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Bush, Spellings Stress Help for Hurricane-Affected Schools

Some in Congress propose aid for districts enrolling evacuees, but nothing is set in stone.

Washington

Sitting before a panel of U.S. senators in an ornate hearing room on Capitol Hill, Diane Roussel, the superintendent of the battered Jefferson Parish, La., school district, began to cry last week as she described what her students and employees needed from the federal government.

The emotional moment underscored what many educators say is a dire need for more federal money and other support for schools both in areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina and those taking in displaced students.

Here in Washington last week, everyone from President Bush to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to members of Congress was spending at least some time drawing up plans to...