Posted on August 31, 2007

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Post-Katrina Education Problems Linger

Two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, thousands of displaced students and millions of dollars in unfunded school reconstruction projects still plague the region, a new report from the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation finds.

Described as the first comprehensive, independent assessment of education along the Gulf Coast since the storm, the report, Education After Katrina (35 pages, PDF), found that only 2 percent of the government's hurricane-related funding went toward education recovery. And while the hurricane caused $6.2 billion in damages related to educational needs, only $1.2 billion in federal funding has been committed to restoring physical structures and property.

According to the report, displaced Gulf Coast students re-enrolled in schools in forty-nine states, but a lack of adequate federal funding meant that schools with the greatest number of displaced students had insufficient classrooms, staff, and supplies to support them. In addition, nearly one out of six students in Louisiana's public colleges and universities dropped out for the 2005-06 school year, while more than 26,000 students from Louisiana public colleges and almost 9,000 Mississippi college students remained out of school in 2006-07.

Based on an analysis of government data, school records, and private surveys, the report urges the federal government to adopt a "new response" to restoring public education in the region. Many members of Congress agree with that assessment. "I have seen firsthand that the post-hurricane response to rebuilding the public education infrastructure in the Gulf Coast has been inadequate and improvements must be made," wrote House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), who toured the region earlier this month as part of a government delegation, in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

But others urged caution. "[To resolve the situation] means doing a full assessment of what the childcare centers, preschools, and K-12 schools need to restore themselves," said Steve Suitts, the foundation's program director and author of the report. "That's a lot different from throwing a few million dollars into a bill as it's going through the hopper."

Byrd, Sheila. “Post-Katrina Education Problems Linger.” Associated Press 8/29/07.

Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): Hurricane Relief
Location(s): Atlanta, Georgia, Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Mississippi

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