Defense Primer: DOD Dependents Overseas Schools (DODDS)

July 22, 2025

Defense Primer: DOD Dependents Overseas Schools (DODDS)

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA)

manages 161 schools in 11 foreign countries, seven states,

Guam, Puerto Rico, and a virtual school. DODEA

organizes these schools in two separate but similar systems:

Figure 1. Number of DODEA Schools, by Region

• the Department of Defense Dependents Schools

(DODDS) system, authorized under 20 U.S.C. §§926 et

seq., and

• the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent

Elementary and Secondary School (DDESS) system,

authorized under 10 U.S.C. §2164 (see CRS In Focus

IF10335, Defense Primer: DOD Domestic School

System).

DODDS serves children of military personnel stationed

outside of the United States and its territories, and operates

107 schools and one virtual school, with an enrollment of

about 45,000 students (see Figure 1 and Figure 2).

Background

The origins of DODDS system can be traced back to the

post-World War II (WWII) era. According to DODEA, “At

the end of the war, there was no precedent to follow for

establishing and operating dependents schools in foreign

occupied countries and quite often, parents organized small

schools.” For example, prior to WWII, such schools were

established in the Philippines (1918) and in Guantanamo

Bay, Cuba (1936).

By the end of the 1940s, the Army, Navy, and Air Force

separately operated almost 100 schools around the world. In

1959, Congress passed the Defense Department Overseas

Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act (P.L. 86-91)

requiring DOD to prescribe regulations for teacher

compensation and benefits, conditions for employment, and

other matters relevant to DOD’s overseas schools.

In January 1964, the Secretary of Defense reorganized the

overseas school system by placing the responsibility for all

schools within a given geographic area on one service

branch with oversight by the Assistant Secretary of Defense

for Manpower. Thus, the Department of the Army was

made responsible for academic administration in Europe,

the Navy for schools in the Atlantic, and the Air Force for

schools in the Pacific.

In 1978, Title XIV of P.L. 95-561, the Defense

Dependents’ Education Act of 1978, established the

Defense Dependents’ Education System (DDES). This

legislation required the Secretary of Defense to provide to

eligible overseas dependents a “free,” “high quality,” public

education. DOD renamed the DDES as the Department of

Defense Dependent Schools (DODDS) in 1979.

Source: DODEA, 2025.

Note: Virtual school not included in graphic.

Operations, Staffing, and Funding

Under 20 U.S.C. §931, the Secretary of Defense has the

authority to issue regulations for overseas schools, to

include educational goals and objectives, curricula

standards, professional standards and certification criteria

for DODDS employees, and arrangements for logistical

support, among other matters, to “ensure the efficient

organization and operation” of the system.

Staffing

Most DODDS school employees are federal civilians and

subject to civil service authorities under Title 5 of the U.S.

Code. To determine whether teacher qualifications meet

DODEA standards, its Licensure Unit “will evaluate State

teaching certificates and transcripts before final job offers

are made.”

Budget

Defense-wide Operation and Maintenance (O&M)

appropriations provide the DODDS budget. The DODDS

budget includes salaries for the estimated 6,600 staff, as

well as supplies and equipment. DODDS also may get

funding from other accounts, such as Procurement and

Military Construction.

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Defense Primer: DOD Dependents Overseas Schools (DODDS)

Table 1. DODDS O&M Funding

Current dollars in thousands

O&M

FY2024

(actual)

$1,246,809

FY2025

(enacted)

$1,262,306

FY2026

(request)

$1,319,786

Source: DOD FY2026 budget estimates, DOD Dependents

Education Activity account.

Enrollment Eligibility

Those primarily eligible for enrollment in DODDS include

dependents (minor children) of (1) active duty

servicemembers, (2) full-time DOD civilian employees, and

(3) locally hired U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals (see 20

U.S.C. §§923, 923a and 932 and DODEA Administrative

Instruction 1344.01). These dependents and certain

dependents of foreign military allies are eligible for spacerequired, tuition-free enrollment per DODEA regulations.

Other federally connected children may be eligible to enroll

on a space-available, tuition-paying or tuition-free basis.

Federally connected eligibility includes minor dependents

of federal (non-DOD) employees, contractors, host-nation

and third-country military or diplomatic personnel, and

non-command sponsored personnel. Non-federally

connected children are generally eligible in the lowest

priority category and may include dependents of U.S.

citizen expatriates and foreign nationals, under some

conditions.

Non-DOD Schools Program (NDSP)

DOD is authorized by 20 U.S.C. §926(b) to provide

financial support for dependents attending non-DOD

schools when there is not an available DODEA school in

overseas locations (see DODEA Administrative Instruction

5035.01). Per these regulations, this benefit is available

only to command-sponsored dependents. This DODEA

guidance permits fee assistance with established rates for

(1) school at post; (2) school away from post; (3) home

study, private instruction (PI), and virtual school (VS); or

(4) special needs education.

Oversight

Under 20 U.S.C. §930, the DODEA Director “may from

time to time, but not more frequently than once a year,

provide for a comprehensive study of the entire defense

dependents’ education system.” The law requires

transmittal of this report to Congress along with

recommendations for legislation and funding. Congress

might consider whether the periodicity and scope of this

reporting requirement provides for adequate oversight.

Figure 2. DODEA Domestic and Overseas Schools

Source: CRS graphic derived from DODEA sources.

Note: DODDS also manages the DODEA Virtual High School.

Kristy N. Kamarck, Specialist in Military Personnel

IF13070

Hannah Fischer, Senior Research Librarian

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Defense Primer: DOD Dependents Overseas Schools (DODDS)

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