Katrina’s Impact on Pre-K Programs Lingers

Delays in reconstruction, restaffing are hindering preschools, child care.

A year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, many preschools, child-care centers, and other early-childhood programs in the region are still struggling to reopen.

In Louisiana, 52 of the 266 child-care centers that were operating in Orleans Parish before Katrina have reopened, according to a report released last month by Save the Children, an international relief organization. About half the ones that remain closed are not expected to reopen, according to the study, which was conducted by the Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State University.

The study also showed that only about 10 of the 30 Head Start or Early Head Start programs in the New Orleans area...