The e-mail newsletter of the Council of Chief State School Officers

• CCSSO Relief Update: Introduction
• CCSSO Taking Inventory of Specific Chief Requests
• ED’s Proposal to Congress
• CCSSO Joins ED Hurricane Katrina Taskforce
• Toolkit Distribution
• Toolkit Production
• CCSSO Katrina Contact Named

CCSSO Relief Update: Introduction

On Wednesday, September 14, 2005, CCSSO convened a conference call with over 30 chief state school officers, state education agency (SEA) staff, and U.S. Department of Education (ED) officials. This call provided us an opportunity to hear directly from our colleagues most affected by Hurricane Katrina. In addition, we were able to discuss ways to best distribute toolkits that many of the schools in other states have collected for the students affected by Katrina. We were pleased to be joined by Secretary Margaret Spellings and Deputy Secretary Ray Simon so they could share ED’s efforts/priorities and listen to the needs of our members.

We want to thank all of the participants for joining us and have created this special edition Chiefline to give you the most current information regarding our efforts.

CCSSO Taking Inventory of Specific Chief Requests

Our affected members took the opportunity during last week’s call to thank their colleagues and everyone who has donated resources to make sure students and teachers are able to "do school" with some semblance of normalcy.

We ask that chiefs e-mail katrinarelief@ccsso.org with specific needs within their states as they become aware of them. CCSSO is developing a clearinghouse that will allow us to easily match donors to your schools. Also, if you have identified a key Katrina contact person in your SEA, please provide contact information to katrinarelief@ccsso.org.

We are also interested in what steps your state education agency took to bring in displaced students and respond to this natural disaster. When you are able, please send this information to katrinarelief@ccsso.org so that it may be shared with your colleagues for future use.

U.S. Department of Education’s Proposal to Congress

Last week, our members had another opportunity to talk with ED officials. During a call on Friday, September 16, 2005, ED announced to our members that it is proposing to Congress up to $2.35 billion in federal funding for elementary and secondary school relief. This figure is based on current estimates that approximately 372,000 students from Louisiana and Mississippi are unable to attend their local schools due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

As evacuated families relocate, officials at all levels of educational administration are urging parents to quickly enroll their children in school wherever they are. To cope with the strain on receiving school systems, ED is proposing up to $1.9 billion total to school districts enrolling 10 or more displaced students. Funding would be granted to districts based on its state’s average per pupil expenditure for education. The district would receive up to 90% of that figure for each student taken in, to a maximum of $7,500 per child. Funding would go directly to the state governments in LA and MS to divide among districts appropriately.

In addition, largely due to the fact that impacted communities in LA had above average numbers of students enrolled in private schools, ED is proposing up to $488 million to compensate families for costs associated with attending private schools.

According to Assistant Secretary of Education Tom Luce, FEMA will be in charge of school reconstruction efforts in the three affected states (AL, LA, and MS). For more information, view ED’s proposal summary.

CCSSO Joins ED Hurricane Katrina Taskforce

ED has turned to CCSSO and its membership to form a taskforce so that we are able to coordinate our assistance efforts with the federal government. ED officials announced that they are currently working on a number of items to help our members and their school systems, including but not limited to issues of financial disbursement, special education and highly qualified teacher requirements, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the McKinney-Vento Act.

We were delighted that ED will continue to work with CCSSO to identify areas in which they might be able to grant flexibility to affected states. Please click here to view the letter from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to chiefs regarding Hurricane Katrina, available resources, and examples of the areas in which flexibility will be available.

Toolkit Distribution

Immediately after the hurricane, we encouraged members to create toolkits for displaced students and teachers. At this time, we are receiving exact mailing locations from the chiefs and their state education staffs and will distribute the specifics on our Katrina website. Thank you for your patience.

If you need to send your donations now, please know that schools have identified and included their specific requests for materials and contact information on ED’s Katrina Relief site.

Toolkit Production

Thanks to the outpouring of support, our needs have been met! Based on the phone calls and emails we received, there are now enough toolkits prepared.

CCSSO Katrina Contact Named

To meet the needs of our chiefs, we have hired an intern from Tulane University to coordinate our relief work at CCSSO. Philip Pascucci started on Monday, September 19. Please send all specific Katrina-related inquiries and comments to him at katrinarelief@ccsso.org or at 202-312-6425.

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public.