Of course, since all of New Orleans is struggling to recover from Katrina, it is not surprising the schools are struggling as well. Unfortunately, it is also not surprising the Bush administration has failed the schools of New Orleans.
Here is my main question: Why is FEMA in charge of education recovery?
Why is FEMA in charge of school system recovery? Seriously. This is not a few months after the hurricane. It is a year later! It does not make any sense that FEMA would be in charge of the school system's recovery. FEMA has already clearly demonstrated they cannot handle a huge national emergency, which is why they exist. Why would they be in charge of leading the educational system to recovery? Here is a crazy thought the Dems are putting out there: Let the Department of Education take over!
Transfer responsibilities for education sector recovery efforts from FEMA to U.S. Department of Education.
http://www.house.gov/...
Honestly, it seems obvious that should have been in place months. Not to the Bush administration apparently. Hey, at least someone is pointing out hte obvious. It is a shame it will fall on deaf ears.
One of the reasons we need the Dept of Education in charge is that hopefulyl have a clue of what education is all about. Say, maybe teachers are an important part of the process. Therefore, someone might actually want to put some money into ensuring teachers are there for the students. There are many issues inK-12. There are not enough teachers.
Of the more than 4,000 teachers employed by the New Orleans public schools pre-Katrina, approximately 1,000 have been rehired7. The absence of affordable housing for teachers and their families has hindered the recruiting process while thousands of teachers have opted to seek employment elsewhere or leave the teaching profession altogether. The need for qualified special education teachers is especially acute.
Obviously, schools need teachers. Teachers are just regular people who need things like shelter. The Bush administration should have made special provisions for essential employees like teachers to be able to afford housing. How are they suppose to recruit people if there is not affordable housing? How about increase teacher pay there so they can afford to live?
Higher education is not doing well either with dealing with the federal government.
Federal government support. Higher education institutions in the Gulf Coast region are not only battling with their insurance companies for payouts but also facing severe delays in the receipt of promised FEMA assistance. Several institutions indicate that they had anticipated more support and funding from FEMA, but a year later it has not yet arrived and they expect it to take longer still.
To date, a mere $250 million has been provided for higher education recovery. Most recently, in mid-June Congress provided $50 million in additional grants. However, a request for $200 million in loan assistance was not made available to institutions. Two local university presidents, while testifying before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce in
April 2006, requested a federal loan program that would help institutions while they await payouts from their insurance companies and FEMA.
At the hearing, Scott Cowan, the President of Tulane, said that "in order to open in January, we borrowed $150 million ... which maxed out our borrowing capacity25." While Tulane has received some FEMA support recently, at the time of the hearing, the University had not
received any funding from FEMA. It is unclear when they will receive any future support.
By April of 2006, Tulane University had not received any funds from FEMA. How is this possible? FEMA is in charge of education recovery. What in the hell have they been doing for higher education all of this time?
Funding education is a vital part of the rebuilding of New Orleans. They need teacher incentives, higher pay for teachers, afforable housing, etc. Rebuilding K-12 and higher education in New Orleans needs to be taken seriously by the federal government.
I am glad Democrat George Miller is speaking out about this issue. Please write to your Congressman and Senators about this issue as well. We cannot forget New Orleans and the struggles the endure on a daily basis. Democrats have a long history of supporting education and they are taking the lead on this issue in New Orleans. We need to show our support.