For Immediate Release:
Thursday, September 8, 2005  

WASHINGTON D.C - U.S. Representative Dan Boren announced today that he is calling upon U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to provide emergency federal assistance and take other specific actions to aide Oklahoma schools accommodating evacuees. 

 

Unsatisfied with Secretary Spellings’ response in the wake of the disaster, Boren expressed “dismay” at the level of support and communication the Department of Education has provided to local school administrators.   

 

“Assuring that each school district will receive emergency funding to cover these extraordinary costs is critical and must happen soon,” Boren said.  “Emergency funding is not a luxury, but a necessity when you consider the financial strain placed on already overburdened schools,” Boren said. 

 

“The affected schools will face many challenges in absorbing evacuees, such as school supplies, additional text books, and rising transportation costs due to fuel prices,” Boren explained. 

 

In a letter sent to Secretary Spellings yesterday afternoon, Boren requested she take the following actions:

 

• Provide direct assistance to Oklahoma school districts accepting hurricane evacuees by allocating emergency funding under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act;
• Provide a full and detailed report on how the funds will be distributed;
• Establish a taskforce of state and local educators from areas affected by the disaster;
• Appoint Oklahoma State Superintendent Sandy Garrett to the taskforce.

Funding under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which is administered under the Department of Education, would ensure that evacuated children and youth are afforded the same quality public education provided to other Oklahomans. One of its primary purposes is to provide assistance for children displaced from their homes by a natural disaster. 

 

Boren has also called for the creation of a taskforce of education officials from states affected by this disaster to advise Spellings on how to best to proceed with federal assistance.  Boren requested that State Superintendent of Education Sandy Garrett be placed on the taskforce immediately to represent Oklahoma’s affected school districts. 

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