Secretary DeVos Announces New Federal Assistance for the Education of Displaced Students
WASHINGTON – 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.
Twenty states and the U.S. Virgin Islands
received awards in the amounts of:
 For additional information on the programs for K-12 schools and school districts, please contact Paul Kesner at Paul.Kesner@ed.gov.
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