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Times Herald-Record: Senators, Hayworth seek to keep aid for Highland Falls

By Michael Randall

HIGHLAND FALLS — Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have asked their fellow senators to keep funding a federal aid program that reimburses the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery School District for a big chunk of untaxable land.

President Obama's proposed fiscal 2013 budget called for ending the section of the impact aid program that has brought as much as $2.5 million to Highland Falls each year for the 72 percent of its land it can't tax because it's part of West Point.

Schumer and Gillibrand on Wednesday released a letter they sent to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services.

The senators wrote that the cut "will be devastating to many districts," especially Highland Falls, whose high school student body includes children of families stationed at West Point.

Meanwhile, Rep. Nan Hayworth sent a similar letter to the heads of the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, stressing that "the loss of federal assistance to offset the loss of taxes associated with federal lands poses significant hardship" to Highland Falls.

Hayworth also sent a letter recently to Highland Falls residents assuring them she is pushing for as much impact aid as possible.