President Bush signed appropriations legislation on December 30, 2005, that will provide emergency federal funding to both public and non-public (private) schools who have enrolled students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita during the 2005-2006 school year. The funding will be as follows:
· Up to $6,000 per regular program student
· Up to $7,500 per Individual Disability Education Act (IDEA) student.
The funding will be distributed in four payments throughout the remainder of 2005-2006 school year. In order to receive this aid, school districts/local education agencies (LEAs) will need to follow the procedures outlined in this Commissioner’s Memo and meet ALL federally mandated deadlines.
Districts will be required to do the following:
1. Provide counts of K-12 students displaced by the hurricanes enrolled in the LEA and private schools located within the district’s boundaries on the following dates:
a. October 3, 2005 (this form)
b. December 1, 2005 (this form)
c. February 1, 2006
d. April, 3, 2006
(These counts should be available in each school district’s Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) system by computing the number of K-12 students coded either