The state Department of Education will receive about $3.9 million in additional federal funding this year to help pay for the educational costs of students who are dependents of military personnel or other federal employees.

The money is in addition to $43.3 million that the DOE receives annually from the federal government for so-called "military impact aid" for Hawai'i's public schools.

Impact aid reimburses school districts for a portion of the costs to educate federally affiliated students. That's because families connected to military installations generally do not pay local property or state taxes, which fund public schools.

Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto said the additional federal money will go a long way toward helping public schools during the state's fiscal crisis.

"In these time of budget constraints, we must pursue all sources of funding to support quality education for our students," Hamamoto said in a news release.

Impact aid is sent directly to school districts by the federal government to fund operational expenses such as textbooks, computers, utilities and salaries.

The state has more than 29,000 federally affiliated students and will now receive about $47 million in impact aid, or an average of $1,620 per student.

However, impact aid is considered just a partial reimbursement for what the state spends to educate military dependent students. The DOE spends an average of $10,354 per pupil, per year.

State Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Newtown, Waiau, Pearl City), has led the effort since 2002 to secure additional impact aid for Hawai'i.

Over the past six years, Takai has helped to increase Hawai'i's share of impact aid by some $31 million. He's pursued an obscure provision in the federal law that grants additional funds for children displaced because of housing renovations occurring on military installations.

The federal government provides significantly more money for students from military families living on base as opposed to military families living off base. For instance, in the DOE's Central District, which includes Pearl Harbor and Schofield Barracks, impact aid for an on-base student is about $5,000, compared with about $730 for an off-base child.