundaries but establishing a new local education agency; or setting the schools up as charter schools, according to Elaine Kanellis, a spokeswoman for DOD schools.
A similar study was conducted in 2003, she said, but several factors have since affected military communities and schools, such as a decade of war, multiple deployments, and frequent separations of service members. The study will also consider changes that have occurred in the educational world such as exams, practices, and programs directly related to the classroom.
