FEMA Funds NYC Department of Education Request for Lost Instructional Time Resulting from WTC Disaster 

Release Date: October 22, 2002
Release Number: 1391-161

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» NYC Department of Education Public Assistance Funding Backgrounder

New York, NY -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced today that it has approved an approximately $80 million grant to New York City's Department of Education (DOE) for extended classroom instruction. The funding, which represents the full amount requested by New York City, is intended to compensate school children for time lost in the classroom after the attack on the World Trade Center.

"This important funding is made possible by the supplemental appropriations bill recently signed into law by President Bush," said FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh. "Federal assistance has taken many forms in this disaster, but there are few more critical than these dollars that help provide educational resources for the young people of New York."

"The resources provided today will help the City replace the instructional time lost by students in our schools due to the attacks of Sept. 11th," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. "I would like to thank President Bush and Director Allbaugh for helping us make sure that our children obtain the tools they need to succeed as adults, and look forward to working with them as New York City rebuilds."

All 1,200 DOE-administered schools were closed on Sept. 12, 2001, with 14 schools in close proximity to the World Trade Center site-often referred to as the "impacted zone"-remaining closed Sept. 13 through Sept. 17. In total, New York City public school students lost more than 15 million hours of instructional time due to school closures, delayed openings and school relocations.

"Today's announcement reflects the collective support for our school children. I cannot stress enough the importance of using every available resource to maximize the amount of time our students spend in the classroom," Chancellor Joel I. Klein said.

"I want to recognize the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and FEMA Director Allbaugh for working together to respond to our situation and address the need to provide extra class time for all students affected by Sept. 11. I also want to thank Senators Schumer and Clinton and Representatives Maloney, Sweeney, Lowey, Nadler, Serrano and Hinchey for elevating the importance of this issue before Congress," added the Chancellor.

To replace the lost instructional time, DOE intends to implement an after-school program for grades one through 12 that will be administered by each of the 47 school districts. In total, 15 hours of additional instruction time will be provided for approximately 890,000 students system wide, with 30 hours for the 8,900 students attending school in the "impacted zone." The Department of Education and FEMA worked together to arrive at the total dollar amount, which is based on actual and budgeted expenditures for teachers and paraprofessionals, security, transportation, custodial services and other expenses required for the after-school program.

Commenting on the funding, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said, "There's no question that our schools need help in the wake of Sept. 11. My older daughter was at Stuyvesant High School last year, which is located right next to Ground Zero. It took over a month of intensive work on the building just to get the students back in the classroom-and that's just one school."

"Thousands of kids had their education disrupted and lost needed time in the classroom that needs to be made up. As a city, we won't be back on our feet until our schools are back on track. This money will go a long way in helping us get to that point," added Senator Schumer.

The grant is funded through the FEMA / State of New York Public Assistance (PA) program, and is in addition to approximately $14 million already approved for DOE which will reimburse the department for the cost of asbestos abatement and cleaning, air quality testing, school relocation, and the replacement of textbooks at a number of city schools in lower Manhattan.

Following his disaster declaration after the Sept. 11 tragedy, President Bush authorized FEMA to pay for 100 percent of the PA program costs. Public Assistance reimburses government agencies and certain non-profits providing a government-like service for eligible disaster-related damages and costs not covered by insurance.

Among the categories eligible for reimbursement are debris removal, emergency protective measures and the repair or restoration of damaged public facilities. To date, FEMA has approved more than $4.7 billion to various New York City and state departments and agencies.

Last Modified: Friday, 03-Oct-2003 15:53:09