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Katrina Bill Would Ease School Rules

While school districts still haven’t received any federal education aid from Congress to deal with the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the House has passed a measure that could ease education rules for Gulf Coast schools and others that have enrolled students displaced by the storms.

The Hurricane Regulatory Relief Act of 2005, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La., passed the House on a voice vote Nov. 16.

The wide-ranging measure would allow displaced teachers who had already achieved “highly qualified” status in their states to get the same designation, for one year, in the states to which they moved following the storms. Such status is required for most teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act as...