Education Funding

In Mississippi, Tough Times Persist

February 14, 2006 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Audio Extra

Staff Writer Alan Richard recently revisited the Mississippi Gulf Coast to report on the region’s progress, five months after Hurricane Katrina struck. Here he tells of his visit to schools in the Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, Pascagoula, and Hancock County areas of Mississippi, and reports on the state of the communities as each adjusts to the ‘new normal’ while they attempt to rebuild their old way of life. (Windows Media file: 6:56)

For Mississippi school districts damaged by Hurricane Katrina, long-awaited financial help from the federal government is on the way. The Aug. 29 storm battered an 80-mile stretch of the Gulf Coast particularly hard. Now, 32 of the state’s 152 school districts will receive some aid from the first round of funding under the $1.6 billion Hurricane Education Recovery Act, state schools Superintendent Hank M. Bounds announced last week. Mississippi and Louisiana each got $100 million, while Texas received $50 million and Alabama $3.75 million to help schools with expenses related to “restarting” after the storm. (“Hurricane Aid is on the Way to Districts, Private Schools,” Jan. 11, 2006.)

The Mississippi state board of education has approved grants to public school districts totaling $79 million, ranging from a low of $5,000 to the West Jasper schools to more than $9 million to the Harrison County schools.

Under a requirement of the federal act, 20 percent of the money to help restart operations will be reserved for nonpublic schools. So far, under that provision, $9.2 million of the state’s initial $100 million allotment will flow to 21 such schools.

See Also

Return to the main story,

The ‘New Normal’

View the related photo gallery, and listen to accompanying audio in The ‘New Normal’.

In addition, districts will receive reimbursements for “displaced” students to help cover the cost of educating students who have relocated after the storm and were not included in state funding originally.

For the quarter ending Dec. 1, the state reported counting 17,027 displaced regular education students in public schools and 2,047 in nonpublic schools. For each student, the federal government will reimburse districts up to $1,500 per quarter; for students with disabilities, districts will receive up to $1,875 per quarter.

Despite the financial help, Sue Matheson, the superintendent of schools in Pass Christian, Miss., expects to order layoffs.

“We are looking to have to [furlough] a lot of personnel for next year,” she said. The coastal district, which had 2,000 students before the hurricane and now enrolls about 1,400, saw two of its schools destroyed and its high school and district office gutted by floodwaters. The grounds of the remaining school, DeLisle Elementary, now are covered with portable classrooms that house all of the district’s students.

In a section of Pass Christian once home to athletic fields, dozens of families now live in “The Village,” made up of green canvas tents. The nonprofit relief group Save the Children helped Ginger Holmes, a former owner of a child-care center, open a makeshift center for children in three dark and stuffy tents. The tents could remain in place for two years.

In the rural Pearlington community, Charles B. Murphy Elementary School, which was ruined by flooding that reached 8 feet, has been transformed into “Pearl Mart,” where local residents can shop for peanut butter and canned vegetables, cleaning supplies and bedsheets, and clothing and children’s books. All were donated and are free for the taking.

A sign reads: “We will not be undersold!”

Related Tags:

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding Biden's Budget Proposes Smaller Bump to Education Spending
The president requested increases to Title I and IDEA, and funding to expand preschool access in his 2025 budget proposal.
7 min read
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering prices for American families during an event at the YMCA Allard Center on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, N.H.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on lowering prices for American families during an event at the YMCA Allard Center on March 11, 2024, in Goffstown, N.H. Biden's administration released its 2025 budget proposal, which includes a modest spending increase for the Education Department.
Evan Vucci/AP
Education Funding States Are Pulling Back on K-12 Spending. How Hard Will Schools Get Hit?
Some states are trimming education investments as financial forecasts suggest boom times may be over.
6 min read
Collage illustration of California state house and U.S. currency background.
F. Sheehan for Education Week / Getty
Education Funding Using AI to Guide School Funding: 4 Takeaways
One state is using AI to help guide school funding decisions. Will others follow?
5 min read
 Illustration of a robot hand drawing a graph line leading to budget and finalcial spending.
iStock/Getty
Education Funding A State Uses AI to Determine School Funding. Is This the Future or a Cautionary Tale?
Nevada reworked its funding formula hoping to target extra aid to students most in need. What happened could hold lessons for other states.
13 min read
Illustration of robotic hand putting coins into jar.
iStock / Getty Images Plus