A bill to provide relief for students and institutions affected by Hurricane Katrina, and for other purposes.

Bill: 109-s-1715
Sponsor: Sen. Enzi, Michael B. [R-WY]
Introduced: 2005-09-15 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Alabama
Apprenticeship
Auditing
Block grants
Charter schools
Community development
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Curricula
Day care
Department of Education
Disabled
Disaster relief
Displaced persons
Distance education
Economic growth
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Educational facilities
Educational planning
Elementary and secondary education
Elementary education
Emergency Management
Families
Federal aid to education
Finance and Financial Sector
Floods
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Health
Higher education
Homeless
Housing and Community Development
Hurricane aftermath legislation
Hurricanes
Infrastructure
Inspectors general
Labor and Employment
Law
Louisiana
Mentoring
Mississippi
Orphans
Paraprofessional school personnel
Preschool education
Rehabilitation of the disabled
School administration
School health programs
Science, Technology, Communications
Secondary education
Self-help devices for the disabled
Special education
Student employment
Student loan funds
Student records
Student transportation
Teacher education
Teacher salaries
Teacher supply and demand
Teaching materials
Textbooks
Transportation and Public Works
Welfare eligibility

Summary:
action_date: 2005-09-15
text: 
 Provides assistance for students, educational institutions, and individuals with disabilities affected by Hurricane Katrina (HK).

 Encourages the Secretary of Education (ED) to exercise waiver authority and other actions on behalf of HK-affected states, local educational agencies (LEAs), and schools under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).

Authorizes ED to: (1) make grants to LEAs for supplemental educational services or additional programs and activities for HK-displaced or -affected students; (2) make payments to LEAs in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to restart operations at schools in HK-disaster areas; and (3) delay applicability of ESEA teacher qualification requirements to Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi and their LEAs due to exceptional or uncontrollable circumstances. 

Allows any LEA to provide reciprocity for HK-displaced teachers and paraprofessionals.

Directs ED to: (1) use the 2004-2005 child count for 2006-2007 funding under ESEA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) if the LEA serves a school in an HK-disaster area and has a net loss of students; (2) make payments to LEAs to improve instruction of HK-displaced students (if the LEA does not count such students for ESEA and IDEA funding); and (3) assist LEAs serving HK-displaced homeless children and youths.

Provides for waiver authority by ED and suspends application of certain student aid requirements under the Higher Education Act of 1965, with respect to HK-affected students or educational institutions, including provisions for: grant assistance repayment, loan deferments, loan limits, work-study, grant uses, and distance education.

Directs ED, with respect to HK-affected children with disabilities, to: (1) use 2004-2005 numbers for IDEA funding of sending states; and (2) provide funds to receiving LEAs to provide early intervention services.

Directs ED, in reallocating funds under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, to give preference to affected states that contain HK-disaster areas or that received a significant number of individuals from such areas. Allows affected states to apply for waivers of nonfederal share requirements and use reallocated funds for apprenticeship programs for individuals with disabilities to participate in reconstruction or other major disaster assistance activities in areas where they lived on August 22, 2005. Allows affected states to apply to use certain grant funds under the Assistive Technology Act of 1998 to enable HK-affected individuals with disabilities to replace damaged or lost assistive technology devices. Authorizes ED to make grants to enable affected states to carry out such replacement programs.
 
Requires an audit of each ED program that includes HK-related response and recovery activities.
 
Child Care Disaster Assistance Act of 2005 - Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to: (1) waive, for HK-disaster areas, specified provisions of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 in order to provide child care services to orphaned children or displaced families; and (2) provide technical assistance and guidance to providers of child care services to such children and families.
 
Directs HHS to: (1) waive income eligibility and documentation requirements for HK-affected children in programs under the Head Start Act; and (2) provide technical assistance, guidance, and resources for Head Start agencies serving such children.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-09-19
text: Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 213.
action_date: 2005-09-15
text: Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time. (text of measure as introduced: CR S10123-10128)
action_date: 2005-09-15
text: Introduced in Senate