The Department of Defense Education Activity’s Educational Partnership Branch is dedicated to every military child’s right to a quality education regardless of their location or how often their family moves.
DoDEA has more than 60 years of experience supporting military students within the DoD system around the world. Today force structure changes have created an urgent and ongoing need to enrich and expand partnerships with military-connected communities throughout the nation. DoD is committed to ensuring that the thousands of students being relocated throughout the nation because of these actions receive the best possible educational opportunities.
Today, of the 1.2 million children of military service members, approximately 80,000 -- or less than ten percent -- attend Department of Defense schools. The rest attend public or private schools or are home-schooled.
Service members often accept or decline assignments based on the availability of quality educational opportunities for their children. Quality K-12 education is also an important factor in retention. Additionally, service members are better able to focus on the mission when they know their family’s needs are being met – and that includes education for their children. These and other factors affect the military’s operational readiness.
In FY 2007, DoDEA received authority in the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act to work collaboratively with the Department of Education in efforts to ease the transition of military dependent students from attendance in DoDEA schools to attendance in schools local education agencies who educate military students.
The Educational Partnership promotes quality education, seamless transitions and deployment support for military students through outreach and partnership development. The Educational Partnership joins with and builds on the efforts of the military services, other DoD offices and agencies , and non-governmental organizations to promote policy enhancements/understandings at both the state and national levels.
The team also works with the Office of Economic Adjustment, the military services, and the U.S. Department of Education to facilitate DoD’s plan to provide assistance to LEAs that experience growth or loss as a result of force structure changes. The Partnership develops an annual Report to Congress articulating student growth projections, recommendations for appropriate means of assistance, and the DoD plan for outreach.
Working in concert with the U.S. Department of Education, the Educational Partnership manages the DoD Impact Aid program (Supplement, BRAC, and Children with Severe Disabilities) funding distributed annually to eligible military-connected school districts nationwide.
One effort the Partnership is involved in is the implementation of a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding between DoD and ED. coordinating the DoD/ED MOU Working Group and development of the Action Plan and articulating short- and long-term strategies.
