WASHINGTON
Gulf Coast schools decimated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita two years ago are still waiting for promised federal help, a new report finds. The study, released Wednesday by the Southern Education Foundation, reveals that a lack of government intervention has caused as many as 15,000 K-12 public school students and 35,000 college students to stay out of school.
The report also finds a clear disparity in how Black students in Louisiana fared in the wake of the storms. The number of high school students who took the ACT college entrance exam dropped by one-sixth in 2006, and Black students accounted for almost 60 percent of this drop. Also, one in five Black public college students dropped out.
“This report tells the story of a massive failure of ‘we the people’ through our national government to respond adequately” in the wake of the storms’ devastation, says Lynn Huntley, SEF president. “We do not apportion blame, although there is plenty of blame to apportion. Instead, we challenge Americans and their government to provide adequate educational assistance and leadership,” she adds.
Report author and SEF program coordinator Steve Suitts says his research found that of the $115 billion spent on hurricane recovery by the federal government, only 2 percent “has gone to recovery of education and helping students. In essence, this means that since 2005, the federal government has committed one dollar for every $2.5 billion spent. That is the priority the government shows for recovering education.”
Suitts also revealed shocking statistics comparing the federal government’s recovery aid for higher education in Louisiana with aid given by other nations. The report reveals other nations have contributed almost as much — $131.5 million — to higher education recovery as the U.S. government’s $135 million.
“Other nations have felt and exercised as much obligation to restore education in one of the 50 states in America as has the American government itself. While I think no one in Louisiana higher education has done anything but welcome the support of foreign governments, the fact is it also points out how small, how insufficient the support of the federal government has been,” Suitts says.
