COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 26, 2005

Communities Welcoming Displaced Students Need Simple, Flexible Hurricane Education Relief

COSPONSOR THE FAMILY EDUCATION REIMBURSEMENT ACT  

Dear Colleague:

            In the wake of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, our educational system is experiencing challenges like never before.  In our home state of Texas, public, private, and charter schools have all generously opened their doors to welcome thousands upon thousands of students displaced by the storms.  These schools are helping to provide children some sense of stability and normalcy as the affected region rebuilds. 

Last week, we helped unveil an innovative proposal to provide relief for the schools that have enrolled displaced students by establishing Family Education Reimbursement Accounts.  These accounts would bypass bureaucracy and directly reimburse schools that have taken in students after the storms.  This is particularly important for communities like ours that have offered so many families a place to call home.  Our goal is to ensure that the public, private, and charter schools enrolling displaced students are able to be reimbursed quickly and efficiently, and this proposal meets the needs of both schools opening their doors and families and children enrolling in new schools.

Family Education Reimbursement Accounts would offer three key advantages for individuals, schools, and communities impacted by the Gulf Coast hurricanes: simplicity, flexibility, and portability. 

• Simplicity for parents and schools.  The accounts would be simple for families to create and simple for schools to receive reimbursement.  Parents would register through the Internet or a toll-free number to create an account for the family for use by each child from pre-K to 12th grade.  The accounts would provide up to $6,700 per child, the average per pupil expenditure in the states enrolling significant numbers of displaced students.  Parents would then provide their account number to the school enrolling the child, and the school would use that information to be reimbursed on behalf of the child.   The accounts would provide for a simple electronic payment for the period a child is enrolled without having to navigate complex payment systems or overcome the hurdles of a bureaucracy that was not created to withstand the challenges of a natural disaster of this magnitude.

• Flexibility through the power of technology.  The accounts would provide greater flexibility than other proposals to aid the affected region by utilizing technology to respond quickly to the changing needs of families and communities.  Parents displaced by the storms have already enrolled their children in whatever schools were willing to open their doors.  These reimbursement accounts would not punish private schools that have opened their doors and enrolled children, often at free or reduced tuition, but would provide the same reimbursement on behalf of all affected children.

• Portability to provide funds directly and efficiently.  The proposal would also provide greater portability for relief funds, ensuring a more efficient use of resources on behalf of students and schools.  For the current school year, schools would be reimbursed quarterly through the accounts based on the number of weeks each child is enrolled.  Rather than forcing welcoming schools to navigate federal, state, and local education bureaucracies, the plan calls for an experienced, independent contractor to act quickly to establish a system that would reimburse schools.  

Over the last several weeks, a growing consensus has emerged among both Republicans and Democrats who recognize that the unprecedented nature of the tragedy requires an unprecedented response.  If we expect our response to meet the needs of all stakeholders – parents, students, schools, and taxpayers alike – we need solutions that bypass cumbersome bureaucracies and, instead, provide direct education aid on behalf of parents and families who need it most, whether their children are attending public, private, or charter schools.

Schools across the nation have opened their doors and welcomed displaced students as their own.  It’s time we offer a simple, straightforward process to reimburse these schools and ensure relief is available on behalf of all the students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  A fact sheet on Family Education Reimbursement Accounts is available on the Education & the Workforce Committee “Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Rebuilding & Recovery” website at http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/109th/hurricane/ferafs.htm.  For more information or to cosponsor the proposal, contact Lucy House with the Committee at x5-6558.

Sincerely,