Questions and Answers: 

Family Education Reimbursement Accounts 

October 28, 2005

Family Education Reimbursement Accounts are an innovative, flexible, and temporary proposal for displaced students and the schools enrolling them, bypassing the existing bureaucracy – which was not created to respond to the unprecedented challenges caused by the Gulf Coast hurricanes – to provide direct education aid to those parents and children who need it most.  Parents would go through a simple, one-time enrollment process and establish an account for use by each child from pre-K to 12th grade.  The accounts, up to $6,700 per child with an additional $1,500 for each child served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, would be used to reimburse public, private, or charter school enrolling displaced students for the current school year.

FAMILIES WOULD ENROLL THROUGH A SIMPLE, ONE-TIME PROCESS

More than 300,000 children were initially displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Family Education Reimbursement Accounts would enable easy enrollment in the program for the families of these students.

            Question:  How do parents enroll in the Family Education Reimbursement Accounts program?

Answer:  Parents would use a simple, one-time enrollment process to create a reimbursement account.  Using the Internet or a toll-free number, parents could establish an account that could be used by each child from pre-K to 12th grade.  Parents would be given an account number immediately upon registration and would provide that account number to the school the child would attend.

Question:  Would the process of signing up for these accounts be overwhelming for parents?

Answer:  The sign-up process would be very straightforward.  A family could register by either calling a toll free number or signing up on the Internet.  Parents also would have adequate help desk assistance if problems arise.  Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Education would undertake an unprecedented outreach effort to ensure parents are informed about Family Education Reimbursement Accounts in a variety of ways and through a wide array of local, state, and national organizations.  The Department would work with community organizations that have established relationships with displaced families to ensure that all affected families know these accounts are available and understand how to sign-up for them.  In addition, schools enrolling displaced students would be actively involved in the enrollment process to ensure families are able to participate and schools are able to receive prompt reimbursement for the excess cost of educating children displaced by the hurricanes.

Parents would not have to access the reimbursement account system after they have registered unless they need to reprint their account number.  Schools and providers would access the payment system and simply enter the account number, corresponding name of the child and the weeks the child was registered at the school.  Once schools submit this information, their accounts would be credited directly with the appropriate reimbursement funds.

SCHOOLS WOULD BE REIMBURSED QUICKLY & EASILY

Schools in 49 states and the District of Columbia have opened their doors to students displaced by the hurricanes.  Family Education Reimbursement Accounts would reimburse these schools as quickly and easily as possible. 

            Question:  How would these accounts reimburse schools?

Answer:  Once children are enrolled, schools would simply use the account information provided by the parent to be reimbursed for the additional expense of educating displaced children.  Schools would be reimbursed quarterly based on the number of weeks a child is enrolled.  If a child relocates during the school year, multiple schools could be reimbursed from the same account for the child.  This would eliminate duplication by ensuring schools are promptly reimbursed, and only for the period the child is enrolled.

Question:  Would this program be a burden on schools, especially many small, private, or rural ones that may not have the technology infrastructure that others do?

Answer:  Any school that has a computer and access to the Internet would be able to participate quickly and easily.  The account system would not require any additional software or hardware.  If a school does not have a computer, they could place a phone call to register their school in the program.

Question:  Would the proposal require schools to accept any student a parent attempts to enroll?

Answer:  Schools will not have to alter their admission requirements for accepting students.

Question:  By asking students at their new schools to take required standardized tests – even though their teachers, classmates, and learning environments are new – could schools be punished since new students would impact the schools’ overall assessment scores?

Answer:  Schools would still be required to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, which includes assessing at least 95 percent of students.  However, the U.S. Department of Education has clarified that existing provisions in No Child Left Behind allow for a delay in the school improvement timeline if a school did not make adequate yearly progress due to a natural disaster.  States and school districts have also been informed that they may establish a separate subgroup for displaced hurricane students for the 2005-2006 school year if they received a large influx of displaced students, and schools may not be subject to school improvement timelines if they fail to make adequate yearly progress solely in regard to displaced students.

Question:  Would displaced students be able to participate in extracurricular activities and sports at the schools that take them in?

Answer:  Family Education Reimbursement Accounts are intended to help cover the cost schools bear by offering all activities in the school – including extracurricular activities – to displaced students.

Question:  Would this program be extended if students’ former schools are not open in time for the 2006-2007 school year?

Answer:  Family Education Reimbursement Accounts are meant to serve as an emergency relief program to assist the schools that graciously opened their doors to students who were unable to attend school in their home town because of the hurricanes.  The program would expire at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year.  After one year, schools enrolling displaced students would be able to plan for and absorb the cost of educating students who remain in the schools on a more permanent basis.  The No Child Left Behind Act actually made significant reforms to Title I funding formulas which require that more updated census information be used when determining the distribution of federal dollars to public schools each year.  This means that federal funds directed to schools would be able to get to the areas where displaced students now are living more quickly than in the past.

Question:  Is it necessary to make a controversial issue like private school choice a part of this legislation?

Answer:  The reimbursement account program is not about school choice; instead, it is about reimbursing all of the schools that have opened their doors to students from the hurricane disaster area.  Public, private, and charter schools have all taken in students and all equally deserve assistance in meeting the needs of these students.  The hurricane didn’t discriminate between which types of schools to strike, and Congress shouldn’t discriminate between which schools should receive assistance in their efforts to help displaced families and children.

FAMILY ACCOUNTS WOULD BE SIMPLE, STREAMLINED & SECURE

            Family Education Reimbursement Accounts would empower parents and allow schools, whether public, private, or charter, to be reimbursed directly rather than through several layers of time-consuming bureaucracy.

Question:  Would upfront federal payments to schools be more efficient than Family Education Reimbursement Accounts?

Answer:  Displaced families still are finding new places to live, and these accounts would ensure schools get reimbursed for the time each student spends in that school.  For example, if schools were credited directly, one school may count 20 students, but if 15 of those same students move away mid-year, the new schools they attend would not be reimbursed for those students they take in.  Under the Family Education Reimbursement Accounts plan, each school is reimbursed quarterly for the precise number of weeks each student spends in the school.

Question:  Will students’ and families’ privacy be protected?

Answer:  Family Education Reimbursement Accounts will maintain the same stringent privacy rights and protections as all federal education programs. In addition, to protect individual privacy, the account numbers will be generated by the system, not having any relation to existing, personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers.

Question: Could federal Title I education funds earmarked for the non-operational public schools in areas impacted by the hurricanes be shifted into a new fund to pay for this program?

Answer:  Areas impacted by the hurricanes are cleaning up and re-opening schools as the weeks pass.  These schools are counting on their allotted Title I dollars to educate the students that will return to their school once they re-open their doors.  Also, states do have the authority under current law to shift Title I dollars within the state to help cover the cost of displaced students, and federal education funding only accounts for – on average – about nine percent of total education spending.

Question:  Is $6,700 enough funding per pupil to cover the full amount for displaced children to go to the public, private, or charter school of their choice?

Answer:  It is difficult to know the true cost of educating each and every student, but $6,700 is a reasonable figure based on the average per pupil expenditure in the states enrolling a significant number of students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  In some cases $6,700 may be more than adequate, while in other cases the amount on the account may not cover the full cost of services these schools have provided to the students they have taken in.  However, $6,700 undoubtedly would help cover the additional cost of more desks, books, substitute teachers, uniforms, transportation, and other expenses the school has taken on by opening their doors to these students.  The proposal also provides for an additional $1,500, for a total of $8,200, for children with disabilities served under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Question:  Will the federal government cut spending in other programs to pay for Family Education Reimbursement Accounts?

Answer:  The House has voted to eliminate funding for numerous inefficient and duplicative education programs this year, and the savings from those programs will help compensate for the expense of the Family Education Reimbursement Accounts program.  In fact, Education & the Workforce Committee Republicans have introduced legislation to repeal and eliminate 14 programs entirely.  This legislation would ensure these programs are not a drain on the federal budget not just this year but in the future as well.  Furthermore, the House and Senate are working together through the FY 2006 federal budget process to save tens of billions of dollars from a variety of federal programs.  This process to restore fiscal responsibility started well before the hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast region.

PLAN USES POWER OF TECHNOLOGY TO REIMBURSE SCHOOLS DIRECTLY & EFFICIENTLY

            Family Education Reimbursement Accounts do not rely on government alone.  An independent, professional, and experienced firm would design and implement the reimbursement technology, and the U.S. Departments of Education and Health & Human Services, in conjunction with Congressional oversight efforts, would ensure the program is protected from waste, fraud, and abuse.

Question:  Would state and local education entities be better equipped to handle this effort?

Answer:  This plan is the quickest and most direct way to reimburse individual schools.  In this massive recovery effort, time is of the essence.  These accounts provide funds to schools directly, rather than filtering the money through multiple layers of bureaucracy and letting days and weeks slip away.

Question:  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had a difficult time providing debit cards in the days after Hurricane Katrina.  With that lesson in mind, could any single federal agency handle the type of technology needed to implement the reimbursement accounts proposal?

Answer:  The problems FEMA experienced are a large part of the reason this proposal moves the reimbursement account program out of the hands of the government.  An independent firm with vast experience with this type of technology would quickly design and implement an easy to operate system.  Moreover, this firm will provide ample assistance for parents and schools through a staffed help desk.

Question:  Would this proposal be prone to fraud and abuse?

Answer:  The accounts would include safeguards to ensure all schools participating in the system were legally operating in the state before the hurricanes.  It also would confirm that participating families are indeed from the region impacted by the hurricanes.  Finally, the system would include reporting and auditing requirements that would allow Congress to confirm that funds have been well spent.

Question:  What would reimbursement funds be used for?

Answer:  Reimbursement accounts would be used to provide for the cost of educational services for displaced students.  For example, funds could be used for books, supplies, uniforms, transportation, or teachers.  Funds would not be used for school construction or renovation.

Question:  What happens to the unused portion of the accounts at the end of the school year?

Answer:  The accounts will be available to families for the duration of the 2005-2006 school year.  When the school year is complete, any unused balance will be credited back to the federal Treasury.  This will ensure that resources are available throughout the school year for families, while taxpayer dollars are accounted for at the program’s close.