Human Services News

From Education Newsfeed:

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced today that over $60 million in foreign aid donations have been awarded, and $235 million in supplemental funding from the Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program also has been made immediately available to rebuild, restart school operations and meet the education needs of displaced students in Gulf Coast states.

Secretary Spellings, Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding Donald Powell and U.S. Department of State Under Secretary for Management Henrietta Fore met with New Orleans-area university presidents at the University of New Orleans Alumni Center.

Foreign aid donations of $30 million will be awarded to higher education institutions damaged by the storm in Louisiana and Mississippi.

According to Under Secretary Fore, "The United States received 151 offers of assistance from foreign governments, international organizations and private citizens---from countries rich and poor, businesses, associations, students and senior citizens.

The supplemental funding, which Congress has appropriated under the Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program, also will help K-12 schools and students in the hurricane-affected states.

This funding will provide assistance to local education agencies for the cost of educating students enrolled in public and nonpublic schools who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita during the 2005-06 school year.

I thank the Department of Education and the other donors for their generosity.

The U.S. Department of Education also recently notified institutions of higher education who were closed or severely impacted by the storms of an additional $50 million in new funds, part of the same supplemental aid package passed by Congress and signed into law in June 2006.

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