New state law eases school moves for military families

Fayetteville, N.C. — North Carolina on Thursday joined a group of 10 states that have a uniform standard for educating students from military families.

In a ceremony at E.E. Miller Elementary School, Gov. Mike Easley signed Senate Bill 1541 into law, allowing the state to become part of the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. The compact was created by the Council of State Governments and the Department of Defense to make it easier for students to move between districts and states.

The Defense Department said 1.5 million students in military families attend schools outside the military installations to which their parents are assigned. About 13,000 Fayetteville public school students comes from military families.

Military families are three times more likely to move than a civilian family, officials said.

The interstate compact creates uniform standards for transferring school records, course placement, testing and graduation requirements.

Another 10 states have legislation pending that would add them to the compact.

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And military moves are usually in the summer because school starts everywhere else in this country in Late August or September. Military families moving to wake county that are forced into year round will be starting well after everyone else.

dianadarling
August 7, 2008 9:42 p.m.

Glad to see this. Kids of the miltary have enough difficulties.

States and school districts act like little kingdoms with their requirments. My daughter was a foreign exchange student in Austrailia. She came back her for here senior year. They were not going to let her graduate (a 4.0 honor roll student in mostly AP courses) because the Austrilia courses didn't include enough physical education courses! No exception would be made. Finally she had to waste part of here senior year taking an extra gym class -- instead of another AP course. How stupid.

Her impression of Austrialian schools -- miles ahead of the US. They actually taught courses, corrected papers and encouraged students to learn.

ohmygosh
August 7, 2008 1:07 p.m.