Our goal at the Department of Education is to get the 372,000 students from kindergarten through higher education enrolled in school wherever they are in the 47 states plus the District of Columbia as quickly as possible.

We know that school is such a stabilizing influence not only in a child's life but in a family's life, as these people work to rebuild their lives. And that is our prime directive, if you will.

We're aiding that at the Department of Education by staying close to the educational leaders on the ground, talking very regularly with them about their needs. We are providing them maximum flexibility within my authority around various aspects of operations that they're confronting daily.

And of course they'll need resources. The president has said, he's asked me to prepare a plan, which I'm working with the Office of Management and Budget on now, to make sure that these warm and welcoming educators in states around the country are adequately compensated and that those communities are not penalized for their good will and their generosity.

Another thing that we're doing at the Department is to provide and facilitate outreach and support for these communities. I convened last week more than 50 groups in the education community from the teacher unions to the school choice community and everybody in between, if you will. It's "all hands on deck" to try to help these communities and these kids.

We have created a new part of our Web site at www.ed.gov called "Hurricane Help for Schools" where we're matching needs with resources, and the response around the country—from lemonade stand collections from kids to corporate Americavhas been absolutely tremendous. And the first lady has filmed a public service announcement that's being made available all across the country recognizing this "Hurricane Help for Schools" Web site so that more Americans will participate in that program as well.

As I said, I am touched—I had the opportunity to travel with the first lady last week to Mississippi—at the tremendous response we're seeing from America's education community. They're enrolling kids, getting them help, getting them in school, getting them services, and asking questions about flexibility and resources later. And I am committed to help them serve these kids and provide those necessary supports and resources as the situation develops further.

Secretary Spellings: Well, one of the things that I can tell you [from] what I'm hearing from the states, and that is that, as a place like Houston, Texas, which—not to be a Texas braggadocio, but they have responded tremendously, my fellow hometown folks—they've obviously set their tax rate, they've set their budgets, they've hired their personnel and so forth. And they are looking for relief from the federal government to accommodate this large, large number of kids that are in that school district. So that's the nature of the kind of thing that we're looking at. As well, as I said, they need latitude and some flexibilities around various aspects of the law, the McKinney-Vento law, which asks school districts to accommodate students that show up as homeless students, which they have done, very warmly and well, but likewise—and I use the example of the Astrodome—it says that a child must attend the school that's in the attendance zone of, for example, the Astrodome. So if there's 5,000 kids in the Astrodome they're supposed to go to the elementary that's in that neighborhood. Well obviously in this situation, two weeks hence, that's not a practical approach. So that's the nature of the discussions that we're having with them both in the severely affected receiving states and those who are like Louisiana and Mississippi [in] the devastated areas.

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