Secretary DeVos Announces New Federal Assistance for the Education of Displaced Students

  • 08/14/18

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced today a total of approximately $359.8 million in new federal assistance for 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands under the Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program (Emergency Impact Aid). The program assists with the cost of educating students displaced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria or the 2017 California wildfires.

"The impact of natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires goes beyond the disaster area. The effects are felt nationwide, especially in those communities that take in displaced students and families," said Secretary DeVos. "This additional funding will ensure schools serving displaced students are able to meet their unique needs under such difficult circumstances."

Under the Emergency Impact Aid program, the Department is authorized to award funds to eligible state educational agencies (SEAs) to enable them to make payments to eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) and eligible Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools for the cost of educating during the 2017-2018 school year public and non-public school students displaced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, or the 2017 California wildfires.

These awards were made based on the quarterly counts of displaced students that are included in the SEA applications for Emergency Impact Aid. The statute specifies that the annual per-pupil amounts shall be the sum of $9,000 for each displaced student who is an English learner, $10,000 for each displaced student who is a child with a disability; and $8,500 for each student who is not reported as a child with a disability or an English learner.

Congress appropriated a combined amount of approximately $2.5 billion for Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) and Emergency Impact Aid programs. The amounts awarded under each program are based on demand and specific data received from eligible applicants. The Department anticipates granting a second round of Emergency Impact Aid awards in the coming weeks which will include awards for both California and Puerto Rico.

To see a list of the 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands and amount of rewards they received, go here.

Featured

  • RenewAire Releases DX Cooling Coil for Two Existing Energy Recovery Ventilators

    HVAC and indoor-air-quality solutions provider RenewAire recently launched the new HE+DX Coil, a duct-mounted system for the company’s existing HE07 and HE10 energy recovery ventilators (ERVs).

  • Georgia State University Plans Campus Transformation

    Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga., recently received an $80-million gift that will go toward the largest campus transformation project in university history, according to a news release. The contribution from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation will go toward a planned $107 million in campus upgrades across nine projects in downtown Atlanta.

  • UTEP Celebrates Construction Milestone for New Academic Building

    The University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas, recently held a “topping out” ceremony for its new learning complex, Texas Western Hall, according to university news. The construction milestone marks the placement of the last beam of a structure in progress.

  • Texas A&M Breaks Ground on New Space Institute

    The Texas A&M University Space Institute recently broke ground next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, according to a news release. The Nov. 15 groundbreaking ceremony followed the Nov. 7 approval by the Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents of $200 million for the facility’s construction.

Digital Edition