Federal funding for LEAs with displaced students

Dear Superintendents,

Thank you for the continued cooperation and responsiveness in meeting the educational needs of students affected by the hurricanes of 2017.  Your responsiveness to the Connecticut State Department of Education’s (CSDE) ongoing requests for information has been extremely valuable. The collection of this information has allowed the CSDE to provide real-time counts of incoming students to Connecticut school districts.  This data has also assisted key stakeholders with advocacy for additional resources in serving students displaced by recent disasters and arriving in Connecticut.

Recently signed federal legislation, Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, included an appropriation of funding to support education-related disaster relief.   The Act contains funding for local education agencies (LEAs) to support the cost of educating displaced students enrolled in public schools, including public charter schools, and non-public schools, and provide additional assistance in serving homeless children and youth.  Specific information, including application details and other relevant provisions of this legislation, will be provided once released by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). 

As we await further guidance, please continue to collect and maintain all relevant student data that establishes the incidence for all displaced students enrolled.  It is anticipated that further documentation for verification purposes will be required to access any disaster relief funding released by the USDE.  This may include, but not limited to: initial enrollment dates; the duration of the student’s enrollment (if not currently enrolled); any special designations (special education, English learner status, etc.); and additional costs incurred for student services (staffing, transportation, etc.).

As we await further guidance, please continue to share LEA weekly updates regarding displaced student counts to louis.tallarita@ct.gov.  Thank you for your continued responsiveness and support of our students.