President Bush signed appropriations legislation on December 30, 2005, (Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program governed by the Hurricane Education Recovery Act found at http://www.ed.gov) to provide emergency federal funding to both eligible public and eligible non-public (private) schools that have enrolled and provided instructional services to K-12 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 Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) student.
The funding is being distributed in four payments throughout the school year. In order to receive this aid, districts (local educational agencies or LEAs) must follow the procedures outlined in this Commissioner’s Memo and meet ALL federally mandated deadlines.
Districts are required to follow the outlined procedures:
1. Provide counts of K-12 students displaced by the hurricanes enrolled and receiving instructional services in the LEA and non-public schools located within the district’s boundaries on the following dates:
a. October 3, 2005 (already submitted)
b. December 1, 2005 (already submitted)
c. February 1, 2006 (this form)
d. April, 3, 2006
(Counts are available in each district’s Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN) system by computing the number of K-12 students coded either K (Hurricane Katrina) or Q (Hurricane Rita) on each of the dates listed above. It is imperative that all students displaced by hurricanes Katrina or Rita are correctly entered into the APSCN system. Non-public schools located in the district’s boundaries must be contacted and provided all forms necessary to apply for funding.)
2. Provide counts and a list of displaced K-12 students enrolled and receiving instructional services in local non-public (private) schools and collect and maintain appropriate forms – Certification by Non-Public Schools and Applications by Parent or Guardian. Please use the attached parent/guardian form to submit the February 1 numbers. Note: LEAs must submit all non-public school forms to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) – Certification by Non-Public Schools and Applications by Parent or Guardian (must be signed by the parent or guardian of the private school student).
3. Download the attached February 2006 LEA application and non-public school forms and fax the completed forms to the attention of: John Kunkel, Associate Director for Finance, Arkansas Department of Education at 501-683-5391 by 4:30 p.m. February 10, 2006.
· Application by LEA – February 2006
· Quarterly Numbers of Displaced Students – February 2006
· Process Description Forms – February 2006
· Certification by Non-Public Schools – February 2006
· Applications by Parent or Guardian – February 2006
· A list of names of the displaced non-public school students.
4. Make a copy of the Emergency Impact Aid forms to keep and send a signed hardcopy by mail postmarked no later than February 13, 2006, to John Kunkel, Associate Director for Finance, Arkansas Department of Education, Room 204-A, 4 State Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201.
The Arkansas Department of Education will compile and submit all information to the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE). USDOE will issue funds to the ADE to be distributed to districts based on the data provided. Once ADE receives payment from the federal government, Emergency Impact Aid payments will be disbursed to the eligible LEAs within 14 days. The LEAs will in turn make payments to eligible local non-public schools within 14 calendar days of receiving payments from the ADE.
Districts are to obligate the funds by July 31, 2006. Obligations must be liquidated within 90 days of this July 31 date. ADE will issue the restrictions regarding expenditures of these funds with the accompanying code information when it issues the payments to the districts.