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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Maybe Katrina Impact Will Be Small

Another interesting idea Mel Blackwell brought up is that Katrina relief may not have as big an impact on funding as some fear. He planned to have the SLD encourage affected schools to use the Form 500 to return unused funding.

For example, the New Orleans school system should not need anywhere near the $4 million it requested in Telecommunications and Internet Access services. So as the district requests more funds to repair damaged buildings, it should be returning funds for telecommunications and Internet access.

It may be true to some extent, but I see two difficulties. First, school officials are scrambling to recover, so I can't see filling out a Form 500 making onto their priority list. Second, in 2006-2007 districts will need as much telecommunications and Internet access funding as ever, and are likely to need plenty of reconstruction aid then as well.

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