Federal Help for Gulf Coast Colleges Said To Fall Short
WASHINGTON
To speed up the recovery of educational institutions damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education Committee have called for the creation of an Education Recovery Czar and the transfer of Gulf Coast education recovery duties from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Department of Education.
The recommendations came in a report issued Wednesday that was critical of the government’s response to the recovery needs of the education sector. In March, a delegation of House Democrats, led by U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., visited hurricane-affected schools and colleges and held public forums, which led to the recommendations.
“What we saw were schools and colleges struggling mightily to reopen. They did not have a partner in FEMA,” Miller said at a hearing, which also featured select Gulf Coast educators pleading for more federal money and flexible laws to speed up recovery.
Institutions across the Gulf Coast, but particularly in New Orleans, have been forced to lay off faculty, reduce course offerings and increase class sizes to compensate for the loss of tuition revenue and the rebuilding costs. Tulane University, the largest employer in New Orleans, suffered more than $150 million in physical damage. It had to borrow that amount and more, maxing out its borrowing capacity, in order to open last January. Dillard University has laid off two-thirds of its faculty, and is currently holding classes in a hotel which also houses most of its students and remaining faculty.
Dr. Scott Cowen, president of Tulane, and Dr. Marvalene Hughes, president of historically Black Dillard, urged support of a U.S. Senate proposal that would provide cash-strapped colleges with immediate gap funding in the form of loans.
