I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4017 
To provide assistance for the education of elementary and secondary students. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 7, 2005 
Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas (for himself and Mr. MARCHANT) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide assistance for the education of elementary and 
secondary students. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hurricane Education 
Assistance Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS ENROLLING 
EVACUATED STUDENTS. 
(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to 
provide financial assistance to States and to local edu-
cational agencies that enroll significant numbers of stu-
dents displaced by Hurricane Katrina or Rita. 
(b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—(1) From the amount 
made available to carry out this section, the Secretary 
shall make grants to eligible entities to carry out the pur-
pose of this section. 
(2) Each eligible entity desiring to receive a grant 
under this section shall— 
(A) submit to the Secretary, on a quarterly 
basis, counts of its enrollment of displaced students; 
and 
(B) maintain records necessary to document its 
student enrollment counts. 
(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—For the purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means— 
(1) the State educational agencies of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and Texas; 
(2) in any other State, a local educational agen-
cy that enrolls at least 10 students displaced by 
Hurricane Katrina or Rita; and 
(3) any school funded by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs that enrolls at least 10 students displaced by 
Hurricane Katrina or Rita.
(d) LENGTH OF AWARD.—(1) Each grant under this 
section shall be for the period of the 2005–2006 school 
year. 
(2) Each eligible entity shall return to the Secretary 
any funds awarded to it under this section that it does 
not obligate by the end of the grant period. 
(e) QUARTERLY PAYMENTS.—(1) The Secretary, as 
soon as feasible after receiving each of the quarterly en-
rollment counts from eligible entities under subsection 
(b)(2)(A), shall make payments to those entities. 
(2) The quarterly payments under paragraph (1) 
shall be calculated by multiplying— 
(A) the number of displaced students enrolled 
in that quarter by the local educational agency or, 
in the case of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, by 
all local educational agencies in the State; by 
(B) 90 percent of the average per-pupil expend-
iture for elementary and secondary education in the 
State in which the local educational agency is lo-
cated (not to exceed $7,500), as determined by the 
Secretary using data from the most recent year for 
which satisfactory data are available; by 
(C) 25 percent. 
(3) If, for any quarter, the amount available to make 
payments under paragraph (1) is insufficient to pay the
full amounts that eligible entities are eligible to receive 
under that paragraph, the Secretary shall ratably reduce 
the amount of those payments. 
(f) WITHIN-STATE ALLOCATIONS.—(1) The State 
educational agencies of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas 
shall distribute the funds they receive under subsection 
(e), on a quarterly basis, to eligible local educational agen-
cies in the State. 
(2) The payments under paragraph (1) shall be cal-
culated by— 
(A) multiplying the local share of the per-child 
cost of education in the local educational agency; by 
(B) the number of displaced students in the 
local educational agency; or 
(C) an alternate methodology, approved by the 
Secretary, for the purpose of this subsection. 
(g) REMAINDER.—The State educational agencies of 
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas shall use any funds re-
maining after making grants under subsection (f) for ac-
tivities to assist local educational agencies in which schools 
remain closed as a result of Hurricane Katrina or Rita 
to re-open those schools as quickly and effectively as pos-
sible. Such activities may include— 
(1) arranging for temporary facilities necessary 
to operate educational programs during the time
that permanent facilities are being rebuilt or re-
paired; 
(2) purchasing equipment and materials to re-
place those items destroyed or damaged by Hurri-
cane Katrina or Rita; 
(3) paying the cost of student transportation; 
(4) recruiting or retraining teachers or other 
school staff to serve in re-opened schools; and 
(5) providing non-financial assistance to stu-
dents and their families on their return to the af-
fected areas and their re-enrollment in affected 
schools. 
(h) USES OF FUNDS.—Each local educational agency 
that receives funds under this section shall use those funds 
for expenses related to educating children enrolled in its 
schools, which may include— 
(1) teacher and staff salaries; 
(2) building maintenance; 
(3) materials and equipment; 
(4) student transportation; 
(5) special services and instruction, such as— 
(A) English language acquisition services 
and programs for students with limited English 
proficiency;