A measure approved by the House of Representatives would allow Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to give schools extra time to spend money given to them under the Hurricane Education Recovery Act to cover the cost of educating students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The measure, introduced by Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., R-La., cleared the chamber on a unanimous voice vote on May 22.
Schools were originally supposed to return any unspent hurricane aid to the Department of Education by the end of the 2005-06 school year, defined by the department as July 31. But many districts, particularly those in the Gulf Coast region, worried that they might have to return some of the money, despite overwhelming needs, because they did not have enough time to decide how best to spend the funds.
