FORT MEADE, Md. -- With the recent signing of a new state bill, Maryland joins the growing number of states linked by the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children.
The compact is a multistate agreement designed to facilitate a smoother educational transition for children of active-duty service members enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade as they relocate.
Gov. Martin O'Malley signed the bill into law May 19. It goes into effect Wednesday.
"The bill allows for easier transition and collaboration between schools," said Mike Raia, press secretary for Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown. "Their kids get caught up in unnecessary red tape for courses that do not transfer, or they can't play football or be in the school play because they just transferred. With the bill, we standardize the issues. Unfortunately, the bill is only an agreement for states that passed the bill."
Col. James Peterson, then-chief of the Directorate of Emergency Services, attended the signing in Annapolis on behalf of Installation Commander Col. Daniel L. Thomas. Four Fort Meade families -- a mix of Army, Navy and Air Force -- also attended, joined by Linda Redwine Bell, the installation's former school liaison who was actively involved in the bill's passage; Charli Nolan, director of School-Age Services; and other staffers.
"To me it was important because it is acknowledging that military children have different needs when it comes to educational stability," said Nolan, a military spouse and parent.
Maryland is the 20th state to join the compact that includes Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont and Washington.
The bill was introduced into the Senate by state Sen. John Astle and into the House of Delegates by Del. Anne Kaiser, who chairs the education subcommittee.
"The goal originally focused on 20 states with the greatest concentration of military kids -- the large ones first," Kaiser said. "Maryland is about the tenth largest. Last year, we were hoping to be in the first 10 that passed it to help set up the ground rules. But all the [participating] states will get together to work out the details. So we lost nothing in the delay and we were able to work through some issues."
The Interstate Compact was first developed in 2006 by the Council of State Governments, which reported that "the average military student faces transition challenges more than twice during high school, and most military children experience six to nine different school systems in their lives."
Frequent moves place graduating high school students in jeopardy of lacking credits when classes don't transfer. Schools may bar incoming children from enrolling because they did not receive official records in time. Students may be disqualified from joining an athletic team or club because they missed tryout dates.
"There will now be consistency when military families transition from state to state," Redwine Bell said.
The compact addresses registration deadlines, timely transfer of records, graduation requirements, course sequencing, course placement, exclusion from extra- curricular activities, entrance-age variations, immunizations, special education services, power of custodial parents and student absences related to deployment activities.
To facilitate on-time graduation, for example, the compact requires administrators to waive specific courses required for graduation if similar course work has been satisfactorily completed. If the waiver is not granted, the school must provide an alternative means of acquiring required course work.
"The school will look at transcripts and try to minimize additional classes the child has to take to graduate," Redwine Bell said.
After the bill was introduced, a Fort Meade delegation of military families and Redwine Bell, plus school liaison officers at Aberdeen Proving Ground and Andrews Air Force Base, testified Feb. 21, 2008, before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate's Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee.
"We gave testimony on the impact military families face in transition," Redwine Bell said.
A task force on Educational Issues Affecting Military Children was later formed that included Kaiser, Astle, members of the state Department of Education and school liaison officers from installations most affected by the Base Realignment and Closure process.
"We had to dissect the bill, how it would be applicable to military families, and write our recommendations to the governor," Redwine Bell said.
During Brown's visit to Fort Meade last September, military families and educators appealed to the lieutenant governor to help promote the agreement. Brown, a colonel in the Army Reserve who deployed to Iraq in 2004, testified Feb. 24 before the House Ways and Means Committee in support of the bill.
Passage of the bill was good news for Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Zorica Ambrose of U.S. Strategic Command (JFCC-NW), who attended the signing with her daughter, Alyssa Perry, 9. "I might deploy at a moment's notice," she said. "This bill will protect my child."
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