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23–696 PDF 2005

S. HRG. 109–214

KATRINA’S DISPLACED SCHOOL CHILDREN

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND EARLY 

CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, 

LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

EXAMINING FEDERAL AND STATE EFFORTS TO MEET THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS AND FAMILIES DISPLACED BY HURRICANE KATRINA

SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

(

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming, Chairman 

JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire 

BILL FRIST, Tennessee 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

TOM HARKIN, Iowa 

BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland 

JAMES M. JEFFORDS (I), Vermont 

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico 

PATTY MURRAY, Washington 

JACK REED, Rhode Island 

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York 

KATHERINE BRUNETT MCGUIRE, Staff Director 

J. MICHAEL MYERS, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee, Chairman 

JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming (ex officio) 

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut 

TOM HARKIN, Iowa 

JAMES M. JEFFORDS (I), Vermont 

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico 

PATTY MURRAY, Washington 

JACK REED, Rhode Island 

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York 

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts (ex 

officio) 

CHRISTINE C. DODD, Staff Director 

GRACE A. REEF, Minority Staff Director 

(II) 

C O N T E N T S 

STATEMENTS

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

Page 

Lott, Hon. Trent, a U.S. Senator from the State of Mississippi .......................... 2

Landrieu, Hon. Mary, a U.S. Senator from the State of Louisiana ..................... 3

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5

Alexander, Hon. Lamar, a U.S. Senator from the State of Tennessee, opening 

statement .............................................................................................................. 11

Dodd, Hon. Christopher, a U.S. Senator from the State of Connecticut, opening statement ........................................................................................................ 13

Enzi, Hon. Michael B., Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions, opening statement ....................................................................... 16

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16

Johnson, Henry L., assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, U.S. Department of Education ................................................................ 18

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30

LaFon, Rodney R., superintendent, St. Charles Parish Public School System, 

and member, American Association of Administrators Governing Board, 

Luling, LA; Daryl Gates, Middle School Special Education Teacher, Youree 

Drive Middle School, Shreveport, LA; Micahel Stein, president, board of 

directors, Margolin Hebrew Academy, Memphis, TN, and Sister M. 

Michaeline Green, O.P., Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Baton Rouge, 

LA, and chairperson, NonPublic School Commission, Louisiana Department 

of Education, Baton Rouge, LA ........................................................................... 34

Prepared statements of: 

Mr. LaFon .................................................................................................. 38

Mr. Gates ................................................................................................... 41

Mr. Stein .................................................................................................... 43

Sister Green ............................................................................................... 46

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL 

Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.: 

List of newspaper articles and photographs from the Shreveport Times .... 51

Mr. LaFon (Breakdown of costs for St. Charles Parish School) ................... 58

Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts, prepared statement ............................................................................. 61

Questions of Senator Enzi for Henry Johnson, Rodney LaFon, Sister 

Mary Michaeline Green, Michael Stein, Daryl Gates, and Panel 3 .......... 62

Response from Shelby County Schools, Tennessee ........................................ 64

Doris Voitier ...................................................................................................... 65

(III) 

(1)

KATRINA’S DISPLACED SCHOOLCHILDREN 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

U.S. SENATE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND EARLY CHILDHOOD

DEVELOPMENT, COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, 

AND PENSIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:02 p.m., in room 

SD–430, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senator Alexander, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Alexander, Sessions, Enzi, Dodd, Reed, and 

Kennedy. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Good afternoon. The Education and Child 

Development Subcommittee will come to order. 

I want to welcome you here, Chairman Enzi, Senator Kennedy, 

Senator Reed, and we have Senator Lott. I want to make a suggestion to the Senators. We have two votes which are scheduled to 

begin in about 5 minutes. Senator Lott is here now to make a short 

statement. Senator Landrieu is coming in a few minutes to make 

a short statement. I thought what we might do is go for about 20 

minutes, and then adjourn the hearing for about 20 minutes, and 

come back. 

Would that fit your schedule, Senator Kennedy, Senator Reed? 

Because I think all of us want to hear the testimony, and I would 

like to take advantage because some of the witnesses have come a 

great distance to be here. We want to make sure as many Senators 

as possible can hear the witnesses testimony. 

I am going to abbreviate my opening statement to this point and 

let Senator Lott go first. I simply want to say to begin with, that 

Hurricane Katrina displaced over 1 million people, at least 20 

times more than in any other disaster handled by the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, and 372,000 of those displaced by 

Katrina are school-age children in kindergarten through the 12th 

grade. Another 73,000 are college students. Today in this hearing, 

at the request of Chairman Enzi, we are here to see how we can 

help all of Katrina’s 370,000 displaced schoolchildren. 

I am hopeful that we could have a consensus on how to approach 

this, and that we can introduce legislation quickly and get on with 

it because the public and the private schools who are helping these 

children are hiring new teachers, renting new buses, and have 

many expenses. What we will do is we will hear from Senator Lott, 

and then we will hear from Senator Landrieu, who just came in. 

Then we will adjourn the hearing, at about 3:20 p.m. Then we will 

2

come back about 20 minutes later after all of us have a chance to 

cast those two votes. 

Senator Lott. 

STATEMENTS OF THE HON. TRENT LOTT, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI; AND SENATOR MARY 

LANDRIEU, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA 

Senator LOTT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and it is a great pleasure to be here with my colleague from our neighboring State of 

Louisiana, Senator Landrieu. We are both dealing with problems of 

a magnitude we have never dealt with before, and it is incomprehensible until you have gone down and taken a look at it. 

One of the things that concerns me the breadth of it, and we are 

finding that we——

Senator ALEXANDER. Is your mike on, Senator Lott? 

Senator LOTT. It is on. I will get a little closer. 

It is so easy to focus on the immediate aftermath, the recovery, 

the cleanup and the beginning of reconstruction, but you have to 

look at what is happening on a human basis, people that have lost 

their jobs and need unemployment compensation, people that cannot afford their health care, need some temporary expansion of 

Medicaid. We need to look at transportation, and we need to look 

at education. 

I want to say how proud I am, Mr. Chairman, that you are the 

head of this subcommittee, and with your background, I feel very 

good about things, innovative things that we are going to do in 

education and early childhood development. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for pushing the subcommittee to have 

this hearing, and Senator Kennedy and Senator Reed, thank you 

for being here. 

I do not want to give you a litany of horror stories. Let me just 

cite a couple of examples of the magnitude of this problem. In my 

own State we had, not counting higher education, community colleges and universities that did have damage also, but we have 246 

schools in my State that received severe damage. Twenty of them 

probably are not going to be repairable, but 16 we know for sure, 

totally destroyed with wind and water. Those that were close to the 

shoreline are just absolutely gone. And so those children have been 

spread across—well, our people, at least, over 40 States. Mississippians are in 40 States and Louisianans probably in every State. 

The children are with them, or many times I have found that the 

parents have stayed to try to work through the cleanup, and they 

have sent their children to other places to go to school. 

In my State I have a list of the numbers of students that schools 

are accepting. Madison County, Mississippi has accepted 350. Warren County, which is probably 150 miles from the Gulf Coast, has 

over 200 there. And in my hometown of Pascagoula, every school 

had so much damage that we are not going to be able to get the 

students back in there probably till the first of the year, with two 

exceptions. The high school, which was our newest school, maybe 

could be occupiable in October, and our local Catholic School, Sacred Heart. Because of where they were located, they are back in 

business, and a lot of the children who were going to the public 

schools, since my community is about 50/50 Protestant and nonVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
3

Protestant, mostly Catholic, some Jewish, they are in those Catholic schools. I know that you have testimony you are going to have 

here from the Orthodox Jewish congregations that has a school in 

I believe Memphis that has accepted students. 

We need to take a look at how we are going to help the teachers 

and the students, as well as what it is going to take to rebuild 

these schools and what are we going to require of the rebuilding. 

I hope that you will think about it in an innovative way. I am not 

interested in necessarily making permanent, but I do think we 

have to make sure that these school districts that have shown magnanimous gestures, have taken on extra children without extra 

space and without extra teachers sometimes, or in some instances 

have hired the teachers from the Gulf Coast, that those school districts get some assistance because they are part of the evacuation 

effort that is under way, and we cannot just leave them holding the 

bag. 

I do think that at least on a temporary basis, that money needs 

to follow the students. If they go to a parochial school, a Jewish 

school, a Catholic school, an episcopal school or private school on 

a temporary basis, we have to make sure that those schools have 

what they need to do the job. Otherwise, we are not going to be 

able to accommodate them. 

I thank you for having this early hearing. I believe that within 

the next 2 or 3 weeks we need to develop a package that will deal 

with the broader sense. It will have multiple titles, but we cannot 

have a bill that does not have a title dealing with the education 

component that we need in our States, and I do not have the magic 

solutions here, but I believe you will help us find some that will 

make a big difference in education throughout the region, and 

frankly, maybe even across America. 

With that, my colleague, I will yield to you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Lott, for coming. I 

know Senator Cochran has a staff member here, and we will look 

forward to working with you both to help Mississippi. 

Senator LOTT. I would like to note the Assistant Secretary for the 

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Henry Johnson, 

until just a very few months ago, when he saw what was fixing to 

hit us—[Laughter]—was our Superintendent of Education in Mississippi, and he has assured me he will take care of all of our 

needs. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator ALEXANDER. He has a chance. He is the next witness 

right after Senator Landrieu. 

Senator Landrieu from Louisiana? Thank you very much for 

being here. 

Senator LANDRIEU. When he took this job, he had no idea how 

big it was going to be, but he is up to the task. 

I want to thank my colleague from Mississippi. He most certainly, in his State has shared in large measure the brunt of this 

devastation, which as he said, is very hard to describe, and I thank 

those Senators, Senator Enzi, Senator Kennedy, Senator Dodd and 

others that have come down to the State to see firsthand the devastation. 

4

This is not a local problem. It is not even a regional problem. It 

is a national tragedy, unprecedented in its nature, and it is going 

to take a national response. It is going to take our best thinking, 

our very creative thinking, and our quick action, because the situation is quite dire and quite challenging. 

Besides the numbers that Senator Lott has indicated to you, just 

in my brief testimony, in Louisiana where we took the brunt of 

Katrina, 187,000 public school students are in different schools 

today than they were 5 weeks ago. 61,000 private school students 

have been displaced. A total of 8 Louisiana school districts, our 

three largest school districts have been impacted, Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany. Three of our largest have been impacted directly. Four school systems may be able to reopen by November, St. 

Charles, St. Tammany, Washington and the city of Vogalusa School 

System. We have 66, 64 parishes, 2 city systems. Unfortunately, it 

is projected that the four other districts, which include Jefferson 

and Orleans, our two largest, 450,000 people each, one a suburban 

parish, one an urban parish—Plaquemines and St. Bernard, which 

are fairly large systems themselves—will not be able to open. 

I am proud to say that 2 days after the storm, our Superintendent, Cecil Picard, walked to the microphone just a few inches 

from me and said—while people were still on their roofs—‘‘I want 

the parents that can hear me, when you get off the roofs, get out 

of the water and we are finished saving lives, please focus on getting your children in school for their mental and emotional stability 

and health, for the stability of your family.’’ It is extremely important that parents focus. They have lost their homes. They have lost 

their jobs. They have lost their cars, but you know, their children 

are alive. 

And our Superintendent had the good sense to say, just focus on 

one thing and try to get your kids in school because it brings a 

sense of stability to the family. So that is what everybody tried to 

do. They went to any school that would take them, and just tried 

to get their kids enrolled. It brings order to the day. It brings a 

sense of security when hundreds of thousands of families have no 

security. They have no job, no place to go, no place to work. The 

schools have in some way become their lifeline to get normalcy. So 

that is just an emotional picture to think about. 

These districts are also major employers. Our districts employ 

7,865 teachers, 1,700 certified staff, and 7,000 support workers, for 

a total of 17,000 people that are not receiving paychecks today. I 

am sorry. They may be receiving paychecks today. We do not know 

how long they are going to be receiving paychecks, but the thing 

is you cannot have schools then become places of unemployment. 

You have to have some sort of continuation so that the economy 

can get started again. 

Our delegation, Louisiana delegation introduced some things 

today. I will not go into too much detail. We will submit it for the 

record. But I want to commend Senator Kennedy and Enzi and the 

administration for their preliminary support of either 4,000 per 

student or 90 percent of instructional and 75 per student that 

would, as Senator Lott said, of course cover our public school students, but also give some relief to families who went to whatever 

school would take them. We are very grateful to our Catholic school 

5

system and our private school system for stepping up in this very 

unusual time, and if we can continue that on a temporary basis 

until things stabilize, I think that would be very helpful. 

Let me just say one other thing, particularly to Senator Kennedy. 

Senator Kennedy, besides the teachers being out of work, some of 

their health insurance is not portable, and so these teachers—we 

are trying to retain our teachers—and let me say Mississippi has 

been very good competing for some of our good teachers in Louisiana all these years, and Texas competes for some of our teachers. 

So Louisiana has an added problem, that if we can, and Mississippi, keep some of our best teachers, other States may pull 

them away. Obviously, they have to work, they want to work themselves. So our Superintendent really wants us to come up with an 

incentive program to keep our good teachers so we can rebuild our 

school system, when obviously the water goes down, the environment is cleaned up, the highways are reconstructed and people can 

actually get to the school buildings when they are rebuilt. 

I am going to submit the rest for testimony, but that is just elementary and secondary. We have got universities that are closed 

down, public and private, that are also large employers, and it really is a very comprehensive problem. Like Senator Lott said, I wish 

there was a magic bullet, because I would go find it and give it to 

you, but there is not one. But there are things that we can do, and 

I think beginning with the work that this committee is doing is a 

great help, and we thank you very much for your consideration of 

our pretty desperate situation. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Landrieu for your leadership, and we look forward to working with you and Senator Lott 

as we develop our legislation, and as I said earlier, hope to do it 

in a consensus way and to do it rapidly. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Landrieu follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANDRIEU

Good afternoon. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to 

speak today on the long term consequences this great disaster will 

have on Louisiana’s schools. 

There are 187,000 public school students and 61,000 private 

school students that have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. A 

total of eight Louisiana school districts were directly impacted by 

Hurricane Katrina. Four school systems may be able to re-open by 

November: St. Charles, St. Tammany, Washington and the City of 

Bogalusa School Systems. Unfortunately it is projected that the 

other 4 districts could be closed for a whole school year: Jefferson, 

Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard School Systems. 

The most severely impacted Parishes have lost approximately 

$800 million in local revenues and in Minimum Foundation Program funds will be impacted and/or lost. These districts employ 

7,865 teachers, 1,700 other certified staff and 7,022 support workers, for a total of about 17,000 potentially displaced workers from 

236 schools. 

While the hit was the greatest to the school serving the Southern 

portion of our State, this disaster has also had a substantial impact 

on other Louisiana school districts. Today, our delegation introVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
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duced a package meant to address some of the short and long term 

needs of these districts. 

First, we must do everything we can to encourage and strengthen our schools as soon as possible. Before Katrina, Louisiana’s per 

student expenditures were $7,991. Senators Kennedy and Enzi 

have proposed legislation that would allocate $4000 per pupil 

grants to be disbursed to school systems that serve as host to displaced students. The Administration has proposed paying for 90 

percent of instructional costs per pupil not to exceed $7,500 for host 

schools. Funds provided for both the schools that were directly impacted and those that serve as hosts will go a long way in covering 

the gaps left in schools. 

Second, we must be creative and engage programs aimed at getting the best and brightest of our teachers to return home as soon 

as possible. Louisiana has had to fight hard to keep our best teachers. Our border States are infamous for posting billboards, luring 

our young graduates to come and teach in their schools. Many of 

our teachers have begun to seek full-time or part-time employment 

in schools outside their district. 

A teacher in St. Bernard parish contacted me because she is trying to find a teaching job in another State but is afraid her health 

insurance will be cut off in the interim. Numerous parents have 

contacted me because they need to go back to work and want to 

make sure their children are placed safely back in school first. Others have called and wanted to know what will happen to their jobs 

if the school system they worked in goes under. Therefore, the delegation is recommending $750,000,000 be given to the Louisiana Department of Education for the creation of a ‘‘Coming Home’’ teacher 

incentive fund to be given in order to retain our qualified teaching 

professionals during the time it takes to rebuild the schools. 

Third, we will now have an opportunity to re-vitalize our public 

school buildings. But this has to be done in a smart way. It is very 

important to me that we do not simply rebuild our schools to their 

pre-Katrina substandard state but instead take this opportunity to 

make our schools a more welcoming learning environment that encourages academic excellence. 

Therefore, I have recommended $2 billion for my Superintendent 

of Education to use in constructing schools that embrace research 

based construction models such as the 21st Century Community 

Learning Centers. This model is based on small, personalized, 

state-of-the-art elementary, middle and high schools built to help 

students achieve, graduate and be prepared for the 21st Century 

competitive economy. The schools would also function as community learning centers before and after normal school day hours—

serving the community with pre-K opportunities, literacy classes 

and adult educational opportunities. 

Finally, I know that many of you on this committee share my 

views on the important role Charter Schools play in improving public education. Before the storm hit, I had launched an Educational 

Venture fund—a public/private partnership I had started with the 

Dean of the University of New Orleans to take over failing public 

schools turning them into high achieving charter schools. 

I know that one of the issues before you to decide is what impact 

this disaster will and should have on our efforts to Leave No Child 

7

Behind. Let me take this opportunity to remind you that Louisiana 

has been noted for having one of the best accountability programs 

in the Nation—our Board of Education understood the importance 

of accountability standards years before NCLB was enacted and 

had a running start at keeping our teachers and the school system 

accountable to our kids. Our Louisiana Superintendent of schools, 

Cecil Picard fondly calls our successful accountability program the 

‘‘Engine for Change.’’ I am confident that he will work closely with 

the States that have graciously taken in our displaced students to 

ensure that our engines never stop running despite where our students are placed. 

Everyday that our Louisiana students are not in school is 1 more 

day that they are not learning and therefore not reaching their full 

potential. I know I share the views of this committee that we must 

cross all political divides and unite to make sure that everything 

in our power as elected officials is done to get these deserving kids 

back in school and therefore back to life as they know it. 

I want to thank Secretary Spellings for reaching out to me and 

to Louisiana during this challenging chapter in our State’s history. 

She warmly expressed her mutual admiration for Superintendent 

Picard and I asked her to continue to work closely with our State 

officials to make sure that all branches of the government come together to ensure a superior education for all Louisiana’s students. 

Senator KENNEDY. Could I ask just a question of these Senators 

before we go on? 

Senator ALEXANDER. Of course. 

Senator KENNEDY. I think in the funding, we have to find some 

ways of helping all the students. There are a couple different points 

that I would ask you. The first involves the amount of payment 

that ought to go to schools receiving students displaced by Katrina. 

We were thinking about working from the average per pupil expenditure in the State. States have different amounts in terms of 

their per pupil funding for public schools, if you know what I mean. 

I do not know if you have thoughts. 

A second point is that we know that FEMA is going to have to 

support reconstruction, but listening to you, you were talking about 

the need for schools to open quickly. There may be schools where 

some additional help and assistance, not the whole reconstruction, 

but interim help and assistance might be needed to re-open 

quicker. I do not know whether you have any reaction on those 

points. 

I just want to mention we are proud of what’s been done to respond to date. We have 1,000 college students displaced by the 

storm in Massachusetts. We have 437 at Boston University alone. 

Senator LANDRIEU. Thank you, Senator Kennedy. Give them a 

good education. We worry about you all up there, how you all educate our kids, and send them on home. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator KENNEDY. We are going to send them on down to Trent 

Lott. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator LANDRIEU. No telling what they are lining up there in 

Massachusetts. 

Senator LOTT. Don’t mess up those students up there. 

8

[Laughter.] 

Senator LANDRIEU. Yes, and send them home. We thank you, 

Senator. But on that issue we will submit for the record, but I 

guess it is about $4,000 to $5,000, $4,000 is our—I am sorry—

$7,000 is our minimum foundation formula, but the record will reflect what that is. 

Not only do we have to help the schools that were closed and impacted get started up, but the school systems, particularly our public school systems that have absorbed. In some instances in Louisiana their enrollment has gone up 20 percent. So while their 

schools were crowded, Senator Dodd, to begin with, now they have 

20 percent more capacity. So you can imagine the strain that that 

is on their school system. So even parochial schools have stepped 

up, but our public school systems have stepped up under great 

strain. So we can give you those numbers. 

Senator LOTT. The major source of our funding for our schools in 

Mississippi comes from the ad valorem, our property taxes. But 

from Pascagoula to Biloxi to pass Christian, the Bay St. Louis to 

Waveland, there will be none. 

Senator LANDRIEU. New Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany. 

Senator LOTT. And Pass Christian, I would have to check but 

they might have one school standing. 

Senator DODD. No, they do not. Ted and I spent some time, and 

there is nothing left. That building is gone. 

Senator LOTT. The people are going to come back. We are going 

to have to help with their schools, but the towns are not going to 

have any property taxes coming in to pay for that. So there you are 

damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I will just give you one example. There was a discussion the other day about trying to come 

up with a package to help people that did not have insurance, flood 

insurance or any insurance in some instances, to help them get 

something so they could get back into some sort of housing, and the 

package actually would have been private mostly, 75 percent, up 

75,000, plus 26,000 I think possibly from the Federal Government. 

And when it was being discussed with people from Bay St. Louis, 

Waveland and Pass Christian, finally the mayor of Bay St. Louis, 

a guy named Eddie Favre, he said, ‘‘No, wait a minute. If this is 

a buy-out do you mean we have to give up our property, our lots?’’ 

And the response was, ‘‘Yeah, this plan is a buy-out.’’ He said, ‘‘We 

do not want it. We are going to rebuild on our lots. We will work 

a deal with you, but we are not giving up our homesteads. We are 

coming back.’’ And they will. We have done it before in Pass Christian, where Senator Kennedy and Senator Dodd have been. 

But in the meantime, Mary is right, Senator Landrieu is right, 

once you get your kids back in school and once you get back to 

work, order begins to get back in place, even if you do not have a 

home or even a car. But I think that getting kids back in school 

or making sure your kids are going to school and being taken care 

of is the most important thing for a lot of people right now. That 

is why it means so much to us that school districts all over our 

State, and Louisiana, as far away as Tennessee and all over this 

country, are taking in these kids. It makes all the difference. We 

have to make sure those schools that have done that as a magnaniVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
9

mous gesture, do not wind up having financial problems of their 

own as a result of it. 

I do not know what the State number is, but it is not probably 

what it should be. We have always financed our schools without——

Senator DODD. The impact aid example, I mean most of us have 

military bases, and of course the arrival of students who come, 

their billets, we have accommodated that over the years and helped 

school districts, obviously on a much smaller scale than what you 

are talking about here, but nonetheless there are examples of how 

that can work. 

I just want to underscore the point Teddy has made and both of 

you have made. We heard this in Alabama with the mayor and 

heard it in Louisiana, you build them, the kids will come back. And 

the schools really are the anchor. People will sacrifice a lot of 

things, having a place to live, having a place to work, but their 

kids’ school, people move all over this country to be in the place 

where their kids get the best education. This is the magnet. This 

is going to make the biggest difference in the world in my view, of 

making it possible for these children, these families to come back, 

is having an educational opportunity. So it is the critical piece in 

my view. 

Senator LANDRIEU. And it is a great opportunity for us to build 

even a better school system, which is the view of all the members 

of this committee. Like Senator Lott said, we want our homesteads 

back and our lots. We may need to build them a little higher, a little stronger, but we need to build our schools a little higher, a little 

strong, not just physically but academically as well. I think this 

committee understands you are the experts, and we are here to 

help you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. When we come back, our witness will be 

Mr. Johnson, the recent Superintendent of schools in Mississippi, 

and we will ask him to describe the President’s proposals. Senator 

Kennedy, the administration’s proposal, not much different than 

the one that you and Senator Enzi had, was that the Federal Government pay for 90 percent of the per pupil expenditure, but not 

to exceed $7,500 per student. 

So far as Senator Dodd’s point about the importance of the 

schools, I found something my great-great-grandfather wrote about 

the pioneer days in Tennessee, and they said, ‘‘First you build the 

church, then you build the school.’’ Those are the first two things 

they did in our pioneer communities, and I think we can try to remember that here. 

We all need to go vote, but we will reconvene at 10 till 4:00, 

about then, and we will begin with our opening statements, then 

we will go to Mr. Johnson, and to our other witnesses. The hearing 

is in recess until 10 till 4:00. 

[Recess.] 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you for waiting. The hearing of the 

Education Subcommittee on Katrina’s displaced schoolchildren will 

now resume. 

The other Senators are coming back. We are voting on final passage of the military construction legislation appropriations bill, 

which is important that we get done right away because we are 

10

calling on our military to do things overseas as well as here in the 

United States these days, and all of the Senators wanted to be 

there for that. 

Senator Dodd, Senator Enzi and Senator Kennedy will be back, 

and when they come back, I will introduce them. Following my 

statement, the other Senators may make an opening statement. I 

will first introduce the witnesses that we have, so that when it 

comes their turn to be presented, I will not introduce them again. 

Following the opening statements by the Senators, Assistant Secretary Henry Johnson is here from the Department of Education. 

Mr. Johnson, as Senator Lott reminded us, was the Chief State 

School Officer in Mississippi until not very long ago, and now he 

is the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education—the top person in the Department of Education, the U.S. 

Department of Education for K through 12. He will be on a panel 

by himself, and we look forward to hearing from Mr. Johnson how 

the U.S. Department of Education assesses the problem of 

Katrina’s displaced schoolchildren and what the President’s recommended solutions are for helping Katrina’s displaced school children so we can consider the President’s recommendation. I know 

the Senators will have questions of Mr. Johnson, and we will have 

one round of questions for him. 

Then we will go to our next panel. Our next panel includes school 

leaders from the affected area. Darryl Gates, for example, is a Middle School Special Education Teacher from Shreveport, LA. He has 

been a public school teacher for 28 years and he is currently a special education teacher, a highly qualified one. He has a broad background and resume in education, serving a 3-year term on the 

Board of Examiners of the National Council and the Accreditation 

of Teacher Education. 

Sister Michaeline Green is the Superintendent of Schools for the 

Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA. She has had that job since 

1977. We look forward to her testimony especially because Baton 

Rouge is the closest big city I suppose to New Orleans, and a great 

many of the families from New Orleans and the parishes that have 

been affected, have moved to Baton Rouge. Sister Michaeline has 

also a distinguished background of educational achievement and 

active community involvement. 

The two other witnesses who we will hear from are Rodney R. 

LaFon, who is Superintendent of St. Charles Parish Public Schools 

in Luling, LA. He was appointed Superintendent in 1995. He 

served as a music teacher, and an Assistant Principal. He has been 

an educator for over 30 years, and his schools have won awards on 

a number of different occasions. 

Then Mike Stein, who is President of Margolin Hebrew Academy 

in Memphis, TN. It is a Jewish day school with an enrollment of 

250 students from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade. He 

has been a board member for 30 years. He is Senior Vice President 

of Investments with Wachovia Securities and he will talk about 

how that school in Memphis has helped with displaced Katrina 

schoolchildren. 

Now that we have resumed, I will make my opening statement. 

Then we will go to Senator Dodd. Chairman Enzi of the full committee will then make a statement, and then Senator Kennedy we 

11

expect will be back, who is the ranking member of the full committee. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ALEXANDER

Senator ALEXANDER. We have already heard that 372,000 of 

those displaced by Katrina are school-age children in kindergarten 

through the 12th grade. Today we are here to see what we can do 

to help all of those children. Katrina, the storm, did not discriminate among children, and neither should we. 

Many communities are struggling to meet those challenges. We 

are hearing a lot about Texas in the news today because of Hurricane Rita. Texas already expects to enroll as many as 60,000 students who have been displaced by Katrina. Houston Independent 

School District, which has enrolled roughly 4,700 displaced students, has hired 180 new teachers, added 37 new bus routes, ordered about 10,000 new textbooks. Georgia has accepted more than 

9,000 students, Alabama 5,400, my home State of Tennessee about 

3,500, and the number may grow. 

Public school systems across the country, and especially those 

nearest Louisiana and Mississippi are working hard to absorb 

those students, and they are absorbing most of those students. But 

private schools are joining in the effort too. We already heard Senator Lott say that in his hometown of Pascagoula, other than the 

high school, the only school still standing is a Catholic school, and 

the only one available for many of the children there. 

This should not surprise us that the private schools are joining 

in the effort, since the four Louisiana parishes hit the hardest by 

Katrina had nearly one-third or 61,000 of their 187,000 students in 

private schools. Fifty-thousand students from the Catholic Archdiocese of Greater New Orleans alone are displaced. 

In Texas, for example, 4,000 of the 60,000 displaced students 

have been enrolled in private institutions. In Baton Rouge, which 

we will hear more about in the testimony today, reported on National Public Radio Monday said there were 5 to 10 thousand displaced private school students with no school to attend. To accommodate them the Catholic diocese there is struggling to establish 

satellite schools, some located great distances away, which students 

will attend at night. 

In Memphis, which we will also hear more about today, the willingness of private schools to help has been a big help to the public 

schools. The Memphis City Schools, the public schools, for example, 

have enrolled over 650 new students. The adjacent Shelby County 

Public School District has enrolled over 600 new children, a difficult burden in a school district already growing by 1,000 students 

and one new school building a year. In addition to that, the Memphis Catholic Diocese has enrolled over 250 students to help share 

the load. 

So how should we here at the Federal level respond? I think we 

would be wise to take a lesson from the people who elected us and 

sent us here. Let me give you an example of what I mean. A couple 

of weeks ago in Maryville, Tennessee, my hometown, former Vice 

President Al Gore flew in with a planeload of 80 evacuees. They 

just arrived. That happens to be one of the most Republican counVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
12

ties in Tennessee. Nobody asked about anybody’s politics. Everybody just pitched in to help. 

Last weekend in the church where I am an elder in Nashville, 

Westminster Presbyterian Church, we sent $80,000, an Associate 

Preacher and a truckload of clothes and Clorox to Southern Mississippi. The preacher reported back that one grateful man said on 

his cell phone, ‘‘The Presbyterians are here and they have Clorox.’’ 

[Laughter.] 

When the Clorox was passed out, nobody asked if anybody else 

was a Presbyterian. 

Now this Sunday the headline in the Nashville Newspaper, The 

Tennessean said, ‘‘Private schools welcome those displaced by 

Katrina.’’ The newspaper had a glowing account of this, which I 

will include in the record. But basically it said these children are 

in crisis, they have been displaced, and the principal of Father 

Ryan High School accepted 20 students, waiving a $6,800 tuition 

and a $350 activity fee. He says it is not about money. There is no 

amount of money that equals being family. 

That is how people at home are trying to help. I am sure that 

is true in Connecticut, I am sure it is true in Wyoming, I am sure 

it is true in Massachusetts. We know it is true in Texas. I make 

these points because I hope we can follow in that same spirit. How 

can we help all the children? How should we get to it? 

The two proposals right now, the President has made one, we 

will hear about that from Mr. Johnson. Chairman Enzi and Senator Kennedy have made one. We will talk about that. 

It is pretty easy to figure out what to do about the kids in public 

schools because the Federal Government is already helping the 

public schools. We have a couple of suggestions on the table that 

are really not that different. It basically says, take an amount of 

money such as the amount the State spends per student, and for 

1 year on an emergency basis, let that money essentially follow the 

child to the public school. 

But if we follow our traditional approach, it does not do anything 

for the kids who found themselves in private schools. But there is 

nothing traditional about Katrina. So we need to find some nontraditional way to help on a temporary emergency basis. 

The Washington Post editorial this morning gave us some principles which I thought were pretty wise, and I would like to quote 

them in conclusion. It said, ‘‘Just as it’s important not to sneak in 

an enormous new Federal program for ideological reasons’’—they 

are talking about a new Federal voucher program for kindergarten 

through the 12th grade—‘‘it’s also important that Senators, teachers unions, nor anyone else rule out for ideological reasons what 

could be a useful tool for distributing relief funds. There could be 

pragmatic reasons to put displaced students in private or parochial 

schools, if say, school districts are overcrowded, if students have 

special needs or that happens to be where they ended up, so it 

might make sense to attach a sum to each student, as long as that 

sum is given out in a limited number of places and for a limited 

time, certainly not longer than the current school year. Any solution that would allow students to finish the year with a minimum 

disruption to themselves and their families, and that would prevent 

13

school districts in Texas and elsewhere from being unduly burdened, should be welcome.’’

So I would propose that we, on our committee here—we know 

very well that we have significant differences of opinion about 

whether the Federal Government should participate in any kind of 

voucher program for kindergarten through the 12th grade. I would 

propose that we not make that argument here. That is not what 

we are talking about. We can set that off and have that argument 

another day. 

What I propose we look for is a temporary 1-year emergency solution that attaches a sum of money in some way to help each 

child, all children displaced by Katrina, wherever they find themselves in accredited schools. 

So I hope our witnesses today will help us figure out how to do 

that. You have expertise. You have a view of the whole country, 

and most importantly, those of you from Louisiana and Mississippi 

are dealing with that every day. And then I hope we can react 

quickly because we know you are hiring teachers, you have new 

bus routes, you have bills to pay, and you have lots of people without any money. So the quicker we can come to a consensus, the 

quicker we can move and the quicker these children can be helped. 

We thank you for coming. Our goal is to help all of Katrina’s 

schoolchildren in a temporary emergency way and to get on with 

it. 

Senator Dodd. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR DODD

Senator DODD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you for pulling together this committee and holding this hearing in 

as expeditious a fashion as you have. This is clearly a set of situations here which demand our immediate attention, and I appreciate 

your doing this. 

I am also pleased that Senator Landrieu and Senator Lott could 

be here. Several of us last Friday went down and spent the day in 

the region. We were in New Orleans for several hours, and then 

flew over that city, and then by Blackhawk helicopters, all along 

the Gulf Coast to Mobile, AL. We had a chance to stop in a couple 

of places including Pass, Christian and Pascagoula, to get a sense 

firsthand of the level of devastation. I know the media has covered 

this extensively, and this often is said—but it is true in this case—

it is really hard to capture on film, even great photographs, the extent of the damage and the devastation that has occurred. Obviously, we see it in a physical sense, but what we are talking about 

here today goes beyond the bricks and mortar, the rebuilding that 

has to occur, and the kind of damage that can occur to some of the 

most vulnerable of our citizens, our young people. 

So I applaud you for highlighting this issue, and I certainly want 

to be a part of any effort to provide real assistance to these families 

and these children immediately. 

The numbers are staggering, 372,000 children were displaced by 

the hurricane. It is a hard number to get your arms around—to realize that many young people are in temporary circumstances at 

best right now, and many, I presume, are not back at all, and are 

struggling to find a place with their families to rebuild their lives. 

14

In fact, some who did think they had found safe harbor are packing 

up again today because of Hurricane Rita. The trauma that this 

poses for these families is significant. 

Public schools across the country, I am proud to say in my own 

State of Connecticut, have taken in displaced students and are providing them educational opportunities. Like adults, children experience the same feelings of helplessness and lack of control that disaster-related stress can bring about. Unlike adults, however, they 

have little experience to place their current situation into perspective. Research has shown that a child who lacks proper emotional 

support is less able to fully recover from a traumatic event such as 

what was seen in Hurricane Katrina. 

For this reason, I think, Mr. Chairman, we must ensure that the 

emotional supports are in place as quickly as possible for Gulf 

State residents. 

In addition to the displaced students, students already in the receiving schools will also have to adapt. To date, as we have heard, 

Houston has taken in 2,600 students. Imagine what this does to 

class size, never mind students’ everyday social adjustment. I am 

particularly grateful for the foresight of this committee and Senators Murray and DeWine, in strengthening the McKinney-Vento 

Homeless Assistance Act, which we reauthorized under the No 

Children Left Behind Act. McKinney-Vento provides formula 

grants to States to ensure that homeless children have access to 

the same free, appropriate public education provided to others. It 

requires schools to enroll students who are homeless, including 

those who have lost their homes because of a natural disaster. As 

an education official in Mississippi recently said in The Wall Street 

Journal, ‘‘This law has helped evacuees to enroll in schools without 

red tape.’’ As she said, ‘‘If there were no McKinney-Vento prior to 

the hurricane, surely the hurricane would have created it.’’

Having said all of this, we cannot overlook the fact that schools 

receiving students face a number of serious challenges. Many students are coming to school without educational or immunization 

records. In the case of special education students, they are arriving 

without their individualized education plans, as required under 

IDEA. But, even without these records it is imperative that we provide a smooth transition, or at least as smooth as we can for these 

displaced students. 

The schools that are taking in a large amount of students need 

our assistance and they need it immediately. Money for additional 

staff, for additional mental health services, for materials, and for 

portable classrooms. Waiver authority as it relates specifically to 

the assessment and corrective action provisions of the No Child 

Left Behind Act also needs to be considered. 

Of course we must acknowledge the schools that have been directly impacted by Katrina, schools that have yet to reopen. Two 

weeks ago the full committee had a hearing in which Dr. Roussel 

of the Jefferson Parish in Louisiana said that if you rebuild the 

schools, they will come. ‘‘They’’ meaning parents, workers, business 

community leaders. I agree with her on that. We must do all that 

we can to get cities like New Orleans back on their feet. They need 

assistance and infrastructure immediately. 

15

Now is the time for all of us to pull together, as you pointed out, 

Mr. Chairman. It is not a time necessarily, to take advantage of 

a tragedy to rewrite some of the basic laws of this country. We 

need to be careful about that possibility and, we must recognize 

that this is a national tragedy with immediate consequences. If we 

wait too long or dicker around with some of these provisions, we 

deny families and children to get back on their feet. 

So without endorsing every dotted ‘‘i’’ and crossed ‘‘t’’, Mr. Chairman, because I think we have to be careful how we do this, I think 

what you have suggested makes sense. It is a deviation from positions I have historically taken regarding vouchers, but I think we 

need to provide assistance to families and children as soon as we 

can. I would certainly want to see the details of it. I would want 

it under a very strict time agreement so if it needs to be extended 

we can come back and review it. But this is a tragedy, where you 

are talking about 372,000 children, and after today or tomorrow we 

may find those numbers going up as a result of what has happened 

in Texas, or in Louisiana, depending on where this next storm hits. 

In my view we have to accommodate this in a way that makes 

some sense, that is balanced, and that is thoughtful, so it gets kids 

back on their feet as quickly as possible. I am prepared to work 

with you. I am confident my colleagues would as well, on both sides 

of the aisle here to try and provide assistance so that children are 

not going to be discriminated against as they try to get back on 

their feet in this very important effort. 

I believe of all the issues that need to be addressed, this is the 

one that demands our attention most immediately. Health would 

be a close second. But my point is, these children cannot afford to 

go months without having a certainty of a decent education. 

One of the things I hope we look at, by the way, is how we find 

more people willing to volunteer. I am not sure that the teachers 

will be back in communities, or that there will be superintendents 

or custodians. I know in my own State people want to come down 

and volunteer, retired teachers, people who have been in school districts. We need to call upon Americans who have some skills to go 

in and fill in the gaps once the assessments are made as to whether or not we have the personnel in place to provide children with 

as good an environment of education as we possibly can. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, let me stop. I want to hear from our 

witnesses as well, but I want to at least endorse in principle what 

you are suggesting. I want to work with you. I am very confident 

Senator Kennedy and others will share similar views with you. 

Again, we want to caution here—and you have said it well—time 

constraints, be careful how we do this, and do not change the generic law, certain generic laws in our country ought not to be 

changed. Davis-Bacon, for instance, I do not think you need to 

mess around with here. But, we ought to certainly on educational 

issues be more flexible. I look forward to working with you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Dodd. I am not one bit 

surprised by your attitude, but I greatly appreciate it. I think that 

will help us enormously in creating a consensus swiftly, so we will 

pledge to work carefully with you and your staff in the development of whatever we do and stick closely to the principles that you 

just described. 

16

Senator DODD. Thank you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. The chairman of our full committee is Senator Enzi from Wyoming. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ENZI

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I particularly want to 

thank you for requesting, organizing, and now leading this hearing. 

I think it is an outstanding idea, and it will bring out some points 

that will allow us to sharpen and improve the education bill that 

we have ready for Katrina. 

I want to thank Senator Dodd for his cooperation and for the 

words he just said. That shows how close together we already are. 

This committee, I think has moved from being one of the most contentious to being one of the most productive, and——

Senator DODD. We have always been productive. 

[Laughter.] 

And contentious, and that is one of the reasons why we are productive. 

[Laughter.] 

The CHAIRMAN. I too had the opportunity to make that trip down 

to the Gulf States last Friday. I got to spend some time with my 

colleagues in looking at it, and I have always said that a picture 

is worth a thousand words, but being on the ground is worth a 

thousand pictures. We got to talk to people that were concerned 

about these issues firsthand, while we are looking at the scenes. It 

was very helpful in bringing us together on a package and this is 

another piece that needs to be done, and can be done, and we can 

make sure that the kids are all taken care of. 

I appreciate the cooperation of everybody. I would ask my full 

statement, which is considerably longer, be a part of the record as 

well. I have to run to one of those meetings right now, so thank 

you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Enzi. The statement 

will be made a part of the record. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Enzi follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR ENZI

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this subcommittee hearing 

and providing us with a much needed opportunity to continue to 

learn from those who are working on the frontlines to meet the 

educational needs of the children and their families that have been 

displaced because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. 

Several of my colleagues and I were able to travel to the New 

Orleans area just a few days ago to see the damage done by the 

storm for ourselves. I don’t think any of us were fully prepared for 

what we saw. The pictures we had seen in the paper and on television didn’t fully portray what had happened. It is a tragedy that 

was even worse than it looked on the evening news or in the morning paper. 

That is why today’s hearing and the HELP Committee roundtable that preceded it have been so important. Using the information we have obtained from the roundtable and what we will learn 

from today’s hearing, we can pursue a comprehensive legislative 

17

approach to address the needs of those students who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 

At the top of any agenda for immediate action will be the need 

to get our children back into school so they can continue their education. Returning to school will give our children a sense of routine 

that will assure them things are returning to normal and provide 

them with access to a support system of friends and teachers that 

will be invaluable as they and their families continue to come to 

grips with the after-effects of the storm. 

That is why we have been working as quickly as we can on a bipartisan basis to develop an education bill that will address the immediate needs of those whose lives have been forever changed by 

the storm. I have introduced a bill with Senator Kennedy that will 

provide immediate relief to students and institutions affected by 

Hurricane Katrina. This includes providing support to the communities throughout the country that have welcomed countless numbers of displaced families and children with open arms and open 

hearts, and provided them with the essentials they will need until 

they are able to return home. 

As we hold this hearing today, there are people from the Gulf region spread throughout the country and forced to depend on the 

kindness and goodwill of people they have never met before. Seeing 

so many Americans, from all walks of life, respond as they have 

and reach out to help those in need, gives me a clearer picture than 

I have ever seen before of what is right with America. It’s a scene 

that gives me confidence that we will be able to rebuild and restore 

what was lost and return the people of New Orleans and the Gulf 

Coast to their homes. 

In the days since Katrina took such a heavy toll in Louisiana and 

the Gulf region, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has met with over 100 representatives of the education community—from preschool through higher education. We have consulted with the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and other community service organizations. We have heard their stories and listened 

to what they saw firsthand. We have asked for and obtained their 

advice and their suggestions on how to deal with the after-effects 

of this storm, and what we must do to be better prepared for some 

future disaster. 

The HELP Committee roundtable helped to identify the specific 

challenges that schools in the impacted areas and in the communities across the country that are receiving students from these affected areas, are experiencing. We heard Dr. Diane Roussel, Superintendent of Jefferson Parrish Public Schools, describe the devastation to her community and the important role that the schools will 

play in rebuilding New Orleans, and the nearby communities. 

Schools are the heart of the community and without them people 

will hesitate to return to those areas with their families. 

The roundtable took the first step down this road. Today’s hearing will take another. 

As we prepare to act, we must be sure we have carefully defined 

what our target is, develop a strategy to meet it, and then provide 

the resources that will be needed to get us there. Failing to plan 

is planning to fail in the long run and we need strategies to meet 

18

both the short- and long-term needs of the people of the Gulf region 

whose lives have been forever changed by the storm. 

If we meet the challenge, we will have assured those who lost so 

much to the storm that there is a reason to hope and a date certain 

by which they will be able to return to their homes and the way 

of life they have come to know and love. Failure, once again, is not 

an option. 

As we work together to rebuild our schools and breathe new life 

into the communities they serve, we must ensure we are taking the 

most effective and fiscally responsible path possible. While we need 

to do everything we can to ensure increased flexibility, we must 

also demand complete accountability. 

The task before us is daunting. We have limited resources and 

we are faced with almost unlimited need. I look forward to the testimony from today’s witnesses and the discussion that will follow 

on how we can best focus our efforts to ensure our children’s educational needs will continue to be addressed. 

In that effort, the suggestions and experience of our witnesses 

will be invaluable. I want to again share with them all how much 

we appreciate their attendance and their participation. Working together I have every confidence we can meet this challenge. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Now we will move to Assistant Secretary 

Henry Johnson, who I previously introduced, who is Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for the 

U.S. Department of Education, and until recently was the Chief 

State School officer of Mississippi, one of the two States most affected by Katrina. 

Mr. Johnson, you have heard what Senator Dodd and Senator 

Enzi and I have said. We have a consensus on principle. What we 

hope you and the other witnesses will help us do is write the details in a way that do not violate those principles. So we are looking forward to your specific technical assistance on just how to do 

this. 

STATEMENT OF HENRY L. JOHNSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

FOR ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I think as 

I get into my presentation that you will appreciate what the President’s proposal has in it. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 

the opportunity to discuss how to make sure that each and every 

child affected by the hurricane gets the quality education he or she 

deserves and needs. 

Initial reports indicate 372,000 students were displaced, and 

312,000 remain away from their homes and schools. Forty-nine 

States and the District of Columbia have welcomed these children 

and their families. 

Leading the Education Department’s response has been one of 

my first duties assigned since joining the Department a little over 

6 weeks ago. When I left as State Superintendent of Mississippi, 

I had no idea that I would be going back as often, certainly to deal 

with this kind of issue. 

19

Over the last several weeks I visited both Mississippi and Louisiana several times, and let me tell you what I have observed, obviously, the enormous damage. And you are right, if you have not 

seen it, you cannot fully appreciate the devastation. But I have also 

witnessed tremendous response, response from all over the country, 

and, Chairman Alexander, I am sure that you saw the same when 

Hurricane Andrew came ashore during your tenure as Secretary of 

Education. 

I have spoken with State and local officials in both Mississippi 

and Louisiana, almost on a daily basis. When I first went to Mississippi, as I walked into the auditorium at Biloxi High School, certainly I encountered colleagues and friends. What struck me so 

deeply was one of the local superintendents came up to me with 

tears in her eyes, and she grabbed me by the arms and said, 

‘‘Henry,’’ that’s my name, but she said, ‘‘You have got to help us 

get these kids back in school.’’ And she said, ‘‘I don’t have faculty 

who have homes and clothes. We don’t have buildings. But somehow we’ve got to get these kids back in school. Please help.’’

We have listened to what school officials have said. We have listened to their needs. They want us to provide fast, flexible assistance to them. In this regard the Secretary has set up an internal 

response team, headed by a senior official. She has assigned people 

to be on the ground in both Mississippi and Louisiana, and I have 

been tasked with being the primary contact person for both those 

States. I am confident that in order to meet the needs from those 

States—and not only those two but the other affected States and 

the receiving States—the President’s proposal is the best way to 

provide this fast, efficient relief for children and their schools. 

As you know, Federal responsibility for rebuilding schools is assigned to FEMA and not to Department of Education. But school 

authorities throughout our country have many other needs that the 

Education Department is already helping them address. For example, we have launched the Hurricane Help for Schools Web site, 

and this Web site helps to match the needs of affected schools with 

those who want to provide assistance, and in just a few days we 

have matched more than 120 businesses, organizations, and schools 

with supplies for these needy schools. As Secretary Spellings has 

said, we want schools to welcome these students with both compassion and high expectations. 

In recent days we have announced a number of waivers for Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and we presume more will follow on 

a case-by-case basis. Let me hasten to say the Secretary has been 

very, very clear that she does not expect to give any blanket waivers. We have had requests for waivers, and we will address those 

as these requests come in and as warranted, but we have no intention of doing blanket waivers. But let me tell you what she has 

waived, some examples at least. 

She has granted requests from Mississippi and Louisiana to 

waive the title I ‘‘maintenance of effort’’ requirement. She has 

granted a 12-month extension of the time Mississippi and Louisiana have——

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Johnson, that means that Mississippi 

and Louisiana do not have to come up with their share of the 

money for title I? 

20

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct, sir. She has granted a 12-month 

extension of the time Mississippi and Louisiana have to obligate 

funds awarded under ESEA. The original deadline was September 

30, so she has extended that. She has granted to Texas a request 

to extend their annual performance report deadline. We are also 

being flexible with No Child Left Behind timelines for reporting 

and monitoring. 

However, by law, the Department can only be so flexible. The 

Secretary has limited authority to weigh provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and she has almost no authority to weigh provisions of the Perkins Vocational and Technical 

Education Act, or the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. 

That is why we are asking for broad waiver authority for the Secretary to help students and school systems recover from this disaster. But let me say very clearly and caution again, there is no 

desire to do blanket waivers, and we certainly do not want to do 

any waivers that impact negatively on civil rights or safety issues. 

Thousands of school systems will have unexpected costs as a result of this disaster. To help areas that are enrolling significant 

numbers of displaced children, President Bush has proposed that 

districts enrolling at least 10 evacuated students would receive 

one-time payments of up to $7,500 per student in Federal funds, 

up to 1.9 billion to pay for the full instructional cost for every displaced child in grade K–12. We would give districts the flexibility 

to spend the money on their most pressing needs, whether it is for 

school supplies, or transportation, or teacher salaries. We heard 

these requests a lot from people in Mississippi and Louisiana: free 

tutoring and special services for children with disabilities. These 

funds would also cover counseling for students suffering with mental health related issues and anything generated as a result of this 

trauma of the hurricane. 

Given what these kids and their families have gone through in 

the past few weeks, the most important issue is to get kids back 

in school, to bring that normalcy to their lives. 

We are proposing one time emergency replacements of up to 90 

percent of the State’s average per student expenditure or up to 

$7,500 for a total of $488 million. The administration’s proposal 

gives the same payment for each student, no matter whether they 

are attending public or private schools, and again, it is only for 1 

year. 

As public school districts enroll large numbers of displaced students, they face problems of overcrowding and a shortage of teachers. As of September 21st, the Department has received reports 

from officials in at least four States identifying classroom space 

and/or teachers as problems in their school districts: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. Also, as you may know, almost onefourth of the students in the hardest hit Louisiana communities attended private schools. Nationally only about 1 in 10 attend private 

schools. We believe firmly that since the hurricane did not distinguish between public and private schools in its devastation, we 

should not distinguish in our extraordinary attempts to address 

those needs. 

So in conclusion, Mr. Chairman, as I am sure you will agree, we 

must make sure that students receive a quality education during 

21

this difficult time. We are faced with an extraordinary situation. I 

look forward to our continued discussion on how to provide an 

equally extraordinary Federal response, and I will be happy to respond to questions. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. 

I will ask a few questions, and I will ask Senator Dodd to ask 

whatever questions he would like. And I see Senator Sessions is 

here. Perhaps, Senator Sessions, would you like to make a brief 

opening remark before we go ahead? 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think not. I will 

just make my remarks in my questioning. Thank you for bringing 

this issue up. It is very real in Alabama. I think we have 5,000 students that are evacuees. I visited personally in Bayou La Batre, 

our seafood area that was hit so hard. Their school was flooded. It 

is a very real problem, and I thank you for highlighting the issue. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Senator Kennedy and Enzi have been here, 

and before you Senator Dodd—he can speak for himself—but he 

said a little earlier that we have a consensus on principle, which 

is for a short-term emergency basis help all the children. What we 

are trying to figure out here is what are the details to make sure 

we stick to our principles. 

I have a few short questions, Mr. Johnson. You have been very 

responsive, the Department has, but may I ask you to help make 

sure that you yourself and others in the Department work with 

Kristin Bannerman and our minority staff over the next few days 

so we can move as rapidly as possible as we get your technical assistance. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Certainly. 

Senator ALEXANDER. You have done that so far, but we are on 

as fast a track as long as we have a consensus. The $7,500 figure, 

where did that come from? 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is the average per student expense in the affected areas. 

Senator ALEXANDER. So that would be the maximum per student? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Up to that amount, yes, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And your recommendation is for a single 

year? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And is it your intention that this is temporary, a temporary 1-year law rather than a permanent change in 

the way the Federal Government runs? 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct. 

Senator ALEXANDER. You have mentioned you need additional 

authority for waivers. Have you drafted the language that the Secretary thinks she needs for broad waiver authority? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Our staff has been working with staff members in 

Congress, yes, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. That again is temporary waiver authority to 

be applied for the children in this disaster; is that correct? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, that is correct. 

Senator ALEXANDER. You did not mention it, and this hearing is 

not about it, but I think it is important to know that the President 

has also proposed please—describe your proposals for college stuVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
22

dents. There are 73,000 college students who are displaced, both in 

terms of the money for the receiving colleges and for interest on 

student loans. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you. The Secretary has emergency support 

for affected postsecondary institutions including community colleges, to help postsecondary institutions in these areas operate 

quickly and effectively, approximately 90 million to approximately 

31 colleges, universities, community colleges and proprietary 

schools. There is also an entrance forbearance for affected borrowers, a recommendation that would forgive 6 months of interest 

on all student loans for borrowers living in a disaster area, in the 

affected areas. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you. I know that is outside your area 

of responsibility. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Senator Kennedy, I believe, said that there 

are a thousand displaced students in Massachusetts colleges, and 

my understanding of the President’s proposal is the students of 

Boston College who were at Loyola—$1,000 would go to the receiving college. 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is the third thing, yes, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And that anyone who lives in the affected 

States of Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, who are paying a 

student loan would have 6 months forgiveness on that student 

loan. Is my understanding correct? 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct. 

Senator ALEXANDER. One other question. You have suggested 

that the money for the public schools go to the school districts, but 

in the case of Louisiana and Mississippi, that it go to the States 

themselves. Do you want to elaborate on that? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. Just briefly, first of all, this is one of the requests from each of those States, and we are trying to be responsive, but more importantly, these students may not stay in a particular area of their first landing, so to speak. After 2, 3, 4 months, 

they may go to another place, and we want to have the flexibility 

to make sure that the area where the student is actually being 

educated gets the benefit of those dollars. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Am I correct that your proposal for the students who find themselves in private schools is that you would give 

the grants to the States, and then the States would then distribute 

the money to——

Mr. JOHNSON. Families, yes, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. To families, some of whom might be in private schools. 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct. 

Senator ALEXANDER. My last question is this. I notice that you 

have a means test for the private school students, that not all families would be eligible for that. I wonder about that. One of the 

things it seems we need to do here is to make things as simple as 

possible, and one of the advantages of the President’s proposal, it 

seems to me, is that it is very simple and straightforward. It is just 

a sum of money following a child to a school. If you add a means 

test, does that not add a complication? And too, is it even necessary 

in a case like this because if a child suddenly finds himself disVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
23

placed from a Catholic school in New Orleans, they probably already paid tuition there for the year, and then they are in Baton 

Rouge and they have to pay another tuition there, and they may 

not have a job and their house might have just blown away. I mean 

what difference? Why do we need a means test? 

Mr. JOHNSON. We have had discussion about that, and the Secretary thinks that this is one way to address the issue that even 

though there has been devastation, some people may be better able 

to handle these situations than other families. But I know the Secretary wants to get as much help to as many students and families 

as possible. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Would it be possible that the provision 

could allow the States to create—that the Secretary’s discretion 

could allow Mississippi and Louisiana, if they so choose, to adopt 

the means test, but if they find that it does not make sense to 

adopt a means test or it creates additional complications, that they 

might just go ahead and do it without a means test? 

Mr. JOHNSON. I am sure she would be willing to work with you 

on that. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you very much. 

Senator Dodd. 

Senator DODD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. It was a shock to have come to Washington and find within a matter of days you are back down in Mississippi. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. 

Senator DODD. A couple things come to mind. Putting aside the 

specifics of the bill and how the money would work, it seems to 

me—I would make this case not just in the area of education but 

across the board—there needs to be a management operation in 

place here to oversee the accountability of a lot of this at the outset, not just after the fact. I am wondering, Mr. Chairman, if any 

consideration has been given to this. I know you have been sort of 

designated, at least temporarily, to handle this, but obviously you 

have been brought into the Department of Education to handle 

other national issues of education which need to be attended to in 

the midst of all of this. 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct. 

Senator DODD. Can we consider whether or not it would make 

sense to have someone designated permanently over the next year 

or 2 to help manage this, to set up a structure here so that we 

would have people we can deal with. I think one of the most confusing things lately is who is in charge. You have mayors and governors and you have Admiral Allen. For those of us watching all 

of this, it seems there is sort of a bickering going on back and forth 

as to who is calling the shots on a lot of this stuff. One of my concerns is that we are going to write a lot of checks here over the 

next year or 2 or more, and at some point we are going to go back 

and try to account for all of this. 

Granted, it is never going to be perfect when you are trying to 

respond. I think the chairman is right, you do not want to get terribly complicated, but I am sort of hoping we might be able to set 

up an operation here that would raise the level of confidence that 

people have as to how this is all working, and obviously, it should 

24

come, in my view, out of the Department of Education. Hopefully, 

we would want someone designated with experience in these crisis 

management areas with a strong background in education. 

For instance, school construction, with all due respect, FEMA 

has a lot of obligations, but having school construction under 

FEMA does not make a lot of sense to me when you consider what 

has to be done on the kind of needs you would have. Having someone that is moving under the Department of Education, where you 

are going to have someone much more sensitized to what school 

construction should involve here in the short-term, is an example 

of what I am talking about. I wonder if you might comment on this 

as a general proposition? 

Mr. JOHNSON. The Secretary is very concerned that these dollars 

go to the purpose for which they are designed, and we want to 

make sure that there is—even though this is an extraordinary circumstance, that we do not overlook normal accounting principles, 

and that we in fact pay even more attention to how these dollars 

are used. In terms of having someone to work as sort of a clerk of 

the works, quite frankly, we have not discussed that, but that 

would be something that we should be certainly willing to try to 

figure out if there is something we can do and how we could go 

about doing it. 

Senator DODD. Sooner than later, because if we move pretty 

quickly here it would be helpful to have that—not that it has to 

be part of legislation. It seems to me in circumstances like this, 

having the Department set up the apparatus and designate people 

would make an awful lot of sense. 

And also making assessments. Again, we should not be waiting 

for the assessments to decide what we need to do here, but I suspect that as you go down to these areas, that even some of the 

harder-hit areas may be responding to this in different ways. It 

may have been that there are structures in place that would accommodate students here. Other places, the devastation may not 

have been great, but for other reasons they are having problems 

that need to be addressed. 

I would hope that we are getting that kind of solid assessment 

as to what the needs are as quickly as we can, so that while we 

draft the legislation, we are making sure that the right agencies 

are in charge of the right aspects of all of this. So we do not find 

6 months from now this is turning into a bureaucratic mess and 

a lot of wasted money. We do not want to watch public reaction 

against some of these things despite the strong support today to do 

everything we can to help. 

So I would urge you to carry that message back. And I would be 

interested, Mr. Chairman, hearing back from the Department as to 

how they might respond to some of these suggestions about a structural framework that would then allow our legislation to be able 

to be more efficient in its operation. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Well, if I could interject, I think Senator 

Dodd has an excellent idea, and I like the way he suggested it. I 

agree, I think it is unwieldy to make it a part of the legislation. 

However, we can—before we pass the legislation or before we report a bill to the full Senate, I think it would be helpful for us to 

25

hear from the Secretary how she proposes to deal with what Senator Dodd has just suggested. That would be step one. If we are going to come up with $2.6 billion, more or less, for 1 

year of emergency money, who is the single person that we can 

look to who is responsible for knowing how that money is spent. 

And then, Senator Dodd, I would suggest that perhaps every quarter over the next year that our subcommittee have a hearing or a 

roundtable discussion with Secretary Johnson and that person, and 

conduct a little oversight of our own about how things are going. 

So would it be possible for you to get back to us as we put this 

bill together, and tell us how you would respond to Senator Dodd? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Absolutely, and the Secretary, in the Secretary’s 

proposal is quarterly payouts anyway, so that would be very consistent with what you have said, and we have had from the States 

very specific facility needs that have gone to FEMA, but they also 

send it to us to try to help expedite it, and I am sure the Secretary 

would be willing to discuss this idea with you further. 

Senator DODD. Now, the school construction, I made the comment about having that moved to education and getting it out of 

FEMA. Do you agree with that? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Normally those issues are not issues that the Department works with, and even States tend not to deal with construction issues. They tend to deal with operational issues. So that 

would be a new role, and I would have to go back and talk with 

the Secretary about that. 

Senator DODD. It is a temporary thing we are talking about here 

now. But you understood the point I was making a moment ago? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, yes. 

Senator DODD. There is not a lot of sophistication in my view in 

FEMA for a lot of things, but certainly school construction does not 

strike me as one of their levels of expertise. 

Mr. JOHNSON. As a matter of operating principle, we want to be 

as helpful as we possibly can to getting kids back in school and getting a quality education. 

Senator DODD. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Dodd. 

Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you. 

Mr. Johnson, it is a pleasure to be with you, and thank you for 

your opening statement and your concern. We have a lot of school 

systems that are in real crisis. Last week, we had superintendents 

in tears just describing the devastation that they have had, and I 

have certainly seen that in Alabama. We have a big 60,000 student 

system in Mobile County where many of the roofs are damaged and 

some significant—maybe not fatal structural damage, but a lot of 

damage that they are going to have to absorb. 

I would like to associate myself with the chairman and Senator 

Dodd’s comments about a manager. I have offered a resolution that 

the President designate a coordinator or manager for the whole 

thing, and I would assume each agency really probably should do 

the same. I think it has a lot of merit, as things can get out of control. 

Let me ask you a few things to get my mind straight on what 

we are talking about. You have been stressing the need, which I 

26

think is vital, to get kids back into school as soon as possible. Now, 

is your goal to get them back into the school in Biloxi, in Ocean 

Springs, in Bayou La Batre, or any school if they are in Knoxville 

or Connecticut or North Alabama or where? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Certainly the priority would be to get them back 

into their own former environments if those environments are safe, 

but we want to get them in school wherever and as quickly as possible because that will help create normalcy in their environment. 

Senator SESSIONS. I agree with you there a lot, and frankly, even 

if the school was 90 percent okay and not complete, it might be better to have them back in their home and in their home school than 

being away, unless perhaps they chose to stay there in a distant 

school. 

But there is a question, Mr. Chairman, of money. You know, the 

more you spend keeping kids away from their school, the less you 

have to spend to fix up the schools and get the school ready where 

they might like to be permanently. So I think we need to think 

about that. There is no free lunch here. 

Let me ask you this. Let us ask about how the schools that will 

be receiving evacuee children will be paid. If they have 10 students, 

I understand you to say, they would be eligible for some compensation? 

Mr. JOHNSON. At least 10, correct. 

Senator SESSIONS. Ten. Would that be from K through 12 or K 

through 4? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Any configuration. 

Senator SESSIONS. Whatever the size of the school is? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Any configuration, yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. So if it’s a K through 12, you would have to 

have 10? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. And you are prepared to pay that school 90 

percent of what they calculate the average cost per student is to 

accommodate those students? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. I think that would be beneficial to a number 

of my schools, I assume, and other States too, but how did we decide that? Is 90 percent, where did we get this figure? 

Mr. JOHNSON. The idea was to contribute in this extraordinary 

circumstance, Federal dollars to instructional costs, and the infrastructure facilities and so forth we calculate would be about the 

other 10 percent, and FEMA would handle that part. 

Senator SESSIONS. So that would be the instructional cost. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Right. 

Senator SESSIONS. Do you know what the average school might 

be? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Seventy-five hundred is the figure that we have 

for the affected areas. 

Senator SESSIONS. What if a child is in this school for 3 months, 

and then returns back home to Louisiana or South Mississippi; 

does it get the full 75 or a proportional amount, $7,500 or a proportional amount? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Remember the money will go out on a quarterly 

basis if this is approved, and doing it that way allows us the flexiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
27

bility that we were talking about earlier. We heard from people on 

the ground, local folk and State level help, ‘‘We need help. We need 

money, and we need flexibility. We need for you to be very responsive.’’ And we felt that this was one of the ways that we could give 

them the help that they need in as quick and orderly and flexible 

fashion as possible. They like what we have proposed. 

Senator SESSIONS. It is a pretty good deal, frankly. Let us say 

you have first through sixth grades and you have 10 students, and 

you may not need to hire a single new teacher and you already 

have enough desks for each one of those 10 new students. You just 

plug them in the school system and you pick up $75,000 if they 

stay there 6 months or——

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, they have to stay the school year. 

Senator SESSIONS. 7 months? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, stay the school year. But as you know, the 

devastation is great and——

Senator SESSIONS. This is not the devastation. I am talking 

about a school in Knoxville, where people left or went to Montgomery or to Mobile from Bayou La Batre or something. You are 

talking about money, are we not, that is going to the nonimpacted 

schools? Some of them may have had impact because they may 

be——

Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. 

Senator SESSIONS. [continuing]. Partially damaged but not shut 

down. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Correct. 

Senator SESSIONS. I am just saying they need to be compensated. 

This is a national service to take these kids in. I am proud Governor Riley said we will take every child. We may get paid or not 

get paid, whatever, we are taking those children. In our community 

colleges, we are taking them. Maybe we will be paid, maybe we will 

not be paid, but we are not going to turn anybody down. I think 

that is the national spirit right now, and I respect that. 

Is my time up? Yes, it is. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Go ahead, Senator Sessions if you have 

other questions. 

Senator SESSIONS. With regard to your colleges, I had a meeting 

with Congressman Joe Bonner on the Friday after the hurricane 

with President Gordon Moulton at the University of South Alabama, Father Foley at Spring Hill College, a Jesuit College in Mobile, and Dr. Mark Foley at University of Mobile. One of the things 

they shared greatest concern about is that they are afraid that kids 

whose families have taken big losses and who are nervous about 

what is happening, might drop out of school for real or imagined 

monetary reasons when they really should not. Their thought is 

that it would probably be a mistake for a lot of these children to 

drop out of college, and they may not get back in and may be delayed for longer periods of time. And for most of them they would 

do better to stay in and see if we could figure out a way to help 

them stay in. 

You have the loan money. Are there any other things that would 

help a school counselor to share with a student that might encourage them to not go back home necessarily, but stay in college? 

28

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, the three things that I mentioned earlier for 

students in college are the three things that I know about, but I 

will get a response from the people who work in that area to you 

as soon as we get back to the office. 

Senator SESSIONS. I salute you for your firm position that all 

children should be treated equally, that children who are in parochial schools—we have a lot in New Orleans particularly—that 

they should be able to participate in this program. Frankly, I think 

that is just critical. Maybe 25 percent of the students are in Catholic schools in that area, so I think that is important. 

Mr. Chairman, I thank you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Sessions. 

Senator Dodd, do you have any other questions of Mr. Johnson 

before he——

Senator DODD. No, thank you. I am sure I do, but I think we 

ought to move along. We have a good panel coming up next. This 

is ongoing. But I would appreciate you getting back to us immediately about some of the issues we raised earlier, because I think 

they are very, very important. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, thank you. 

Senator DODD. In our consideration as we move forward with the 

legislation, so that would be helpful. 

Senator ALEXANDER. I have just one question following up Senator Sessions. Let us take the Houston Independent School District, which has 4,700 displaced students, hired 180 new teachers, 

added 37 bus routes and ordered 10,000 new textbooks. So if we 

were to suddenly today pass the President’s proposal, the Houston 

Independent School District could come to you and get up to $7,500 

or 90 percent of the per pupil expenditure in Texas, but not more 

than $7,500? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Correct. 

Senator ALEXANDER. For each of those students. 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is correct, assuming they stay the year. 

Senator ALEXANDER. What if they only stay half a year? They 

just get paid for half, Houston just gets one check? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Remember, the money will go out on a quarterly 

basis, so if the students are not there after that accounting period, 

then they do not get any more money. 

Senator ALEXANDER. I wonder if these teachers they have hired 

are on an annual contract, which teachers usually are. So they may 

be stuck with the teachers but not have the students if they go 

home. 

Mr. JOHNSON. That is possible, but in most school districts, and 

particularly large school districts, because of normal influx of students and students who leave, those things sort of average out unless there is a catastrophic occurrence. There usually is not that 

much of a swing in student population. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Let us say the children do go home after 

one semester from Houston, that that would be their normal impulse? Let us say they go back to the Pascagoula High School. 

Trent Lott said it could be open maybe before too long. So they go 

back for the second semester there. Does Pascagoula High School 

get money under this proposal, or is that a separate kind of Federal issue? 

29

Mr. JOHNSON. We do not plan to pay twice for the same kid, cer- tainly not beyond $7,500. 

Senator ALEXANDER. But say half of it goes to Houston for the 

first two quarters. Then for the second two quarters that child 

finds himself or herself back home. Is this proposal to envision 

that, or is this just for those 372,000 children who are displaced? 

Mr. JOHNSON. It is for the displaced——

Senator ALEXANDER. When they go back to their home school, 

this program ends and we go back to our——

Senator DODD. Title I, the title I provisions that you talked about 

would still apply for that student in Pascagoula I presume at this 

point? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator DODD. So they would not be requiring the State match 

in that case, which would help that school district, allow them to 

get some assistance directly; is that right? 

Mr. JOHNSON. I think that is—I will have to——

Senator ALEXANDER. Could you help us, make sure we think 

about that? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator ALEXANDER. We do not want to create incentives for students to stay away longer than they should, and we want to understand that clearly before we——

Mr. JOHNSON. And all of this still requires some additional detailing. 

Senator DODD. Does it ever. I would also like to know very specifically the waiver requests that you will be making. You mentioned some of them already, and I heard you say ‘‘no blanket waivers’’ that would be requested, but I would like to know the detailed 

request for waivers. I am sure my colleagues would as well here. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr.——

Senator SESSIONS. Senator, again, to follow up. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. What about students who may decide to stay 

more than a year, and this is a 1-year program, and then you get 

38 Texas Congressmen descending on you saying we need to pay 

another year. 

Mr. JOHNSON. We have actually had conversation about that, 

Senator, and this proposal——

Senator SESSIONS. Not Senators, they would not do that. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. JOHNSON. This proposal is for 1 year, and as we get more 

information, you and we will decide further what else needs to be 

done or if anything else needs to be done. But this only addresses 

1 year. 

Senator SESSIONS. I think you do well to be clear about it because if you do not say it is absolutely 1 year, they are going to 

come back next year. And at some point a child becomes a resident, 

you know? 

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. 

Senator SESSIONS. They decide they are going to be a Texan. The 

Harris County School Superintendent told us he had 900 students, 

and what they were hearing from the students was they were not 

going back. He said, frankly, we are hearing they intend to stay. 

30

I do not know if they will, but that is what they are saying, so it 

is a realistic possibility. 

Senator ALEXANDER. I think that is a good point. My sense of 

things is—and we can each speak for ourselves—it would be my 

feeling that this is a 1-year temporary program, and when it is 

over, we go back to the way we were. 

Senator DODD. It would take an act of Congress. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator ALEXANDER. And I think it is important for school administrators to understand that. 

Senator DODD. They really have to understand that. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And I think we also are not attempting—

we want to help every single displaced Katrina child, but we do not 

want to build in incentives to keep them from doing what they normally would do, which in many cases, I would suspect most, is go 

back where they were from. Now, maybe they will, maybe they will 

not, but we do not want to build in an incentive to stay away. I 

for one, do not think we are likely to get consensus on this type 

of legislation unless it is clear that it is a single year emergency 

disaster relief for the Katrina schoolchildren. 

Senator SESSIONS. Could I share one thing that is important? 

The group that I am worried most about, there are a few school 

systems really impacted by evacuees. For most it is a fairly modest 

increase of students for them, frankly, but it is those students in 

home counties that depend on sales tax, and the businesses are 

shut down, who depend on property tax and other things that are 

not coming in, and they have all these repairs that they have to 

do. And so in truth, we need to be sure we focus more on the districts where they are going to be receiving those kids coming back 

as soon as possible. They have lost revenue as well as having damages to their school, and they are trying to attract the students 

back promptly and get them settled. 

And so incentivizing that for the students who want to come back 

I think should be a pretty high priority. 

Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for being here. You are welcome to 

stay, or if you need to leave, we certainly understand that. 

Mr. JOHNSON. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Johnson follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HENRY L. JOHNSON

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity 

to report on the efforts of the Department of Education to help States and school 

districts meet the educational needs of students and families displaced by Hurricane 

Katrina. This is a most timely subject, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to discuss the current situation in the affected States, how the Department is helping 

State and local officials cope with the aftermath of the hurricane, and the President’s proposals for assisting schools to educate children displaced by the hurricane 

and for helping communities in the disaster area reopen their schools as quickly as 

possible. 

The Situation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Other Affected States 

Mr. Chairman, in many ways, Hurricane Katrina was an event perhaps unlike 

any in our Nation’s history, because of the sheer magnitude of the storm and subsequent flooding and the great number of people affected. The hurricane and the 

floods damaged or destroyed so many homes, businesses, communications networks, 

public health facilities, and, of course, schools, colleges, and universities. As Congress has already recognized, through the rapid approval of two emergency supplemental appropriations bills, a disaster of this magnitude calls for a national reVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
31

sponse, with strong Federal leadership. To lead that response, President Bush has 

announced a plan to provide the financial and other resources that will be needed 

to assist the many victims of the storm and to restore the infrastructure of the Gulf 

Coast region. As the President told the American people last week, we will work 

in close partnership with the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New 

Orleans, and other Gulf Coast communities, so that they can rebuild in a sensible, 

well-planned way, getting the job done quickly and wisely, and with the Federal 

Government shouldering the great majority of the costs. Just as important, the 

President’s plan includes major assistance to communities that have taken in evacuated families, part of which involves reimbursement of their schools. 

At Secretary Spellings’ direction, high-level Department officials have spent many 

days recently in the Gulf Coast region, viewing the situation and working with State 

and local officials to determine how we can best be of assistance. In addition, Deputy Secretary Ray Simon and I are in constant communication with the chief State 

school officers in the most affected States, and the Secretary participated in a conference call with all chief State school officers in order to gain a better understanding of the impact of this disaster on schools nationwide. 

In the last 2 weeks, I visited Biloxi, Baton Rouge, and De Soto County, a northern 

Mississippi county that is absorbing a number of evacuated families. These visits 

helped me get an on-the-ground sense of the current situation in affected communities and a better understanding of what K–12 educators in the region need from 

the Department and the Federal Government. I found that the news reports and 

even the television pictures do not begin to convey the devastation wrought by the 

hurricane and its aftermath. And local educators, because they feel responsible for 

our children, who are so much of the Nation’s future, are among the most deeply 

affected. In Biloxi, teachers, principals, and school superintendents came up to me, 

literally with tears in their eyes, to discuss what the disaster had done to their 

schools, their programs, and their students. Having previously served as superintendent of schools for the State of Mississippi, I was affected very personally and 

very emotionally by what I saw down there. 

School districts in the path of the hurricane, where so many schools have been 

shut down, obviously have a major and immediate need for assistance in rebuilding. 

As you know, under legislation passed by Congress a decade ago, Federal responsibility for rebuilding schools, and for providing trailers and other temporary facilities 

in response to a natural disaster, is assigned to FEMA, not the Department of Education. But school authorities in the affected States have many other needs, which 

they are conveying to me and to the other officials of the Department who have been 

to the region. 

Perhaps the most important immediate need is for assistance in educating the estimated 372,000 school children displaced by Katrina. By our count, 49 States and 

the District of Columbia have taken in displaced families and enrolled their children 

in their public schools. Of those, nine States have more than 1,000 displaced students in their schools. Other children are being taken in by private schools around 

the country. For some districts and schools, the number of displaced children suddenly enrolled is very significant, and this has resulted in strained local resources. 

No one, of course, had budgeted for this additional need when the school year began. 

I truly commend all the local school authorities who have enrolled displaced students and are working so hard to care for and educate them. But it is incumbent 

on us to provide them financial compensation for doing so. 

State and local officials have also sought the Department’s help, and the help of 

one another, in working through an array of other difficult issues. For example, districts have enrolled many children with disabilities without having on hand the Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) that document their needs and the special 

services those students were entitled to receive; those documents were sometimes 

literally washed away in the storm. The States and districts have sought guidance 

from our Office of Special Education Programs on how to deal with this issue. Receiving districts are also enrolling many 12th graders, who face special challenges 

in completing their graduation requirements, sometimes passing a high school exit 

exam, and often in assembling transcripts and teacher recommendations to send to 

colleges, even when the transcripts have been lost and the teachers are scattered 

across many States. State and local administrators are working together to solve 

these problems. We thank them, and we are doing what we can to help them. 

Department of Education Response 

In addition to requesting funding, officials from the most-affected States have 

asked for our assistance on a number of difficult issues, especially issues of compliance with Federal requirements in light of the disaster. We have tried to respond 

to these requests as quickly as possible, and to provide the affected States with the 

32

maximum available flexibility. As Deputy Secretary Simon recently put it, we want 

to leave all the red tape in the drawer, and give the States and school districts the 

flexibility they need in dealing with a unique and difficult situation. 

Each of three most affected States has sent us requests for waivers of the Federal 

requirements that it believes pose the biggest problems in meeting needs resulting 

from the hurricane. The Department has considered each of these requests very 

carefully, but has also tried to get back to the States as quickly as possible. In recent days, we have announced a number of new policies, with more to follow. Some 

of these are:

• Mississippi and Louisiana requested a waiver of the title I ‘‘maintenance-of-effort’’ requirement for affected districts, because those districts will not have the fiscal resources available to meet that requirement. Secretary Spellings has notified 

the States that we are willing to grant that request. 

• Those two States have also requested an extension of the amount of time available for using certain Federal funds because, with the immediate need to deal with 

hurricane-related issues, the States may not be able to obligate those funds in the 

time that would normally be available. The Secretary provided an immediate 1-year 

extension of the deadline for obligating Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

funds that would otherwise lapse at the end of this month, and made a commitment 

to work with the States to ease future funding deadlines if that need arises. 

• Texas and Louisiana requested an extension of a number of the deadlines for 

submission of the reports required under the Elementary and Secondary Education 

Act, as amended by No Child Left Behind, and under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We agreed that, in an emergency situation, it would be 

entirely appropriate to extend most of those deadlines, and we are doing so. 

• In order to make it easier for the Nation’s charter schools to enroll displaced 

students (and thus both ease the strain on regular public schools and give parents 

of those children additional choices), we have clarified that charter schools that receive Federal funds may, in their admissions lotteries, give priority to displaced students. We have also offered those schools approximately $20 million in additional 

fiscal year 2005 funding to serve displaced students.

I should also add a few points regarding waiver requests from the States. The 

first is that, in many cases, we have determined that no Federal waiver is needed. 

The Department has, instead, quickly responded to requests for these waivers with 

clarification of the flexibility already available to States under the law. 

A second point is that, on some issues, particularly requests for waivers of some 

of the key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, our consideration may be taking a little more time, but we still expect to respond on a very rapid basis. The Secretary has stated that she has no intention of granting a nationwide waiver of the 

accountability provisions of NCLB. Likewise, she has stated that the situation in the 

affected States does not necessitate a wholesale abandonment of the key NCLB provisions, even for 1 year. That would be an unwise policy and a retreat from NCLB’s 

commitment to holding schools accountable for the education of all students. However, as I stated earlier, we want to provide flexibility during what we recognize is 

a very difficult period in some of the States. 

My final point in this area is that there are some provisions we might like to 

waive, but cannot. Our authority to waive provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is somewhat limited and, for other statutes, such as the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, it is very narrow or nonexistent. Overall, our current authorities are 

simply not adequate, for a situation of this magnitude. This is why the President’s 

plan, which I discuss below, includes a broad authority that would allow the Secretary to waive, for up to 1 school year, statutory or regulatory requirements that 

she administers or enforces, except those related to civil rights or safety, that may 

impede our ability to provide assistance as efficiently and expeditiously as possible 

to individuals or entities affected by the hurricane. We will periodically publish lists 

of the approved waivers to ensure transparency and consistency in how they are 

granted. 

Before turning to the President’s legislative proposal, I would like to mention one 

additional element of the Department’s response to Katrina, the Hurricane Help for 

Schools web page. This page, which is linked to the Department’s Web site, provides 

a vehicle for schools, companies, organizations, and individuals to come together to 

help displaced students. Schools use the page to post requests for supplies and other 

resources students need. Companies post information on the resources they can provide, and also use it to make direct contact with needy districts. Already, some very 

gratifying things are happening through this effort. For instance, 100 evacuees attending Park Ridge Elementary School in Baker, Louisiana are getting brand new 

33

backpacks filled with school supplies, courtesy of the Where to Turn organization, 

which is coordinating its efforts with Staten Island, NY schools and businesses. Student evacuees attending St. Mary’s Catholic School in Longview, Texas are receiving 

new Brainchild hand-held learning devices donated by the Gatrou Group/Brainchild 

Academy of Coral Gables, Florida. And families in Sun Valley, Idaho have so far 

filled 25 backpacks with school supplies and sent them to the Okaloosa County 

schools in Florida and the Sacred Heart School in Los Angeles. I am very pleased 

with the results of this initiative, which we will certainly continue in the coming 

months. 

The Administration’s Proposal 

A week ago, the President presented the Nation with a plan for compensating 

communities that have absorbed evacuated families, including schoolchildren, and 

for helping the Gulf Coast communities get back on their feet as soon as possible. 

For elementary and secondary education, the plan includes two major elements, 

along with the broad waiver authority I just described.

• We are requesting up to $1.9 billion dollars to reimburse receiving school districts for the costs of educating displaced students this year and to assist affected 

districts in reopening their schools. Our plan would provide direct grants, from the 

Department to the district, to any district that enrolls at least 10 displaced students 

during school year 2005–06. In order to ensure that the funds flow to districts that 

are currently enrolling displaced students, and in recognition of the fact that evacuated families are likely to be very mobile, we would make these payments on a 

quarterly basis, based on quarterly enrollment counts. We propose to pay each district a sum equal to 90 percent of the State’s average per-pupil expenditure for elementary and secondary education, up to a maximum of $7,500 per student. This 

amount would be intended to cover the full instructional costs of serving evacuated 

students, and some three-quarters of costs of student support services and administration. 

Districts receiving these funds would have broad flexibility in how they spend 

them. They could use the money to pay staff salaries, purchase materials and equipment, provide for building maintenance or transportation, provide special services 

for limited English proficient, disabled, or other students, or meet any other expenses that school officials determine are most needed. The funding would thus be 

much like the general assistance we provide under the current Impact Aid program. 

We do not believe it would be appropriate to provide more ‘‘categorical’’ support and 

make the decisions in Washington about how these funds are used at the local level. 

For Louisiana and Mississippi, this new funding would provide assistance both in 

serving displaced students and in helping districts in the Gulf Coast region reopen. 

For those two States only, we would grant the money to the State educational agency, rather than directly to districts, and then State officials would distribute funds 

both to districts serving evacuated students (for assistance in serving those students) and to Gulf Coast districts (for reopening schools). 

• The second major element of our proposal, as it relates to elementary and secondary education, is assistance to evacuated families that choose to enroll their children in private schools. As you know, many of the schoolchildren who had to leave 

the Gulf Coast region were private school students. Communities in Louisiana that 

were affected by the hurricane and flooding had an above-average number of children in private schools—some 61,000 were in private schools, compared to 187,000 

students in public schools, in the four most affected parishes. In other words, about 

25 percent of the students in those parishes attended private schools, compared to 

a national average of 11 percent. 

We believe that the families of those children, as well as other families, should 

have the opportunity to enroll their children in private schools in their new locations. And just like we have seen with public schools across the country, many displaced students are already enrolled in private schools. These schools have graciously opened their doors in this time of need, and we ought to take that into account. Moreover, in some communities, the availability of private school slots may 

ease capacity concerns in the public schools, if the families, many of whose financial 

resources have been decimated, are provided support for paying private school tuition. 

To address these issues, our proposal includes up to $488 million for assistance 

to displaced families that enroll their children in private schools. We would make 

emergency, one-time grants to the States, which would in turn make assistance 

available to those families. Much like the public school assistance proposal, we 

would provide for each private school student a grant of up to 90 percent of the 

State per-pupil expenditure or $7,500, except that the maximum amount could not 

exceed the student’s tuition, fees, and transportation expenses. Finally, in order to 

34

ensure that these benefits go to families with the greatest need, our proposal would 

require the Secretary to limit participation to families with incomes or assets below 

a certain level.

I know that the Congress, including members of this subcommittee, is considering 

other proposals for educational assistance related to Hurricane Katrina, and that 

some of those proposals are very similar to those put forward by the President. I 

believe that, on balance, the President’s plan provides the best combination of flexibility and accountability needed to meet the emerging needs of students and families affected by the hurricane. At the same time, I know that Secretary Spellings 

looks forward to working with you—and listening to your concerns as you continue 

to hear from your States and constituents—to develop a comprehensive and effective 

package to compensate communities and help reopen schools. 

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I am sure the members of the subcommittee agree with me that the situation in the Gulf Coast region is extraordinary, and that an extraordinary situation demands some extraordinary actions. I 

urge you to accept the President’s proposals for elementary and secondary education 

for areas affected by the hurricane. 

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Senator ALEXANDER. I would like to invite our next witnesses to 

come. I have already introduced them, and I will ask them to testify in the order in which they come. Darryl Gates, who is a middle 

school special education teacher from Shreveport, LA; Sister 

Michaeline Green, Superintendent of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA; Rodney R. LaFon, who is Superintendent 

of the St. Charles Parish Public Schools in Luling, LA; and Mike 

Stein, who is President of the Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis, TN. 

Let’s see. Why don’t we start with—well, we will just go right 

down the line here. Why don’t we start with Mr. LaFon, then Mr. 

Gates, then Mr. Stein, and then Sister Green. And may I suggest 

to each of you that we have a little machine here—there is one 

there—which records 7 minutes. We have your testimony, and we 

have all read it, and it would help us understand things best if you 

would just tell us in your own words as much as possible in about 

7 minutes what your recommendations to us are. If you need more 

time than that, we will give you more time than that. But if you 

stick to that, we could hear your testimony in about a half hour, 

and then that would give us time to ask you more questions. 

Thank you very much for coming, Mr. LaFon. 

STATEMENTS OF RODNEY R. LaFON, SUPERINTENDENT, ST. 

CHARLES PARISH PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, AND MEMBER, 

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ADMINISTRATORS GOVERNING 

BOARD, LULING, LA; DARYL GATES, MIDDLE SCHOOL SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER, YOUREE DRIVE MIDDLE 

SCHOOL, SHREVEPORT, LA; MICHAEL STEIN, PRESIDENT, 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS, MARGOLIN HEBREW ACADEMY, 

MEMPHIS, TN; AND SISTER M. MICHAELINE GREEN, O.P., SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DIOCESE OF BATON ROUGE, 

LA, AND CHAIRPERSON, NONPUBLIC SCHOOL COMMISSION, 

LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, BATON ROUGE, 

LA 

Mr. LAFON. Good afternoon. I am Rodney LaFon, Superintendent 

of Schools in St. Charles Parish in Louisiana, and I am a member 

of——

Senator ALEXANDER. Could you push your microphone button? 

Thank you. 

35

Mr. LAFON. Sorry about that. I am a member of the American 

Association of School Administrators Governing Board. Again, I 

thank you, Chairman Alexander, and Senator Dodd and members 

of this subcommittee. I think what you are doing today is very, 

very important and has far, far-reaching, you know, information 

that could take us down the road. 

St. Charles Parish Public Schools, we are located about 20 miles 

outside of New Orleans, and we were an impacted district. And I 

don’t know—I know that you talked to Dr. Diane Russell of Jefferson Parish about a week ago, and she is hoping to get our schools 

up and running on October 3rd. St. Tammany Parish is also trying 

to do the same thing. I have for the record here a statement from 

Doris Voitier, who is the Superintendent of St. Bernard Parish 

Public Schools, where there was serious, serious devastation. And 

I hope that you have a chance to read that. 

Senator ALEXANDER. We will be glad to read it and to include it 

in our record. Thank you. 

Mr. LAFON. Thank you very much. 

I think what I bring you today as an impacted district is the fact 

that, while we began opening schools last Thursday on the same 

day that we opened for the 10,000 children we had, we found that 

we had 1,300 more new students that wanted to come to St. 

Charles Parish, and that goes along with some of what has been 

said today already. And I would like to talk to that a little bit, if 

you don’t mind. 

It is our job as public school people, public school school boards, 

to embrace these children and make sure that they receive a quality education. And that is what St. Charles Parish is trying to do 

right now as we speak. When we opened, we took back our children 

that were with us right before the hurricane, the 10,000 students 

who were already enrolled, and got back to our business, which is 

teaching and learning. And we did a good job of that, I believe. 

But as we got the influx of the 1,300, we had to decide what we 

were going to do and how we were going to make sure that they 

became a part of St. Charles Parish Public Schools, that they needed to be included in everything we did. 

So as we looked at our numbers, we realized that approximately 

50 percent of the students who had enrolled in our schools were 

from private schools from Jefferson, Orleans, and areas where the 

flooding took place. So we immediately worked to make sure that 

those students had an opportunity to get in our schools, and I want 

to come back and talk about what I think should be some of the 

waivers regarding those students in a minute. 

And then we put a plan in place where we registered, in fact, 

today and yesterday, all of the rest of the 1,300 students who are 

from Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and even Mississippi. And on Monday and Tuesday, those students will come to 

St. Charles Parish Public Schools. And we will have schedules for 

them. We have hired 25 additional teachers, and we know we are 

going to need more. And we are putting something in place to 

make sure that they fit right in and they are going to get the quality education that they deserve at a time of crisis. 

You know, what is important to us in St. Charles Parish is that 

we get everything in that parish, especially the school system, back 

36

to normalcy. That is the key—making things normal for the parish 

and the residents of St. Charles Parish, and those children are key 

to that. 

I think, you know, it is important for you to know that in St. 

Charles Parish we have a nuclear plant, Dow Chemical, Shell 

Chemical, Shell Oil, Valero, Oxychem, Monsanto, and I could go on 

and on. And what those plants asked us to do was try to get back 

and up and running as quick as possible. 

Now, we were impacted. We had $5 million worth of damage to 

our facilities. But we said we can make this work. And when we 

opened last Thursday, we opened with an 80 percent workforce. So 

that meant we had to hire teachers to go ahead and take care of 

the kids we already had and hire another 25 teachers to deal with 

the numbers that are now coming on Monday and Tuesday. And 

I think that is critical. 

We needed to make sure that we take care of these children, not 

only academically but emotionally as well. And, you know, we need 

to step to the plate to do that. We are going to be spending about 

$7 million to embrace these children. You know, you just cannot 

take them and, you know, throw them in your classrooms. You 

have got to provide certified teachers. We had transportation problems, so we leased 18 more buses. We leased another 10 portable 

buildings. 

Food services—some people don’t think about that. Let’s remember that St. Charles Parish Public Schools were totally shut down 

for 8 days, and we had no electricity. So all the food we had in our 

freezers was totally lost, $100,000 worth of food. 

Now we are opening up for 10,000 children, and now we are taking another 1,300, and we need help getting the vendors to actually 

come to the plate and provide the appropriate food that we are 

looking for because we have not been able to find those vendors. 

In St. Charles Parish, electricity was out. Still, phone service is 

not back to normal. In fact, I can tell you right now as we speak, 

phone service in our school system is down because we are now experiencing problems with Bell South and what is happening with 

the storm. In fact, about 2 hours ago, I had to shut down St. 

Charles Parish Schools for tomorrow so that we can prepare for the 

storm and open up shelters for parents and students who could be 

displaced because of street flooding or tropical storm winds. Now, 

that might not happen, but we cannot take the chance and, you 

know, wait until the last minute. We have to make sure we keep 

in mind the safety of our children and our constituents. 

So having said that we spent the last 2 days registering and 

making sure we are going to be ready for these students on Monday, these 1,300, here I am shutting down schools again. And I 

want to go back to that figure of $7 million because that is critical. 

The St. Charles Parish School Board stepped to the plate and said, 

You know what? This is the right thing to do for kids. And we 

know the Federal Government and State government will come 

through later. But up to now, as the superintendent, I have not 

seen any Federal Government person or State government person 

say, Yes, you know what? We are going to make sure you get taken 

care of for what you have done for children. And I hope that that 

37

happens, Senators. And I hear you talking about it, but it needs 

to happen fast. 

You want school systems to step to the plate. We want to step 

to the plate, and we are stepping to the plate, especially when you 

consider we are an impacted district. We like to think of ourselves 

now as an assistive district, which means we are hoping to assist 

districts such as Jefferson, such as Orleans, and help them get 

back on track, because now we have put a plan in place to make 

sure we do it right. And thank God we have a school board that 

truly cares and has allowed us to do that. 

If I might just change gears a minute and talk just a little bit 

about some of the relief we need with regard to waivers. As I said, 

there are a lots of Federal regulations out there, the No Child Left 

Behind. You know, it is going to be unfair to students in schools 

and districts to hold them accountable for many of those requirements during this most unusual time. Teachers are not able to 

meet the No Child Left Behind definition of highly qualified because many of the universities are closed because they got flooded 

and classes were canceled. I think that is something that the Federal Government and the Secretary need to look at very carefully. 

Another thing that I think is very important is that this disruption of the education of our students and the unsettled living conditions that many of our families are experiencing make test scores 

unreliable this year. As a result, any conclusions formed about student achievement and annual yearly progress is going to be unreliable. And I hear you talking about 1 year. I think that is what everybody needs to be talking about with regard to waivers. I don’t 

think St. Charles Parish Public Schools or any other school system 

is asking for anything unfair when we say we need some waivers 

to loosen up things a little bit and be a little compassionate for 

these children, you know, that have been displaced, for our teachers that have been displaced. 

I have over 50 teachers that have been displaced. They are living 

with friends, relatives. But you know what? Still working with 

FEMA to this day, we don’t have a place for those teachers to live. 

And yesterday I had two teachers who cried when they talked to 

me about it, ‘‘Dr. LaFon, when are we going to have a place to live? 

We want to keep our jobs in St. Charles Parish, but I have to have 

a place.’’

So we are working on 8-foot-by-30-foot travel trailers to put these 

teachers in who are willing to live there to do their jobs for children. That is a true educator. You know, those are people who have 

hearts. 

What I am here talking about is just that. When you talk about 

this funding, it is very, very critical that all school systems, all 

schools receive the appropriate funding for these children. In St. 

Charles Parish, we spend about $8,500. You are talking about 

$7,500, talking about 90 percent. I am not in your shoes, but I can 

tell you, in the area where I am from in St. Charles Parish, an impacted school district, who said we are going to not only take our 

students back but those students who have been displaced as well, 

and we know those numbers are going to fluctuate, but we are willing to do that because it is the right thing to do for children and 

it is the right thing to do for education. 

38

One other thing and I will stop. Finally, the McKinney-Vento act 

wasn’t designed to address large numbers of students displaced because of catastrophic events as we are now experiencing. Some 

kind of legislation should be presented to amend this law to make 

provisions for schools and school district to have time to prepare 

for an infrastructure and put it in place so when these students arrive they get a quality education. 

So I will leave you with this: To this date, I have not heard any 

firm commitment from the State or the Feds with regard to funding assistance and regulatory relief for our school district. 

St. Charles Parish Public Schools and the St. Charles Parish 

School Board have made a commitment, and we have put a plan 

in place to make it happen, addressing our core business—teaching 

and learning. 

Gentlemen, I ask for your support and assistance to make sure 

school districts get the dollars they need as soon as possible. I 

thank you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. LaFon, and thank you for 

making the trip here today in difficult circumstances. And thank 

you for sticking pretty close to 7 minutes. If you can do that, we 

will have more time for questions. I did not want to cut you off because you have come a long way and you have got a lot to say. But 

I also want Senator Sessions and Senator Dodd—we want to get 

down to the details. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. LaFon follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF RODNEY LAFON

Good afternoon, I am Rodney LaFon, superintendent of the St. Charles Parish 

Public School System and a member of the American Association of Administrators 

Governing Board. Thank you Chairman Alexander, Senator Dodd, and members of 

the Subcommittee on Education and Early Childhood Development for allowing me 

the opportunity to speak before you today. 

St. Charles Parish Public Schools, located about 20 miles from New Orleans, is 

in a unique situation as we have been directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina and 

are now positioned to offer assistance to our neighboring school districts. By State 

definition, St. Charles is both an impacted district and an assisting district. 

St. Charles Parish was under a mandatory evacuation. The school district sustained $5 million in damages initially classifying us as an ‘‘impacted district.’’ We 

were without electricity for days. Some areas of the district are still without phone 

service. People continue to stand in line to shop at local grocery stores. Some streets 

are lined with hurricane debris. Fifty of our teachers lost their homes during the 

storm and are living with relatives and colleagues. Assistance with temporary housing through FEMA has been slow. 

Despite these overwhelming challenges, we continue to work collaboratively with 

other St. Charles Parish governmental agencies to re-establish normal school and 

work routines. 

Without the extraordinary efforts made by these agencies along with countless 

volunteers, St. Charles Parish Public Schools would not be in the position to now 

assist other impacted districts. 

After losing 12 school days due to Katrina, schools re-opened last week for our 

10,000 students who were enrolled prior to the hurricane. At the same time we have 

received 1,300 requests to enroll students. Approximately one third of these students already live in St. Charles Parish but previously attended private schools in 

neighboring parishes. The remaining two-thirds have been displaced from their 

homes and have moved to our district to live with relatives and friends. As the year 

progresses, we expect our student population to fluctuate as families continue to 

move from one area to another seeking permanent housing. 

Each family comes to us with worries about how they will cope with their overwhelming losses. They wonder if their children will ever feel safe again. Our challenge is to not only meet the educational needs of these children but to also address 

the emotional well-being of these children during this time of crisis. 

39

The children we are enrolling have endured many hardships within the last few 

weeks. Multiple families are living together, parents are without jobs, and children 

are worried about what tomorrow will bring. To offer some stability during these 

uncertain times, St. Charles Parish developed a plan to offer these children a quality education. 

Staff has been working endless hours to develop a plan that will maintain the 

quality education provided to students prior to Katrina and to offer this same education and support to meet the needs of the students that we welcome into our 

school system who have been displaced by the hurricane. To do so, we had to make 

decisions about class sizes, classroom facilities, staffing, support services, special 

education services, transportation, food services, and materials and supplies without 

a commitment from State and Federal Government about how we will pay for these 

extra costs. To accommodate the additional students we have increased class sizes, 

converted available spaces to classrooms in existing schools, leased 18 school buses 

and 10 temporary classrooms and we have employed 25 additional teachers knowing 

we will need more. After losing almost $100,000 in perishable food due to the power 

outage, our school cafeterias have had to re-stock to provide breakfast and lunch for 

students. Some of the enrolling students have severe disabilities requiring specialized equipment, health services, and additional personnel. 

While we are willing to do our share to help our citizens and neighbors, we need 

immediate assurance that the residents of St. Charles Parish will not bear this financial burden alone. It is time for State and Federal officials to make commitments 

about funding. Educating the additional students will cost approximately $7,000,000 

for the current school year. 

This includes salaries for additional teachers, bus transportation, temporary classrooms, and instructional materials and equipment. As a relatively small school district, St. Charles Parish can not afford to absorb these additional costs. Federal 

funds need to be made available immediately as many of the expenses that we are 

incurring—such as teacher salaries—must be paid monthly. 

We also need relief from some Federal regulations. While we will continue to 

strive to achieve the goals of legislation such as NCLB, it would not be fair to students, schools, or districts to hold them accountable for many of these requirements 

during this most unusual year. Teachers are not able to meet the NCLB definition 

of ‘‘highly qualified’’ because many of the universities they were attending were 

flooded and have had to cancel classes. The disruption in the education of students 

and the unsettled living conditions that many families are experiencing make test 

scores unreliable this year. As a result, any conclusions formed about student 

achievement and annual yearly progress will be unreliable. 

Approximately 50 percent of the students registering in St. Charles Parish previously attended private schools. The No Child Left Behind legislation and State accountability did not apply to these students when they attended private schools. 

Now that they are enrolled in public school settings, these students are expected 

to comply with accountability regulations that impact both students and districts. 

Finally, the McKinney-Vento Act was not designed to address large numbers of 

students displaced by catastrophic events as the one we have experienced. Legislation should be presented to amend this law to make provisions for schools and 

school districts to have time to prepare and put an infrastructure in place that will 

support these students academically and emotionally. 

To date there has been NO FIRM commitment from the State and Federal Government to provide funding assistance and regulatory relief for our district. 

St. Charles Parish Public Schools has made a commitment to these students and 

has developed a plan to ‘‘make it happen’’ addressing the district’s core business—

teaching and learning. 

We need your immediate assistance and support!

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Gates, thank you for being here. 

Mr. GATES. Good afternoon, Senator Alexander, Senator Dodd, 

and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to 

provide testimony today. My name is Daryl Gates, and for 28 years 

I have been a public school teacher. I am currently a special education teacher at Youree Drive Middle School in Shreveport, LA, as 

well as an adjunct instructor at Southern University in Shreveport. 

I am also a member of the National Education Associations IDEA 

Cadre. We are a 26-member group of professional educators who 

provide professional development about IDEA to educators and 

community members across the country. In all my years of teachVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
40

ing, one thing remains true: schools and teachers are anchors of 

stability in children’s lives. In the wake of Katrina, stability, normalcy, a sense of community, and a sense of belonging are desperately needed. 

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, my district has enrolled approximately 1,400 displaced students, and we have hired 40 teachers 

and 18 administrators and support personnel from the New Orleans area. For the most part, these colleagues and students are living in community shelters, church shelters, and temporary housing. 

As of yesterday, my superintendent was preparing for evacuee students who were in Houston to be relocated to our district in light 

of Hurricane Rita. Our district is having trouble getting needed 

funds from FEMA to buy textbooks. Each textbook costs between 

$50 to $55. That means that it will cost an average of $250 per 

child to prepare them properly to attend school. That is $350,000 

just for books. 

Our district needs buses. Transportation costs have risen since 

fuel prices are high, and the buses’ routes have expanded to include stops at shelters and churches. We will also need to hire additional teachers to ensure that class sizes don’t begin to impede 

individualized instruction or hamper our efforts to address NCLB 

requirements. These are some of the hard costs associated with 

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. But I also want to be sure 

that you are aware of some of the other costs that we need to provide, such as counseling and other types of supports for children 

and their families. 

The children from New Orleans who have enrolled in my district 

are dealing with many changes and many new things. Some of 

them are showing signs similar to acute trauma stress syndrome. 

They seem frightened, angry, depressed and/or a combination of 

the three. Several fights have occurred between the displaced students and the students who are lifelong residents. The reason? The 

children from New Orleans feel that much has been taken from 

them—their loved ones, their homes, their valued possessions, and 

their lives as they know them. They have nothing. They have to 

wear hand-me-down clothes while the children from our communities may come to school wearing designer brand clothing. The 

hostility is a symptom of traumatic stress syndrome. They have 

feelings of loss and need to find a target for their anger. 

Some of the educators I have met also seem to be in denial. This, 

too, is an understandable human response that many may experience when trying to cope with unimaginable loss and shock. The 

needs are huge, but the public schools in Louisiana are responding. 

Our district has instructed school counselors to meet with all of 

the displaced students either individually or in small groups, and 

we are allowing parents access to these counseling services as well. 

The immediate need is funding for training to prepare more persons to provide counseling. When parents of displaced children 

have come into our schools and indicated that their child had an 

individualized education plan or special education plan from the 

previous school, we didn’t ask questions. We provided services. It 

is too important to us that these children continue receiving the 

services they need. More counselors and behavior interventionists 

41

have been hired. Students who have behavior difficulties are being 

evaluated and behavior plans are being written for them. 

The adjustments being made in my school and in my district are 

evidence that our public schools are designed to provide the widest 

possible array of services for children and their families quickly to 

allow for transition to a semblance of normalcy and stability. We 

are uniquely equipped to bring the skills and expertise of a variety 

of highly trained professionals, whether they be counselors, school 

psychologists, special education teachers, social workers, or others. 

At the end of the day, we have one goal: to meet the needs of each 

student in a way that allows for student success. 

Last year, Louisiana adopted a statewide comprehensive curriculum. That means that the same skills are being taught across 

the State at the same time. Displaced public school students will 

have the academic continuity they need, but I want to stress to you 

that a student won’t be able to sit at a desk and concentrate on 

two plus two when his mind is still attempting to cope with the disruption and loss that has occurred in his life. If we ignore that and 

expect business as usual from our schools and students, we will 

commit an unbelievable act of negligence. 

For now, Shreveport is coping. At some point, the funds will run 

out, but the problems will remain. We need more funding for counselors and mental health professionals to continue to help our children and their families deal with issues that will remain long after 

buildings have reopened or been rebuilt. 

Thank you today for allowing me to testify before you. I hope 

that Congress can act quickly and in a bipartisan manner to provide resources and to help us deliver hope to the many who need 

it. 

Thank you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you very much, Mr. Gates, and 

thank you for making the trip here today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Gates follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DARYL GATES

Good afternoon, Senator Alexander, Senator Dodd, and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today. My name is Daryl 

Gates and for 28 years I have been a public school teacher. I am currently a special 

education teacher at Youree Drive Middle School in Shreveport, Louisiana, as well 

as an adjunct professor at Southern University in Shreveport. I am also a member 

of the National Education Association’s IDEA Cadre. We are a 26-member group of 

practicing educators who provide professional development about IDEA to educators 

and community members all across the country. In all my years of teaching, one 

thing remains true: schools and teachers are anchors of stability in children’s lives. 

In the wake of Katrina, stability, normalcy, and a sense of community and belonging 

are desperately needed. 

Since Hurricane Katrina hit, my district has enrolled 1,400 displaced students 

and we’ve hired many teachers from the New Orleans area. For the most part, these 

colleagues and students are living in shelters, church shelters, and temporary housing. At my school alone, we have many new students from New Orleans and we 

have no way of knowing how high that number will climb as families continue to 

relocate. As of yesterday, my superintendent was preparing for evacuee students 

who were in Houston to be relocated to our school district in preparation for Hurricane Rita. Our district is having trouble getting needed funds from FEMA to buy 

textbooks. Each textbook on average costs between 50 to 55 dollars. That means 

that it will cost an average of $250 per child to properly prepare them for classroom 

work and homework. That’s $350,000 just for books that is needed. We have received many donations of clothing and gift cards to buy school uniforms. My school 

is one of many in our district that has a school uniform policy. Our district needs 

42

more buses. Transportation costs have gone up since fuel prices are high and the 

buses routes have expanded to include stops at shelters and churches. We will also 

need to hire additional teachers to ensure that class sizes don’t begin to impede individualized instruction. These are some of the hard costs associated with Hurricane 

Katrina and its aftermath, but I also want to make sure you’re aware of some of 

the other costs that we need to acknowledge and provide for, such as counseling and 

other types of supports from children and their families. 

The trauma to thousands and thousands of lives is very real and has only begun 

to manifest itself. The children from New Orleans who have enrolled in my district 

are dealing with so many changes, so many new things. Some of them are showing 

signs similar to ‘‘post-traumatic stress syndrome.’’ They seem frightened, angry, depressed, or a combination of all three. Several fights—pushing and shoving—have 

broken out between the displaced students and the children who are long-time residents. Why? The children from New Orleans feel that so much has been taken from 

them—loved ones, their homes, their valued possessions, and their lives as they 

know them. They have nothing. To top it off, they have to wear hand-me-downs 

while the children from our community come to school in designer brands to satisfy 

the uniform requirement. The hostility is understandable given their feelings of loss 

and their equally understandable need to find a target for their anger. 

The educators I’ve met seem to be in denial. One teacher is living in a gym in 

Houston. She says she is not going back to New Orleans. Instead she is moving to 

Baton Rouge. But she is so depressed that she is not yet able to go to look for a 

job. And, she now is responsible for her 90-year-old mother who was in a nursing 

facility in New Orleans but must now live with her. She refuses to talk about New 

Orleans. This, too, is an understandable human response that many go through 

when trying to cope with unimaginable loss and shock. 

The needs are huge, and the public schools in Louisiana are responding. We are 

opening our doors and arms to students and their families. So far, we’ve been able 

to provide the services that our children need, but we don’t know how far the resources can be stretched. Our school has instructed school counselors to meet with 

all of the displaced students either individually or in small groups. We even are allowing parents access to these counseling services as well. When parents of displaced children have come into our school and indicated that their child had a special education Individualized Education Plan in their previous school, we simply 

provided the services. We didn’t stop to ask for documentation—it was too important 

to us that these children continue receiving the services they need. More counselors 

and behavior interventionists have been hired. Students who have behavior difficulties are being evaluated and behavior plans are being written for them. 

The adjustments being made in my school and in my district are evidence that 

our public schools are designed to provide the widest possible array of services for 

children and their families. We are uniquely equipped to bring the skills and expertise of a variety of skilled professionals—whether they be counselors, school psychologists, special education teachers, social workers, and more. At the end of the 

day, we have one job: to meet the needs of each student in a way that allows them 

to succeed. 

Some might wonder whether our displaced children will have to adjust to a different curriculum. While that will probably be the case in other States, one advantage for our students is that our State adopted a statewide comprehensive curriculum last year. So, for the first time, the same skills are being taught across the 

State at the same time. It is one way we can provide the continuity to these students that they need. But I want to stress to you that a student won’t be able to 

sit at a desk and concentrate on 2+2 when his mind is still attempting to cope with 

the unfathomable disruption and loss that has occurred in his life. If we ignore that 

and expect business as usual from our schools and students, we will commit an unbelievable act of negligence. 

For now, Shreveport is coping, but at some point, the funds will run out and the 

problems will remain. We need more funding for counselors and mental health professionals so that we can continue to help our children and their families deal with 

issues that will remain long after buildings have reopened or been rebuilt. 

Thank you very much for allowing me to testify today. I hope that Congress can 

act quickly and in a bipartisan manner so that resources and hope can be delivered 

to so many who need it.

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Stein, from Memphis. 

Mr. STEIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the committee. Good afternoon. My name is Mike Stein, and 

I am a senior vice president of investments for Wachovia Securities 

43

in Memphis, TN. I also serve as President of the Board of Directors 

of the Margolin Hebrew Academy, and it is in this role that I am 

honored to speak to you today. 

The Margolin Hebrew Academy is an Orthodox Jewish day school 

with an enrollment of 250 students from pre-kindergarten through 

the 12th grade, providing a dual curriculum of Judaic and general 

studies. We strive to provide a high level of academic excellences 

and simultaneously meet the needs of each individual student. 

As we all watched the unprecedented devastation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, we knew that many 

families would be evacuating to Memphis. I immediately met with 

our administrative staff to discuss how our school could best serve 

the needs of these families. Our school adopted a policy of ‘‘doing 

whatever it takes,’’ even though there was no way of knowing the 

cost and where the money would come from. 

During the week of August 28th, our school enrolled 24 students 

ranging in age from 3 years to 17, increasing our school current 

population by 10 percent. Their educational, emotional, and physical needs varied, and we attempted to address all of these areas, 

and I believe so far we have made their transition as smooth as 

possible under these unparalleled circumstances. 

Let me share with you some of the assistance we provided: 

Free tuition—no questions asked. The children were given school 

uniforms, textbooks, meals, and all supplies. We hired additional 

staff to ensure that our new students from the Gulf Coast would 

not be left behind. 

Dr. David Pelcovitz, a professor of psychology at Yeshiva University in New York, flew to Memphis to conduct sessions with the 

students and families from New Orleans, as well as our entire 

staff. Dr. Pelcovitz has extensive experience in post-traumatic 

stress treatment from his involvement with many 9/11 families. 

Our staff and parent body created a network to secure housing, 

clothes, food, transportation, and medical needs in conjunction with 

the Memphis Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service. 

As we all know, the needs are great and ongoing. Our school is 

closely monitoring the progress of each student, both educationally 

and emotionally, with the goal of allowing the children to adjust to 

their new environment, without being labeled, allowing students to 

be students and not evacuees. 

I have personally been inspired by the selflessness and dedication of so many individuals in our school community and across the 

Nation. We will fulfill our pledge, but it is our hope and expectation we will be included in any assistance the Government chooses 

to make. 

I appreciate this concern that the committee has shown for the 

children and the families, and I thank you for allowing me to share 

some of my experiences. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. Stein, and thank you for 

coming. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Stein follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHAEL STEIN

Good afternoon, my name is Mike Stein and I am a senior vice president of investments for Wachovia Securities in Memphis, Tennessee. I also serve as president of 

44

the board of directors of the Margolin Hebrew Academy. It is in this role that I am 

honored to speak to you today. 

The Margolin Hebrew Academy is an Orthodox Jewish day school with an enrollment of 250 students from pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade, providing a 

dual curriculum of general and Judaic studies. We strive to provide a high level of 

academic excellence and simultaneously meet the needs of each individual student. 

As we all watched the unprecedented devastation and destruction of Hurricane 

Katrina on the Gulf Coast, we knew that many families would be evacuating to 

Memphis. I immediately met with our administrative staff to discuss how our school 

could best serve the needs of families. Our school adopted a policy of ‘‘doing whatever it takes,’’ even though there was no way of knowing the cost and where the 

money would come from. During the week of August 28th, our school enrolled 24 

students ranging in age from 3 years to 17, increasing our school current population 

by 10 percent. Their educational, emotional and physical needs varied, and we attempted to address all of these areas, and I believe so far we have made their transition as smooth as possible under these unparalleled circumstances. 

Let me share with you some of the assistance we provided: 

Free tuition—no questions asked. The children were given school uniforms, textbooks, supplies and school lunches. We hired additional staff to ensure that our new 

students would not be left behind due to the fact that our school year began August 

17th. 

Psychological support—Dr. David Pelcovitz, a professor of psychology at Yeshiva 

University in New York, flew to Memphis to conduct sessions with the students and 

families from New Orleans as well as our entire staff. Dr. Pelcovitz has extensive 

experience in post traumatic stress treatment, including his involvement with many 

9-11 families. 

Our staff and parent body created a network to secure housing, clothes, food 

transportation and medical needs in conjunction with the Memphis Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service. 

As we all know, the needs are great and ongoing. Our school is closely monitoring 

the progress of each student, both educationally and emotionally. With the goal of 

allowing the children to adjust to their new environment, without being labeled—

allowing students to be students and not ‘‘evacuees.’’

I have personally been inspired by the selflessness and dedication of so many individuals in our school community as well as all across the country. 

I appreciate this committee’s concern for the children of the Gulf Coast. Thank 

you for allowing me to share some of my experiences with you.

Senator ALEXANDER. Sister Green? 

Sister GREEN. Good afternoon, Senators. I am Sister Mary 

Michaeline Green, Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of 

Baton Rouge, and I also serve as the chairperson for the Nonpublic 

School Commission for the Louisiana Department of Education. 

Katrina has impacted our children in many ways, not just the 

physical dislocation. The greatest thing is the psychological aspect. 

The children in our schools have spent most of their lives usually 

in one elementary and one high school. They have built friendships 

and bonds with fellow students and faculty. Their world is right 

now upside down. They find themselves in strange, sometimes 

overcrowded and makeshift classrooms. Right now our schools have 

opened our doors and schools throughout the State as well as 

throughout the country. Some of our classrooms have 35, 40 students in their classrooms, and this is not a good situation. But we 

had to take these students in until we could make other provisions 

with temporary classrooms, which we hope we will get soon. 

Not only have these students lost their homes, but they have lost 

the most important thing, which is their schools. The main concern 

of the parents is to return to their schools. They want to get back 

to their schools where they have their same friends, their same 

teachers, their school activities. And it is vital that we do this to 

relieve the pressure and the uncertainty of parents that they are 

experiencing now. However, many of these parents do not know 

45

whether they will have a home to go back to, a school, or even a 

job to return to. Placing their children right now in a stable and 

loving and safe environment is very important and very imperative. 

Children who are happy and cared for, if they are cared for and 

they are happy, parents can now focus on rebuilding their lives. 

As was said before, in south Louisiana we have a unique situation. About one-third of the students attend nonpublic schools. 

These students in our nonpublic schools very often come from lowand middle-income families, and their families are making a great 

sacrifice to send their children to a school of their choice for academic, religious, or safety reasons. 

The nonpublic schools in Louisiana and the surrounding States 

have opened their doors to the displaced students. In Baton Rouge 

alone—we happened to be the first stop for most people as they left 

New Orleans. We are about 70 miles outside of New Orleans. There 

was not a hotel room to be gotten. People are staying in any friend 

or family’s home that they could get into. Shelters were all around 

town. We have a system of 16,000 students normally. Right now we 

are up to 20,000. We took in 4,000 students more than we normally 

have. This has put a great strain on all of our faculty and our 

teachers and the aides in the schools, and administrators. Our office has taken in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, so the archdiocese office is operating out of our office. We are happy to do this. 

As soon as the storm struck, we knew that people would be—even 

before, people were evacuating. Labor Day came along, and I am 

very, very proud of the fact that our principals and their staffs and 

parents worked the entire Labor Day weekend, registering students, providing uniforms, providing clothes, providing shelter, 

anything that they could do to help. And this was very, very welcomed by the people who were evacuating. 

Tuition and fees were waived and deferred in most instances. We 

hoped that down the road we would be able to get some assistance 

when we had to have the money to pay the extra teachers that we 

were going to have to hire and that we have already hired. 

We are trying to hire as many teachers as possible from the 

schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Parents, as I said, are 

supplying everything that they can to our students, even though 

we need other supplies. 

Preparation is in progress now to open up additional classrooms. 

However, the situation is very fluid. People are moving back to the 

greater New Orleans area as the mayor and so forth were saying 

that it was safe to come back. Now some of those very same people 

are moving out of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. I just 

received a note a little while ago that it appears that Rita is taking 

a turn more toward Louisiana. I am not sure how accurate that is, 

but you can imagine the impact that this is going to have on everyone, especially the children. 

We were assuming that students coming from the Houston shelters would possibly be coming back toward the Baton Rouge area. 

Now they are going north, so we are not sure where these people 

are going to be going. 

We strongly support the President’s proposal to assist all students, regardless of the type of school they attend. This crisis is 

about children, not politics or money. A Katrina scholarship or an 

46

equal entitlement certificate or any other funding instrument that 

Congress deems appropriate will allow the displaced families to 

place their children in nonpublic schools similar to their former 

schools. 

We yield our faith in you, free of bureaucracy, yet secure from 

fraud, to accomplish this. The families need financial assistance 

now because some families have paid their tuition in the schools 

where they were in the New Orleans and surrounding areas. Some 

have not paid their tuition because they do not have to pay on a 

yearly basis. They have no money. They have no jobs. Many have 

no homes, and they don’t know when they are going to get back. 

So the schools that are now accommodating these students need 

assistance, emergency assistance for the expenses that they have 

incurred. I met with our principals last—actually, I met with them 

on Monday. We had a special meeting, and I asked them to give 

me some idea as to what their expenses would be if we looked at 

hiring extra counselors, extra teachers, extra aides because of overcrowded classrooms, looking to getting additional temporary buildings. And it came up to a little over $2 million that would be incurred just in our diocese with our 32 schools. And we have accrued this, we will be accruing these debts, and we look to you for 

help. 

The situation is critical, and our focus is definitely on children 

and their immediate needs. Without financial assistance to the 

nonpublic schools, we may not be able to continue to accommodate 

the students as they come, and this would put an even greater 

strain on the public school system that is experiencing the same 

type of challenge that we are. 

I know that each of you here today hears the cries of all these 

families and these children. People from across the country have 

reached out to help, from as far away as Delaware, Michigan, California, offering help of all kinds. On the local level, psychologists 

and doctors have set up 1 day a week to go into the schools after 

school to make themselves available to the parents and the children because of the trauma they have experienced. This is being 

offered free of charge. 

Our school lunch program is doing as best we can. We stopped 

salad bars. We don’t have the frills. We are doing basic lunches. 

It is not always easy to get the food we need right now, the types 

of food that we need, but our children are being fed a meal that 

they can go home and feel like they have had one good meal a day. 

We thank you and have the utmost confidence that as Americans 

and as leaders with moral values and the resolve of the Nation we 

will meet the needs of these students at present and get them back 

to the schools where they long to be. And I acknowledge and I commend you for allowing me this opportunity, and I thank President 

Bush for acting so quickly, and we look forward to your prompt response to our request. 

Thank you and God bless you. 

[The prepared statement of Sister Green follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SR. M. MICHAELINE GREEN, O.P. 

Good afternoon, I am Sister M. Michaeline Green, O.P., the Superintendent of 

Schools for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I am also the chairperson of the 

Nonpublic School Commission of the Louisiana Department of Education. 

47

I want to thank you for your immediate response to the request by Darlene 

Cilento of St. Rose Academy, Mayfield, PA. I am honored and feel privileged for the 

opportunity to come before you today in an effort to help all the students affected 

by Hurricane Katrina. 

Its impact on these children’s lives is more than just the physical dislocation. 

There is also the psycological aspect. These children have spent most, if not all their 

lives in one school. They have built friendships and bonds with both fellow students 

and faculty. Their world is now upside down. They now find themselves in strange, 

sometimes, overcrowded and makeshift classrooms, with unknown peers, and different instructors. Not only have they lost their homes, but they have lost one of 

the most important aspects of their lives, their school. The main concern of the parents is to return their children to the schools that they had attended with familiar 

surroundings, long-time friends, educators and school activities. The rebuilding of 

these destroyed schools is vital in order to relieve the pressure and uncertainty that 

parents are experiencing. However, many do not know if and when they will have 

homes, schools, and jobs to return to. Placing these children in a stable, loving, and 

safe environment now is imperative. When children are cared for and happy, parents can focus on rebuilding their lives. 

Louisiana has a unique situation in that one third of all students attend nonpublic schools compared to the national average of 11 percent. In four of the severely impacted counties (called parishes in LA) around New Orleans, approximately 61,000 students of the 187,000 total student population attend nonpublic 

schools from pre-K through grades 12. Most of these students come from low- to 

middle-income families who are making a great financial sacrifice to send their children to a school of their choice for academic, religious, and safety reasons. 

Nonpublic schools across Louisiana and the surrounding States have opened their 

doors to the displaced students. Parents in these schools have supplied uniforms, 

school supplies, clothing, food, and housing. In our diocese alone, we have had a 25 

percent increase in enrollment due to Katrina. Presently the situation is very fluid, 

both in population and in circumstances, as areas of Greater New Orleans have 

been opened up on a daily basis, and now we are faced with the threat of Hurricane 

Rita. We are responding to the here and now, and adaptability is required of both 

parents and schools. Schools and students are challenged with trying to put a large 

population into a smaller one. 

A scholarship or ‘‘An Equal Entitlement Certificate’’ will allow the displaced families to place their children in nonpublic schools similar to their former schools while 

the rebuilding is taking place. The families need these certificates because some 

families may have paid their tuition to a school that is no longer there, or, if they 

haven’t paid their full tuition, they may have no employment or means to pay. Also 

the schools that are now accommodating these students MUST be reimbursed for 

the expenses that they have accrued and will continue to accrue. Funding is needed 

to hire additional teachers and aides, provide additional classrooms and transportation, not to mention added janitorial expenses and utilities. 

This situation should be addressed and funded immediately, along with the proposed ‘‘equal entitlement certificates.’’ Without this funding, nonpublic schools may 

have to turn away some or all of these 61,000 displaced nonpublic students, and this 

would put an even greater strain on the public school system which is experiencing 

the many of the same challenges as the nonpublic schools. 

I know that each of you here today hears the cries of the displaced families, and 

recognizes the need to assist ALL students no matter where they are enrolled. Furthermore, I am confident, in our compassion as Americans and as leaders with 

moral values and with our resolve as a Nation, we will meet the needs of these students at present and get them back into the schools that they so desperately long 

for. 

I want to acknowledge and commend each of you on this committee, as well as, 

President George Bush for your prompt and tireless effort in this dire situation. 

May God Bless You and God Bless America. Thank you.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Sister. My impression is—and 

I am sure all the Senators feel this way—if we are able to do our 

jobs half as well as you have done yours, we will do real well in 

terms of responding to this. So we are deeply grateful to you for 

what you are doing, and we admire your compassion and your efficiency and your care for children. 

Now, my questions are going to have to do with details. We want 

to move rapidly. We have a responsibility. We are dealing with a 

48

lot of the taxpayers’ money. The President’s proposal is $2.6 billion, 

and we want to spend it wisely and make sure we do not create 

the wrong incentives, for example, but the right incentives. And I 

think we want to make it simple. We do not want to contribute to 

the difficulty. We want to make it simple. 

So let me ask you a few questions, Sister. In Baton Rouge, are 

there children who do not have schools to go to? 

Sister GREEN. There are still children who have no schools to go 

to. We are opening up extra classrooms as I speak. We opened up 

our schools the day after Labor Day. We were out for 5 days, and 

we opened up the day after Labor Day, and that is when we took 

on a daily basis now up to 4,000 students. 

In working with the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we are now 

ready to open up classrooms in some of our schools where we had 

extra wings that were going to open up for other reasons down the 

road. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Let me follow that with this, and maybe 

Mr. LaFon, maybe any of you would want to respond to this. As 

we think about how to financially help. Please help us think in concepts. We are thinking about a year. The thinking here is that 

after a year, if a child is still in Knoxville or Memphis or Texas or 

Minneapolis, well, then, they are a Texan. Hopefully, they will 

have a job and be paying sales tax and be a productive citizen and 

they will be able to be absorbed by the school. So that is one line 

of thinking that is in our mind. 

I think a second thing is I am hearing from Mr. LaFon and from 

others who have testified that they are busy trying to open the 

schools in these four most affected parishes in southern Louisiana. 

Didn’t you say St. Bernard’s Parish might want to be open in October? 

Mr. LAFON. No. St. Tammany and Jefferson. 

Senator ALEXANDER. St. Tammany and Jefferson. Let’s say they 

are successful in opening in November or December or January. 

Now, isn’t it true that we do not want to create an incentive for 

them to stay in Baton Rouge longer than—that. It might make it 

difficult for them to reopen the schools in Jefferson Parish. Am I 

correct about that? 

Sister GREEN. That is correct, and it is a dilemma because right 

now we are hiring extra teachers. We are trying not to provide too 

many extra classrooms. We are trying to use as many buildings as 

we have present, because we know and we want these children to 

move back as quickly as possible. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Are you hiring teachers for a year or for a 

semester? 

Sister GREEN. We are doing it without any contract. We are trying to hire the teachers who were already employed in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Would it make sense—let’s say we have a 

certain amount of money to spend per student. Let’s just say 

$7,500 because that is what the President’s proposal was. Would 

it make sense to spend more of that in the first semester and less 

of that in the second semester? In other words, if it were $5,000 

in the first semester and $2,500 in the second semester, would that 

get you more money more rapidly to help the displaced children, 

49

but at the same time not create an incentive in the second semester for students to continue to be displaced while their hometown 

schools are trying to open? 

Mr. LAFON. Senator, if I might, when you talk about the $8,500 

in the first semester, it makes lots of sense, and I will tell you why. 

We know the numbers are going to fluctuate. As Jefferson Parish 

begins to open up again, certainly a certain amount of people will 

go back. Certainly a certain amount of people will still be displaced 

because their homes have been destroyed, and that will be the 

same in New Orleans, and next year probably the same in St. Bernard. 

Does that mean we won’t need some dollars for operational expenses in the second semester? I don’t think we can say that because I don’t think we have that magic ball sitting in front of us. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Right. 

Mr. LAFON. But it is certainly something to consider. If you 

think about St. Charles Parish, we are hiring 25 additional teachers full-time because we think that amount of students will certainly be there all year. But we are also hiring 10 teachers temporarily, actually through a temporary agency, so that they are not 

really receiving benefits and those kinds of things. And hopefully 

they will be able to go back to their jobs in the next coming 

months, at least by, say, Christmas or right after Christmas. And 

I think that is critical that we try to get people back in their jobs. 

Senator, we had 500 applications in the last 2 weeks for teachers 

who needed jobs—500. 

Senator ALEXANDER. You had 500 applicants or——

Mr. LAFON. Applicants. Teachers who——

Senator ALEXANDER. Who were out of work. 

Mr. LAFON. Yes, sir. And so——

Senator ALEXANDER. So you don’t have any problem finding 

teachers right now. 

Mr. LAFON. No, and we do not have any problem finding quality, 

to be honest with you. There is no doubt about that. But, you 

know, truthfully, we need to get the Jefferson Parish and the St. 

Tammany Parish back up and running so that those people can get 

back to their jobs. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And what assistance those parishes get is 

a different question in my thinking. We are talking here about 

372,000 children who are displaced for up to a year. So this is 

somewhere away from where they were. 

Mr. Gates or Mr. Stein, do you have any comment on whether 

it would make any sense to—assuming we have a given amount of 

money, for argument’s sake, $7,500, to spend more of it in the first 

two quarters and less of it in the second two quarters for the receiving school? 

Mr. GATES. Senator, it seems logical, but I want to remind everybody that we are hearing about people who are saying, ‘‘We are not 

going back. There is nothing there. There is no reason to return.’’ 

And I think the receiving districts need to be given help to make 

those accommodations. 

As I said to someone earlier, it is not just the school system that 

is affected, but the cities are affected. They are taking in thousands 

of people—jobs, businesses, all affected by Hurricane Katrina. So 

50

we need to look in a broad sense at how we are going to be helpful 

to everybody that is affected. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Stein. 

Mr. STEIN. It seems that the money should perhaps follow the 

student, and there is not much of an incentive for a student to stay 

in a place because of $7,500. The only incentive that would be created is if the family cannot find a job, they would have to move 

elsewhere. So I think this is—if I understand this proposal correctly, I think that this is somehow the Government’s way to help 

us do our job of educating the children. And it used to be reading, 

writing, arithmetic, and now it is relocation and rebuilding. There 

are many other aspects now. It is not just textbooks. It is the whole 

child, the whole student, the whole family. 

So I think that the $7,500—which, of course, is not going to cover 

the costs even though that may be the statistic, but that doesn’t 

cover the entire cost. I think any school would rather have the 

money quickly or as quickly as possible, and I think a simple form 

6 months into the school year, is the student still there? If it is yes, 

it is yes. And if it is not, then there is no more funds. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you. My time is up. 

Senator Dodd. 

Senator DODD. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are so 

many questions here, but first let me thank all of you for doing 

this. In fact, with all of the things you have got to do, coming up 

here and testifying—while I know it is important and we want to 

get your advice and counsel, it is pretty remarkable the task you 

have been asked to assume. 

I have an awful lot of questions. First of all, Sister, you have 

4,000 students who have come into the Archdiocese of Baton 

Rouge? 

Sister GREEN. Right, and it is very fluid because Jefferson Parish 

was asking people to go back. And I went down there last week, 

last Sunday actually, and the garbage is still out uncollected. The 

debris is all in the roads. And it is not a very fitting place for children, but we do hope that they will go back quickly because that 

is our main concern. 

Senator DODD. Now, when I was growing up and attended St. 

Thomas the Apostle School, as I recall, every student in my class 

was a Catholic. Most people probably assume today that all the 

students you are dealing with are Catholics. I suspect that is probably not the case. 

Sister GREEN. We have about a 10 percent nonCatholic population. 

Senator DODD. How many of these 4,000 students are nonCatholics? 

Sister GREEN. Probably less than 1 percent. 

Senator DODD. Less than 20? 

Sister GREEN. Less than 1 percent. 

Senator DODD. Less than 1 percent. 

Sister GREEN. Yes. 

Senator DODD. Is that a conditionality of coming into these 

schools in the Archdiocese of Baton Rouge? 

Sister GREEN. I am sorry. I did not get that. 

51

Senator DODD. Is it a conditionality—are you having a condition 

to take in students that they have been students in parochial 

schools? 

Sister GREEN. That is our priority. 

Senator DODD. It is a priority but not a condition absolute? 

Sister GREEN. Right now, it—last week it was a priority. Now 

since students are moving out, we would be glad to help out any 

students. 

Senator DODD. How about your school in Memphis, Mr. Stein? 

Mr. STEIN. It has never really come up in the 50 years we have 

been in business, because we have a full half-day of intense Judaic 

studies. But if the need arose, we would be happy to. 

Senator DODD. To you, Mr. Gates, because the special needs are 

so incredibly important, tell me about what you have in place in 

terms of special needs teachers. And we were talking about applicants. I was surprised to hear Mr. LaFon talk about 500 applications that have come in for teaching jobs. That is pretty surprising. 

How about special needs teachers in light of what we have all acknowledged—and Sister Green certainly talked about it very specifically, and that is, the emotional implications here with these 

kids. Do you have the personnel on hand to be able to provide for 

the emotional needs of these children? 

Mr. GATES. We have hired 40 teachers from the New Orleans 

area, in addition to 18 administrators and support personnel. As 

the numbers increase of those that are coming to us, we will need 

more. With the mental health needs, we will need more persons 

trained to provide the kinds of services that this trauma has 

caused. So there will be increased needs for funding. 

Senators, I assembled an album of pictures and articles I would 

also like to ask you to submit into the record. 

Senator ALEXANDER. We would be happy to have that, Mr. Gates. 

Thank you very much. It will be a part of the record.

[Editors Note-Due to the high cost of printing, previously published materials submitted by witnesses may be found in the files of the committee.]

[List of newspaper articles and photographs in the album follow:]

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE SHREVEPORT TIMES

WHEN KATRINA CAME TO LOUISIANA 

Hospital staffers provide medical services to evacuees, by James Ramage, photograph 

by Greg Pearson

Katrina’s toll goes beyond the material, by Mary Jimenez

Aftermath: Hurricane Katrina—Briefs—Red Cross still seeking disaster relief items—

Groups asked to help provide transportation—Free online courses available for students—Labor Department seeks injured workers—From Staff Reports

‘Three days of clothes . . . is all they have’, by Teddy Allen

Fundraising efforts have begun, by Alexandyr Kent—How you can help—Katrina Relief Fund—More shelters open—a day of prayer, photograph by Mike Silva

Students from south La. enroll at local schools, by Melody Brumble and Raechal 

Leone, photograph by Jim Hudelson

Photograph by Greg Pearson

Colleges, universities rush to reopen registration for displaced students, by Melody 

Brumble

Hurricane Katrina Capsules—Library branch feeding, entertaining refugees—State 

seeks help from medical professionals—How to donate—To donate money—Fundraisers, photograph by Irwin Thompson/AP

52

LSU players affected by hurricane, by Glenn Gullbeau

Coaches have eyes on field, family, by Brian McCallum

Caddo and Bossier work to provide more shelters, by Don Walker, photograph by 

Jim Hudelson

Evacuees seek temporary jobs, by Loresha Wilson

Photograph by Michael Ainsworth/AP

Evacuees’ long-term stay being planned, by Keri Kerby

Retailers move to help victims of the hurricane, by Michelle Mahfoufi

Faces of Disaster, photographs by Jessica Leigh, Eric Gay/AP, M. Scott Mahaskey/

AP, and Robert Ruiz

Job Fair

Louisiana Tech deadlines

Colleges, universities continue to enroll displaced students, by Raechal Leone and 

Melody Brumble

Harry Connick Jr. praises hometown, to join benefit concert, The Associated Press

Job fair for evacuees

Planning for the future, photograph by Robert Ruiz

Children of the storm, photograhp by Stan Carpenter

Hurricane silences legendary jazz city, by Howard Reich, Knight Ridder Tribune 

News

Inmate evacuees arrive in area, by Don Walker, photograph by Shane Bevel

SUSLA Helping Hands Team, photographs by Mike Silva and Robert Ruiz

Photograph by Jessica Leigh

‘Gatemouth’ dies in Texas at 81, by Doug Simpson, The Associated Press

Free studio spaces open for displaced artists

Mosquito spraying to begin in N.O., by John Hill

Photograph by Greg Pearson

More than 45,000 hotel rooms closed by Katrina, The Associated Press

Louisiana death toll shoots up, by Adam Nossiter, The Associated Press, photograph 

by Shane Bevel, The Times

Senator DODD. Are you notifying parents about these opportunities? 

Mr. GATES. For? 

Senator DODD. For the counseling? 

Mr. GATES. Yes, as they come, they are being notified. 

Senator DODD. Very, very good. 

In your parish, Mr. LaFon, how many schools—are there schools 

that are just not going to reopen? 

Mr. LAFON. No. We had damage to all of our schools, but they 

are all reopening. We have 19 schools, 2 high schools, one on each 

side of the river. We are up and running pretty good as far as our 

schools go. We did have the damage, still do, but it is being corrected as we——

Senator DODD. You are getting an influx of 1,300 additional students. 

Mr. LAFON. Yes, sir. 

Senator DODD. And how about the students who might have 

evacuated, are they back? 

Mr. LAFON. At this point we are at about 88 percent of them 

back, and we expect it to get to about 92, 94 percent, because we 

are hearing from the parents that they are certainly returning over 

the next few days. So we think we are going to be in pretty good 

shape there. 

Senator DODD. Give us a brief picture, if you would, of the other 

parishes, the most seriously impacted parishes by the floods. Which 

53

ones are they and how many schools are destroyed, in effect? I 

heard some number earlier. I heard some number like 750 schools, 

which seems like a very large number to me. 

Mr. LAFON. I probably will not comment on that number, because that sounds high to me too, but I will tell you, St. Bernard 

Parish, that school system, that parish is total devastation. 

Senator DODD. Gone. 

Mr. LAFON. Plaquemines Parish——

Senator DODD. How many schools in that parish? 

Mr. LAFON. I want to say there was about 18 schools in that parish. Do not quote me because I am not sure. 

Senator DODD. OK. Go ahead. Tell me the other ones. 

Mr. LAFON. Plaquemines Parish probably lost about maybe half 

its schools. It probably has two or three schools up toward the top 

part of Plaquemines Parish that will be able to be open. 

Senator DODD. How many again? 

Mr. LAFON. I would think they are going to open about 3 or 4 

schools. 

Senator DODD. Out of how many? 

Mr. LAFON. I think about 10. It was a small district, 

Plaquemines is a small district. St. Tammany, on the other hand, 

is a large district of better than 20,000 students, and as I understand it, they have probably maybe 15, 20 schools with serious 

damage, and then some other damage as we also——

Senator DODD. Again, roughly how many schools in St. Tammany 

Parish? 

Mr. LAFON. Senator I really want to put a number on it. I am 

telling you, if I have 10,000 kids and I have 20 schools approximately, then they have got to have 50 schools. 

Senator DODD. OK. 

Mr. LAFON. And in Jefferson Parish they have 50,000 students, 

so you know, you can figure that they must have close to 80 schools 

or more. 

Senator DODD. Again, what are the numbers in Jefferson Parish? 

Mr. LAFON. Quite a few schools in Jefferson Parish were damaged quite severely. I had a conversation with Dr. Diane Roussel 

the other day. She did not really give me a number, but she said 

she was going to be able to open quite a few of her schools, so I 

am going to tell you probably around 40 to 50 percent were seriously damaged. 

Senator DODD. Are you including nonpublic schools in those 

numbers or just the public schools? 

Mr. LAFON. Not really. I am not. I will tell you this, approximately half the students we are taking in, of that 1,300, 50 percent 

of them are from private schools. I am sure that they are going to 

try to get up and running as quick as possible, and meanwhile we 

are going to make sure those kids get a great education. 

Senator DODD. I wonder if you might, we discussed or mentioned 

earlier the possibility of having the Department of Education deal 

with some of the construction issues as opposed to FEMA, with all 

due respect to FEMA. Do any of you have any reactions to that? 

Mr. LAFON. FEMA moves mighty slow. I mean I have been working with——

54

Senator DODD. That would be the biggest understatement of the 

day here. 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. LAFON. We have been working with FEMA for about 3 

weeks trying to get these travel trailers up for our teachers, and 

I mean, it just seems like, well, everybody keeps talking about they 

are cutting the red tape. All I can tell you is I see red tape, blue 

tape, yellow tape. I mean there is a lot of tape out there that school 

systems are going through. There has to be a better way for us to 

go and make things happen a little faster. 

Senator DODD. You would prefer to maybe see the Department 

of Education take on that responsibility? 

Mr. LAFON. I prefer somebody to make it happen, and that is 

what we need. 

Senator DODD. Mr. Gates. 

Mr. GATES. Sir, I do not have any particular thoughts about that. 

I am a classroom teacher and I focus on classroom instruction, but 

it would seem as if, just as Dr. LaFon said, if we are really serious 

about helping people, we are going to move expeditiously to see 

that needs are being met, children and their families, that they 

have their needs met. 

Senator DODD. Sister Green, of the 4,000 students, is the Archdiocese of New Orleans being financially helpful to the Archdiocese 

in Baton Rouge? 

Sister GREEN. I do not think so. They do not have any more 

money than we have at this point. They have probably far less, 

they have lost so much. 

Senator DODD. How do you do your tuition? Do you require a certain percentage of the tuition to be paid as school starts? 

Sister GREEN. Many of our schools have what we call prepaid tuition. They pay up front at the beginning of the year. It is the same 

thing in New Orleans, and other schools it is on a monthly basis. 

Senator DODD. You have 32 schools in your Archdiocese. How 

many schools are there in the Archdiocese of New Orleans? 

Sister GREEN. They have 105. 

Senator DODD. How many of those 105 were adversely affected 

to such a degree they are closed or would not open? 

Sister GREEN. 105,000. Excuse me? 

Senator DODD. How many of those 105 schools in New Orleans, 

the Archdiocese of New Orleans, were either closed or so damaged 

that they are not likely to open again as they presently are? 

Sister GREEN. I would think that probably half of them more 

than likely. Jefferson Parish was not, as you referred already, not 

that greatly affected. But the schools in New Orleans, there were 

some areas that were not under water. I really do not know the 

numbers, but it is hard to tell. The schools in St. Bernard, they are 

not there. St. Tammany is half and half. 

Senator DODD. What are you hearing from your families of these 

4,000, their likelihood of moving back should they be able to? Is 

there similar desire to go back to New Orleans, in that area, or are 

they planning on staying in Baton Rouge? 

Sister GREEN. There are families who are trying to go back, but 

many of them do not have work. Their companies are no longer 

there. Many companies are moving to Baton Rouge, they already 

55

have a branch office there, to Houston, to other places. Some say 

that they are just going to stay because they do not have any 

choice, their homes are gone. 

Senator DODD. Thank you all again very much, and we will continue to work with you and listen to you in terms of your advice 

and how this can work and make sense. I think Mr. Gates just said 

it well, we have to deal with the totality of this, and keep it simple 

as well. I agree with the Chairman on that. 

We do not want to make this terribly complicated, and we want 

the incentives to be right. Senator Sessions pointed that out, that 

that is in our interest. We want to give people the opportunity to 

get their lives together, and we do not want to penalize them because they made a decision to go someplace else. We do not want 

to penalize them if they find they cannot go back. We want to try 

and be understanding and as sympathetic about what a family 

needs to do to stay together and get back on their feet again, without trying to manage what their future ought to be, except to the 

extent we can help them make those decisions, what they perceive 

to be in their best interest and the best interest of their children. 

I think that is what we ought to be looking at here, rather than 

trying to decide for them what their future ought to be, directing 

either they go back home or stay where they are, but allowing 

them that flexibility to get on their feet again. 

I like the idea as well—and we have talked about education here 

and this moving around and letting the resources follow the child—

for instance, so that people can start making decisions about where 

to live, and getting some financial help to make that decision. I 

think first of all that would be an asset, moving some resources 

into the marketplace, or if someone had a place they could fix up 

a little bit knowing there is someone who could rent it, that generates some jobs, people working, to get a ripple effect of these 

things. So we need to be flexible in that regard, so I think your 

point is well taken. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Senator Dodd. 

We will wind up our hearing with questions from Senator Sessions. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you. 

Just to follow up, Sister Green, on Senator Dodd’s comments, you 

are offering to take some of these displaced students, but you feel 

and the students feel that they should be able to share in moneys 

that will be aiding students, whether they go to your school or the 

public school. 

Sister GREEN. Exactly. 

Senator SESSIONS. And some of the parochial school kids in New 

Orleans will be going to public schools and the money would follow 

them there, and some might choose to come to your school. It 

would certainly relieve stress, would it not, on the numbers in 

some really crushed public schools? 

Sister GREEN. Exactly. 

Senator SESSIONS. Mr. LaFon, tell me about these teachers. Do 

they have contracts in New Orleans in some of these devastated 

parishes? Are they paid? Are they not being paid? What is the status? 

56

Mr. LAFON. Senator, because of the laws, if a teacher takes a 

full-time job in my district and was working, say, in a St. Bernard 

or whatever, by law they have to resign from that position and take 

the job with us, if that is full time. If we are hiring people temporary and there are no retirement benefits, etc., associated with 

it, then it is okay. 

Senator SESSIONS. So most of these 500 teachers I presume are 

teachers whose schools are not closed—or maybe their home was 

lost and they would like to move in a safer area or something? 

Mr. LAFON. Both private schools and public school teachers, and 

the quality was really high, and so you know, we hired 25 of them, 

like I said, then we have 10 that are temps, and we are going to 

have to hire more because we do not think that they are all just 

going to leave us in the next 6 months. We believe that most of 

these people will keep these children in St. Charles Parish Public 

Schools for this year. 

Now, does that mean we do not think the numbers will fluctuate? 

Of course we know that they are going to fluctuate. 

Senator SESSIONS. I am curious about if you were in one of these 

school systems that is basically dysfunctional now, is a teacher receiving a paycheck from the system or are they not receiving a paycheck? 

Mr. LAFON. Up to now they have received a paycheck, and I believe the other big key is that for those school districts that are in 

the situation that the St. Bernards and the Jeffersons and the Orleans are, is they are trying to make sure that those teachers can 

at least continue to get their health benefits, and also their retirement benefits. I think that is critical. 

Senator SESSIONS. So it is not known how long they will continue 

to be paid? 

Mr. LAFON. I do not have that answer. I assume that it will be 

just another month or 2, because sooner or later the State’s going 

to have to decide to send those dollars elsewhere. 

Senator SESSIONS. Each of you have taken quite a jolt in receiving this number of students. It is unlike anything you would normally expect. Sometimes enrollment is up a little and down a little, 

but I guess it is what, 10 percent or more for you, Mr. LaFon? 

Mr. LAFON. Actually, it is closer to 15 percent increase in our 

numbers. 

Senator SESSIONS. That is a big amount. 

I am trying to figure out, Mr. Chairman—and this is poor math. 

People are telling me they want to help, they want to help, but do 

not be wasting our money, and do the right thing, and manage well 

and all of that. It seems to me that this figure, as I run the numbers, is a pretty generous figure, 7,500. If you have 1,300 students 

at $7,000 per student, not even the 75, that would be about $9.1 

million. If you did 35 teachers at $50,000, that would be about 1.75 

million. If you bought 18 buses at 100 grand—they may be more 

than that, I do not know—that would be about 1.8 million, and 

books, a third of a million or half a million. So that totals maybe 

4 or so million dollars, but you would be receiving a pretty generous amount it seems to me. 

Are there other things—I know you have counseling, you have 

mentioned, Mr. Gates, and there would be other factors that will 

57

come up as an expense. Look at what we are doing, this would appear to me to be a fair and generous Federal Government compensation. 

Mr. LAFON. And I would hope the State would put up some 

money too. I do not think it should just be the Federal Government. I have, if you would like——

Senator SESSIONS. Mr. LaFon, let me ask you about these—I 

guess I do not want to get too far off base but I am thinking about 

these schools where the kids left. Now, the school normally gets 

paid, does it not, based on average daily attendance? At least in 

Alabama, they do. 

Mr. LAFON. Yes, sir. 

Senator SESSIONS. So they are not getting any money from the 

State and those kids are all gone, they are closed, and then we are 

giving you compensation. But those school systems that are 

whacked, flooded, they have got a real problem, do they not? 

Mr. LAFON. They are going to have a real problem. Now, the private schools, you know, they have that tuition. I do not know what 

happened there. I am not sure. As far as I know, no one got their 

tuition back. But the bottom line with the public schools is that 

what is going to happen, at least as we understand it from the 

State, is that they are going to try to keep some things in place, 

at least allow those dollars that the school systems need for those 

teachers with regard to health benefits and retirement benefits, as 

I understand it will try to be in place. 

Jefferson Parish is trying to get up and running again, so is St. 

Tammany, so that they can begin receiving those dollars again. 

Now, I know that the State superintendent—and Senator 

Landrieu mentioned that he is a good man, and he is a good man, 

but his hands have been tied because lots of what he is trying to 

do is either controlled by the State Board of Education or by the 

State legislature, so he has not had a lot of answers, and I am hoping that you can provide him with some direction as to what you 

can do at the Federal level and what maybe you can ask our State 

legislators to do as well. 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you very much. 

Mr. GATES. Senator Sessions, please, sir, let me add that in addition to counseling there are other services that a special education 

child may require. We offer adaptive physical education, occupational therapy, speech and language services. So it is not just counseling, but there are other services, other moneys that would need 

to be made available to comply with IDEA. 

Mr. LAFON. Senator, if I might, I have a breakdown of the dollars that we figured it would take for these 1,300 students, including the things you mentioned, textbooks, instructional materials, 

computers, things that maybe we really have not all thought 

through, and this is what it takes to take care of those children 

and provide that quality education. So if you would like, I will submit this as part of the testimony, if you would like, sir. 

Senator ALEXANDER. We would like to have that as part of the 

record. 

[The information follows:]

St. Charles Parish Public Schools has collected data to inform the district of needed resources to provide displaced students with a high-quality education. ApproxiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 09:28 Jan 24, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 S:\DOCS\23696.TXT SLABOR3 PsN: DENISE
58

mately 1,300 students are expected to enroll in St. Charles Parish Public Schools 

by September 26, 2005. Attached is an account of expected resources needed.

Elementary Middle High 

Student Count ........................................................................................................ 544 284 479

Total Students ....................................................................................................... 1,307

Student books—core subjects only—Math, Science, Social Studies, ELA .......... $136,000 $55,800 $114,960

Total ................................................................................................................................................................ $306,760

Resources needed Cost Total 

Instructional Materials 

• Teacher Resource (Manuals, Resource Materials).$500/teacher ................................................... $31,000

• Instructional Supplies (markers, paper, 

folders, staples, filing cabinets, etc.).

$600/teacher ................................................... $37,200

Computers 

• 4 per classroom with accessories and support.$6,300/classroom ............................................ $390,600

Projection Systems 

• Projector, screens, mounts, bulbs, amplifier, 

VCR, etc..

$3,600/classroom ............................................ $223,200

Furniture 

• Student desks and chairs. Teacher desks & 

chairs.

$85/per student desk &chair ..........................

$200/per teacher desk & chair .......................

$527,585

$12,400

$539,985

Portables 

• 10 portables ................................................. $25,500/portable x 10 ..................................... $255,000

Set up—(lease).

Operational ....................................................... $3,250 portable/month ....................................

$26,000/portable/8 months .............................

$260,000

$515,000

Supplies for sp. needs (stander, changing 

table, lift, assistive communication devices,rifton chair).

.................................................................... $10,000

Personnel—salaries and benefits.

• Teachers ........................................................ 62@40,000 ...................................................... $2,480,000

• Gifted teachers ............................................. 3@40,000 ........................................................ $120,000

• Talented Teachers ......................................... 2@40,000 ........................................................ $80,000

• Para-professionals for sp.ed. ....................... 4@20,000 ........................................................ $80,000

• Nurses ........................................................... 1@40,000 ........................................................ $40,000

• Counselors .................................................... 5@40,000 ........................................................ $200,000

• Cafeteria Workers ......................................... 5@20,000 ........................................................ $100,000

• Administration .............................................. 5@65,000 ........................................................ $325,000

• Custodians (contracted) ............................... 8 x $200 day x 140 days ................................ $224,000

$3,649,000

Transportation ................................................... Per Day ............................................................ Total cost per day X 18 

buses $7,049

• Bus Drivers ................................................... $68.

• Buses ............................................................ $83.

• Fuel ............................................................... $225.

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Resources needed Cost Total 

• Insurance ...................................................... $16.63 .............................................................

$391.63 ........................................................... $1,127,894

Cafeteria ...........................................................

Paper products and food ..................................

After Federal Reimbursement ..........................

$208/day X 160 days ......................................

$33,280

Uniforms ........................................................... Per child.

• Uniforms ....................................................... $30 x 2 uniforms ............................................ $57,180

• Personal Apparel (undergarments, coats, 

etc.).

$100 ................................................................ $95,300

• Shoes ............................................................ $40 .................................................................. $38,120

$190,600

TOTAL OF ALL CATEGORIES .................................................................................................... $7,026,619.00

Senator ALEXANDER. If I remember, you estimated that was 

about $7 million? 

Mr. LAFON. Seven million dollars and it is broken down for you. 

Senator ALEXANDER. And 2 million, Sister, you said that was 

your estimate. 

Thank you very much. To clarify things a little bit, school funding, generally speaking, is the Federal Government pays 7 to 9 percent for public schools, and the rest is State and local, and private 

schools, nonpublic schools are generally speaking on their own with 

the parents and in the case of the churches sometimes help. 

So what we are talking about here is an extraordinary situation 

where we have children who are supposed to be here in Orleans 

Parish or Jefferson or Plaquemines, and they are spread all over 

the country. There is really no program that exists to pay for that. 

So the idea is to say that while they are in Houston or Knoxville 

or Minneapolis, away from home, that they will be a national responsibility. That is the Government’s, that is all of us to say for 

the schools that have opened their doors, whether the Jewish 

school or the Catholic school or the private school or St. Charles 

Parish, that we are going to try to find a way to help you pay for 

and be grateful to you for what you have done. 

And then that goes away after a year, and it might go away before that if these children go back to their homes. Then we go back 

to the traditional funding of schools, which would be in 

Plaquemines Parish or St. Bernard’s. Fundamentally you would 

have State funding and local funding paying 90 to 92 percent of the 

cost of that. There are going to be some problems with that because 

the local tax base is not going to be what it was, but that sounds 

to me like that maybe the State is going to be called on to make 

a special effort there in those schools, just as the Federal Government is stepping up to make a special effort for the displaced children. 

I can pledge to you that we are going to go to work tonight and 

work over the weekend and next week in trying to see if we can 

agree among the Senators on the details of a simple plan to try to 

help all of Katrina’s displaced school children. That will require 

passage in the Senate and then in the House, and then a signature 

by the President. Even if we are moving as fast as we can, that 

takes a little bit of time. 

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That also gives us time to hear more from you if you would like. 

If on your way back you think, ‘‘I wish I had said that,’’ or if you 

come up with other figures or other ideas, or things we are likely 

to overlook, Kristin Bannerman is our staff director on this project 

here, and she has been in touch with you. If you can e-mail her 

or call her, she will get it to all of the rest of us, and we would 

welcome your additional comments. 

I think all of the Senators would want me to express again to 

you our admiration for what you are doing back home, and our appreciation for that, the extra hours and the extra care. You are setting a very good example for us, and we hope to follow your example. Thank you very much for making this special trip today. 

[Additional material follows.]

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ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR KENNEDY

Thank you, Senator Alexander, for scheduling this afternoon’s 

hearing on how we can best help the school children affected by 

Hurricane Katrina. 

Many of us have visited the Gulf Coast in recent days and seen 

the desperation. So much has been destroyed. But the spirit of the 

people we met remains strong, and their determination to recover 

and rebuild their lives inspires us all to help. 

In the wake of this tragedy, our committee has a special responsibility to try to help children stay on track in school. An obvious 

priority in the overall relief effort is to see that they don’t lose a 

year in their education. We can help them return to as normal an 

environment as possible, as quickly as possible. 

Fortunately, the Nation as a whole is responding generously. 

Many of those in the storm’s path left all they know to go to safe 

havens across the country, and without hesitation, people welcomed them into their homes and communities. Schools were often 

the first responders to these displaced families. 

Today, more than 370,000 students at schools in Katrina’s path 

have been relocated. Principals, teachers, and superintendents 

across the country have pledged to accommodate all the students 

they can:

• School districts in Houston have enrolled more than 18,000 

students displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 

• Georgia schools have enrolled nearly 9,000 students and Florida schools more than 6,000 students. 

• Communities have streamlined procedures to accept students, 

and Dallas has a hotline for parents to enroll their children.

We owe each of these communities—and countless more—a debt 

of gratitude for pledging so much immediate help and attention. 

It’s time for Congress to see that the schools serving them have the 

resources to deal with what may be the largest migration of schoolchildren in the Nation’s history. 

We know that students are arriving at new schools without textbooks, school uniforms, or enrollment records. Children with disabilities have been left without their records and the individual 

plans they had for instruction, related services, and health care. 

Schools are struggling to address the emotional needs of children 

arriving and struggling to cope with the loss of loved ones and 

homes and pets. Teachers need specialized support and training to 

deal with the more serious and persistent traumas from Katrina. 

We know that many school districts were already slashing budgets and had too few resources before the hurricane. They need our 

help now more than ever. Mobile, Alabama is taking in a thousand 

students, even through several of its schools were themselves damaged by the hurricane. The superintendent there needs at least 

$400,000 to get the school district up and moving. 

I commend Senator Enzi and our other colleagues on the committee for their leadership in developing a bipartisan plan to respond to these challenges. 

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The bill we’ve introduced will ease the transition of students displaced by Katrina now in new classrooms. It will support basic instruction, help purchase books and materials, and cover costs of 

transportation. If a school district needs resources to accommodate 

students in temporary facilities, this bill would deliver that help. 

Schools will qualify for additional funds to expand supplemental 

services or after-school activities to include affected students. 

It will also ensure that schools have the resources to analyze the 

services that students with disabilities need, and provide the full 

range of services in the meantime. 

It’s essential to respond swiftly to help schools elsewhere in the 

country taking in students displaced by the storm. But we can’t forget the schools devastated in its wake. 

Schools remain closed throughout the Gulf Region. In Mississippi 

alone, 271 schools have been damaged or destroyed. In North Gulfport, Mississippi, the walls of Harrison Central 9th Grade School 

collapsed. 

Vastly more damage has occurred in Louisiana. Jefferson Parish, 

so devastated by the storm, will try to re-open 42 of its 84 schools 

on October 3rd. But eight school buildings in the district will not 

be able to open this year. Thirty-three other buildings need repair, 

even though parts of them can be opened. 

Recently, the committee heard moving testimony from Superintendent Diane Roussel of the parish. She said, ‘‘Money isn’t always the answer to solving the ills in our public schools, but when 

we’re talking about equipment, supplies, rebuilding, and maintaining our teaching workforce, money is the answer.’’

Our committee heard her plea. Our bill creates a special fund to 

re-start school operations in affected areas, and provide the essential foundation needed for school districts to get back on their feet. 

The Secretary of Education is authorized to provide immediate aid 

to areas devastated by the storm. 

Such assistance will help administrators and school personnel recover and recreate student data and information, re-establish their 

budgets, and renew teaching plans, curriculums, and equipment. 

Schools suffering lesser damage will be repaired and re-opened 

sooner. 

We’re reminded by this disaster that schools are the heart of 

local communities across America. When schools open, families return, businesses returns, and lives begin to return to normal. 

I look forward to hearing testimony today from Senator 

Landrieu, Assistant Secretary Johnson, and others who have already done so much to respond. I also look forward to continuing 

our bipartisan work to deliver the help as soon as possible that 

Gulf Coast schools and students need to recover from this desperate situation.

QUESTIONS OF SENATOR ENZI FOR HENRY JOHNSON, RODNEY LAFON, SISTER MARY

MICHAELINE GREEN, MICHAEL STEIN, DARYL GATES, AND PANEL 3

HENRY JOHNSON

Question 1. I understand that you have been on the ground in the areas directly 

affected by Hurricane Katrina. Based upon what you have observed, what is your 

assessment of the immediate needs of school districts that have been devastated and 

school districts receiving students that have been displaced?

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Question 2. I understand that up to 372,000 students have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Recognizing that a portion of the displaced students are students 

with disabilities, can you share with us what guidance the Department is providing 

to States regarding the provision of providing special education and related services 

for students with disabilities who are displaced by Hurricane Katrina? 

A follow-up question on the Department’s efforts regarding students with disabilities, how does the Department plan to monitor the implementation of IDEA for students with disabilities displaced by Hurricane Katrina?

Question 3. How are school districts recruiting and obtaining additional highly 

qualified teachers, including special education teachers to meet the demand of increasing enrollment? Additionally, how are school district recruiting and obtaining 

additional related service providers, such as occupational and speech language therapist, and counselors? Can you share examples or lessons learned at this point?

Question 4. My understanding is in Louisiana there are 130,000 K–12 students 

waiting to re-enter their home district. What barriers do you believe students will 

experience as they return and what additional services will students need as they 

return to their home school district and re-build after this devastating disaster? 

RODNEY LAFON

Question. As Superintendent of a school district that is enrolling a significant 

number of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, what is your number one barrier when trying to re-open and what could this committee do to help you during 

this extraordinary time? 

SISTER MARY MICHAELINE GREEN

Question. Thank you for helping us understand the plight of pre-k through grade 

12 students in Louisiana. You have proposed use of ‘‘Equal Entitlement Certificates’’ 

to allow displaced families to place their children in non-public schools similar to 

their former schools. Please explain to us how these certificates would work? 

MICHAEL STEIN

Question. During this most difficult time, your schools ‘‘whatever it takes’’ policy 

is meeting the needs of displaced students and their families. As the President of 

the Margolin Hebrew Academy Board of Directors of a school that has experienced 

a 10 percent increase in enrollment, what is your most pressing need? 

DARYL GATES

Question. Thank you for sharing with us your assessment of the needs of students 

with disabilities. The committee is sensitive to the concern in the community that 

students with disabilities will not receive special education and related services in 

a timely fashion due to the large influx of students into particular areas. Your 

school has continued to provide such services. What can Congress do to help assure 

that students with disabilities, who may not have a copy of their Individual Education Program (IEP), receive special education and related services immediately to 

provide a free and appropriate public education? 

PANEL 3

Question 1. Recognizing there is a national shortage of teachers. How has your 

district or school been able to recruit and obtain teachers, including teachers for 

children with disabilities and related service providers, to meet the educational 

needs of the displaced students you have enrolled?

Question 2. For public schools, we are continuing their base formula aid, but this 

is not the case with private schools. With 40 percent of the children in New Orleans 

attending private schools, this is an issue that will need attention and solutions. 

Your ideas on how to assist these schools will be very helpful as we continue to look 

at the mid- and long-term needs of the hardest hit communities. What steps, if any, 

should the Federal Government take to assist these schools? I am particularly interested in your ideas that are under this committee’s jurisdiction.

Question 3. Knowing that this has been a very difficult time for all affected by 

this devastating event, how are you maintaining contact with your students, their 

families, and teachers to reassure them and instill confidences as they return to 

their school and community? What is necessary to reconnect with your students, 

their families, and teachers?

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[Editors Note: The responses to the above questions were not available 

at time of print.]

RESPONSE FROM SHELBY COUNTY SCHOOLS, TENNESSEE

Regarding Enrollment of Victims From Hurricane Katrina 

Shelby County Schools is a high growth school system located in suburban Shelby 

County, Tennessee. The school system adds over 1,000 students every year and follows a vigorous facility construction schedule that generally sees the school system 

building one or two additional schools each year. Almost all of our schools were at 

full capacity before Hurricane Katrina students arrived. 

With all high growth situations, governmental entities always struggle to meet 

the demands placed on our operating budget. This is particularly difficult in the K–

12 educational setting in Tennessee because our State funding dollars are based on 

previous year enrollment numbers. Therefore, a growth system like Shelby County 

Schools is always functioning in a budget of want and lack with more students to 

serve than the dollars are providing for service. 

This year, Shelby County Schools enrollment grew by our usual 1,000 students, 

climbing to 45,947 students by the 20th day of school enrollment, 1,077 students 

more than our enrollment for the 2004/05 school year. And, then our enrollment 

grew by over 600 additional students, with the influx of victims from our Nation’s 

tragedy, Hurricane Katrina. 

Families came to all sectors of our school district from the ravaged coastal areas, 

living with relatives, encouraged by churches with open arms, and temporarily assigned out of harm’s way to the Millington Naval Air Station from the New Orleans 

and Pensacola Air Stations. 

While we certainly are embracing our new families and students we must be conscientious concerning our limited resources, being sure that we have the funds to 

provide every child in our school district a quality public school education. The additional students to our district from Hurricane Katrina have impacted every segment 

of our district, geographically and functionally. We maintain very accurate enrollment figures for each school and grade, monitored by the school attendance office, 

principal and central office staff through daily communication. Our latest figures (9/

28/05) indicate that 623 students are enrolled in Shelby County Schools from the 

coastal areas who are identified as ‘‘displaced students.’’

Below is a sampling detail of how the influx of these students has impacted the 

Shelby County Schools district: 

Teaching Staff and Pupil/Teacher Ratios 

The State of Tennessee has mandated class size requirements for our students in 

public schools and imposes large monetary fines for each violation. Because of our 

growth and budget concerns, Shelby County Schools must work carefully to staff as 

tightly to our projected enrollments as possible and still remain within those pupil/

teacher mandates. We are now exceeding those pupil/teacher ratios due to the influx 

of displaced students. The only means of correcting this infraction is to employ additional teaching staff. 

Transportation Services 

Because many of the displaced students are living in areas not previously used 

for residential purposes, (churches, hotels, shelters), our planning and transportation offices have had to work to alter our routing and mapping to accommodate 

the needs of these students. We have also added additional transportation routes, 

drivers and increased bus usage and fuel consumption. 

Student Support and Instructional Services 

By working extended hours, central office and school offices of nutrition, counseling, records, testing and special education have all been outstanding in meeting 

the needs and challenges presented by the sudden influx of the students displaced 

by Hurricane Katrina enrolling in Shelby County Schools. 

Nutrition 

Since each child qualified as a Homeless child, under Federal guidelines, each 

child is eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch services. Our school nutrition and central office nutrition staffs worked tirelessly to enroll each child in these programs 

and ensure that each child received the meals required at no cost to the students. 

Counseling 

Our counseling team has been traveling throughout the district to meet the 

unique needs and challenges posed by the students from the storm. Even though 

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we are a large school system with over 45,000 students, our counseling staff is relatively small. This has presented a challenge to the staff, but they are working to 

ensure that each child receives the services and attention they need and deserve. 

Testing and Placement 

Without available student records, we must individually evaluate and determine 

the appropriate instructional placement for each student. 

Special Education 

Without available student records, our special education teachers and supervisors 

must evaluate every student with special needs and develop an Individualized Educational Plan to meet Federal requirements and make certain that all disabled students and students needing special services are accommodated.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DORIS VOITIER

INFORMATION REGARDING DAMAGES TO THE ST. BERNARD PARISH PUBLIC SCHOOLS

• 100 percent of our schools were severely impacted by the storm. We are the only 

school district in Louisiana that is unable to return and open at least some schools 

within the coming months. 

• Our priority right now is retaining an outstanding and loyal teaching corps. 

• Because our tax base has been erased and because State MFP funding must follow students, our coffers are bare. Many of our employees will remain with our district if we are able to extend their health insurance coverage through the remainder 

of this school year. We need Federal/State assistance to pay these premiums in their 

behalf. 

• Our entire bus and vehicle fleet was damaged by the storm. 

• Our students and employees are scattered across Louisiana and this Nation. 

Our seniors are particularly grieving for their schools. We must be able to provide 

some assistance to them and their parents in the form of waivers for graduation, 

mandatory testing, TOPS, etc. 

• We have proposed to the US Department of Education and to the Louisiana Department of Education a plan costing $34 million that will allow us to continue operations with a skeleton crew and continue to return employees to work in phases to 

an estimated 80 percent of staff as they rebuild our district so that we may open 

schools to residents as they return to St. Bernard Parish. 

• Our immediate goal is to open school on a temporary site provided through the 

assistance of FEMA for the children of 1st responders, refinery workers, school employees, and others who are returning to the parish first. 

• The return and rebuilding of the public schools is an economic development consideration. Families cannot return to St. Bernard until school is in session. We are 

the largest employer of the parish, and spending within businesses that are able to 

reopen will be severely impacted without our employees in St. Bernard to rebuild 

the schools and rebuild the community.

Senator ALEXANDER. The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 5:58 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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