Now that all 50 states have adopted the Interstate Compact for Educational Opportunity for Military Children, states are in various stages of implementing aspects of the agreement regarding transitions of military children from school to school.
The military doesn't have the authority to enforce the compact, but are is doing what they it can to encourage school districts to follow the compact, officials told a family forum at the Association of the US Army. And they want families to let them know when schools are not following the provisions of the compact.
Among other things, the compact addresses issues related to transferability of academic course credits, participation in extracurricular academic, athletic and social activities.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said the military has no official legal sanctions they can use, but school liaison officers around the country do monitor the feedback from the families, and commands may work with the schools to let them know about the compact's provision that their state has adopted.
If that doesn't work, he said, there's the option of talking about it "in the public sphere. …We prefer states do it of their own volition,"Milley said. "For the most part, it's being done."
But Milley urged families to get the information to him if they're seeing that a certain state is not adhering to the compact
"Don't assume we know," he said.
As part of the compact structure, a commission was formed to enforce the provisions of the compact, with voting members from each participating state.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
