COVID-19 Pandemic Intensifies Disaster Recovery Challenges for K-12 Schools (GAO-21-62R)
Summary
A GAO report to congressional committees, GAO-21-62R, dated October 14, 2020, on disaster recovery for K-12 schools. It notes that more than 260 presidentially-declared major disasters have occurred since 2017, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, some rendering school facilities unusable for extended periods. It explains that schools recovering from natural disasters now also face the effects of COVID-19, as social distancing practices and building closures may complicate recovery. GAO reviewed how the pandemic has affected schools recovering from recent disasters and the support the U.S. Department of Education provides, under audit funds from the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019.
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441 G St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20548
October 14, 2020
Congressional Committees
Disaster Recovery: COVID-19 Pandemic Intensifies Disaster Recovery Challenges for K-
12 Schools
More than 260 presidentially-declared major disasters have occurred since 2017, affecting
every state and several U.S. territories, according to the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). 1 Many of these natural disasters have had devastating effects, including
rendering K-12 school facilities unusable for extended periods of time. These schools are now
experiencing the compounding challenge of recovering from these natural disasters while
managing effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Social distancing practices and
building closures are meant to keep staff and students safe, but may also complicate recovery
efforts for disaster-affected districts.
The Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 provided funds for
GAO to audit issues related to presidentially-declared major disasters that occurred in 2018. 2
We reviewed (1) how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected schools recovering from recent
natural disasters, and (2) support the U.S. Department of Education (Education) has provided to
help schools recover from recent natural disasters and how the COVID-19 pandemic has
affected schools’ use of these resources.
In April 2020 we adjusted the scope of our work on school communities’ recovery efforts from
recent natural disasters to refocus on how such efforts were affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. We interviewed 29 local education officials representing over 50 school districts in
California, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Florida, and Hawaii, which were
selected because they were affected by a diverse set of major natural disasters in 2018 that
occurred in a mix of populated and less-populated areas. 3 In addition, through a national school
superintendents association, we convened a discussion group of seven district leaders who
have experienced natural disasters and mentor other affected districts. We also reviewed 24
articles published in academic journals related to children recovering from natural disasters and
interviewed several of the authors. Finally, we reviewed federal guidance and interviewed
Education officials.
We conducted this performance audit from October 2019 to October 2020 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
1Under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended, the President may
declare that a major disaster exists in response to a Governor’s or tribal chief executive’s request if the disaster is of
such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state, tribal, or territorial
government and federal assistance is necessary. 42 U.S.C. § 5170.
2Pub. L. No. 116-20 20, 133 Stat. 871, 892-893.
3Disasters included the Camp Fire and Tubbs Fire (California), Super Typhoon Yutu (Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands), Hurricane Michael (Florida), Hurricane Lane (Hawaii), and the Kilauea volcano eruption (Hawaii).
Some of the local education officials were at the county offices of education that oversee numerous school districts.
Page 1 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Background
After responding to immediate concerns during a disaster, such as saving lives and property,
schools transition to recovery efforts to restore the learning environment. To help school
communities do so, Education administers several grants, including the Immediate Aid to
Restart School Operations (Restart) grant and the Project School Emergency Response to
Violence (Project SERV) grant. Since 2017, the Restart grant awarded about $890 million for
expenses related to restarting school operations after a covered disaster, such as instructional
materials, clean-up costs, or hiring specialized staff. Project SERV awarded about $15 million to
help restore the learning environment that was disrupted by a violent or traumatic crisis. 4 See
Enclosure I for details on these grants.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to schools on a nation-wide scale,
the federal government has recently provided financial resources to help address issues similar
to what schools experience after natural disasters. For example, the CARES Act appropriated
more than $13 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. States
receive these funds and then allocate them to school districts for a variety of activities, including
internet access and mental health support services. 5
The range of issues school communities face when recovering from natural disasters provides a
sense of what schools across the nation are trying to manage as they re-start school operations
during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes academic, structural, financial, and emotional
considerations that can affect both students and staff (see fig. 1).
Figure 1: Characteristics of School Recovery from a Natural Disaster or Emergency
4In February 2018, Congress enacted the Further Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act,
2018 (Division B, Subdivision 1 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018) and included disaster relief for Hurricanes
Harvey, Irma, and Maria, or wildfires in 2017 for which a major disaster or emergency was declared under the
Stafford Act, including for education-related programs and activities. Pub. L. No. 115-123, 132 Stat. 65, 95. In June
2019, Congress enacted legislation in response to several incidents occurring in calendar years 2018 and 2019 for
which a major disaster or emergency was declared under the Stafford Act. Title VIII of the Additional Supplemental
Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 provides $165 million in supplemental appropriations for education-
related disaster relief programs. Pub. L. No. 116-20, 133 Stat. at 891.
5Pub. L. No. 116-136, §§ 18001(b)(2),18003, 134 Stat. 281, 564-567 (2020).
Page 2 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
School recovery can be a lengthy, complicated process. FEMA has written that recovery is not
simply one linear, straightforward path for all, and people can move in and out of vulnerable
conditions over time. 6 Both FEMA and Education have highlighted social and emotional
recovery as an issue that may take a particularly long time, and experiences during a disaster
can result in emotional trauma for students, staff, and their families. A large body of research
links disaster exposure with mental health symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress,
depression, and anxiety. 7 Moreover, research has shown that children's experience with
disaster can have adverse academic effects that last for decades. For example, school-aged
children who are displaced from their homes for extended periods of time tend to have higher
dropout rates and receive lower grades and test scores. 8
As FEMA notes, the resilience of schools is critical to help communities recover from natural
disasters. In the wake of a disaster, education and school services are often suspended, which
may make returning to work difficult for some parents. At the same time, it is also essential that
school leaders focus on the health, safety, and well-being of students and staff during the
recovery period. 9 As school communities nationwide navigate restoring school functionality
given the complex, continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, those having recently
experienced natural disasters present examples of the challenges of school recovery.
COVID-19 Has Intensified Challenges for Schools Recovering from Natural Disasters
Local education officials in disaster-affected areas told us the COVID-19 pandemic has
exacerbated mental health issues and trauma, and contributed to lost instructional time, staff
burnout, delays in recovery projects, and financial strain in their communities. Such varied
challenges reflect the multi-faceted nature of both recovery and services that schools provide to
students. In addition to their primary responsibility of providing academic instruction, schools
often assist students and families in accessing social services, the internet, food, and shelter.
Mental Health Issues and Trauma
Participants from all of our interviews with local education officials emphasized that the COVID-
19 pandemic has compounded the emotional trauma that staff and students experienced due to
recent natural disasters. 10 They explained that after the natural disaster, restoring students’
mental health was a top priority. 11 Moreover, one school disaster recovery expert said that as a
result of lessons learned from recent natural disasters, the need for mental health services and
supports due to the pandemic was a major concern. Accordingly, participants in all nine of our
interviews with academic and nonprofit subject matter experts emphasized that natural disasters
left children with trauma requiring mental health services.
6Federal Emergency Management Agency, Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard
Safety, FEMA P-1000 (Washington, D.C.: June 2017).
7B. Lai et al, “Schools and Disasters: Safety and Mental Health Assessment and Interventions for Children,” Current
Psychiatry Reports, vol. 18 no. 109 (2016),108.
8Lori Peek et al, “Children and Disasters,” in Handbook of Disaster Research, ed. H. Rodríguez et al (Springer
International Publishing 2018), 243-262.
9FEMA P-1000 (2017).
10We have previously reported that trauma may include natural disasters, and that children’s neurodevelopment can
be disrupted when exposed to chronic stressful events. See GAO-19-388.
11According to the Department of Health and Human Services, mental health includes emotional, psychological, and
social well-being. Trauma results from harmful experiences that have lasting adverse effects on mental, physical,
social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.
Page 3 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
Participants in all of our interviews with local education officials pointed to homelessness as an
example of trauma affecting students and staff after
“I don’t think [recovery] is over yet. …we still
natural disasters. For example, Florida officials said that are dealing with those students that
there were 750 homeless students in their district prior to experienced not just our tornado in ‘03 but
category 5 Hurricane Michael and 3,000 afterwards. several tornadoes over the years. Every time
we have a storm, we have to pay closer
Likewise, a California official said that half of the district’s attention to those students because their
staff and more than three quarters of its students lost their anxiety is much higher.”
homes to the Camp Fire. Some of these officials also Source: Recovery subject matter expert and superintendent
in the Midwest
noted that when the COVID-19 pandemic began, their
students were still living in transitional housing, such as trailers or motels, from the previous
natural disasters.
Other local education officials said that students’ mental health needs affected their behavior in
the classroom. For example, one official explained that when students returned after the Camp
Fire, the rates of elopement—when a student leaves the classroom without permission—
increased. Officials in another district said that prior to “Because [districts in Florida and California]
Hurricane Michael, teachers might have had three or four are in the recovery process currently, they are
students in a class of 18 that were dealing with something already dealing with an overburdened and
understaffed mental health system and [the
traumatic at home, but after the hurricane, about a dozen pandemic] compounded that issue
students in a class of that size may be dealing with exponentially.”
trauma. These officials emphasized the importance of Source: Recovery subject matter expert supporting schools in
disaster-affected states
providing students with mental health services to address
such challenges. Some local education officials said that after a disaster, having services in
place to address students’ mental health needs is an important precursor to returning to
academic instruction. Accordingly, some students may need mental health support to return to
school successfully during the pandemic.
Participants in most of our interviews with local education officials said that the services needed
to treat trauma and other disaster-related mental health issues were not readily available in their
areas. Local education officials also noted that their districts had to obtain external funding to
hire additional mental health practitioners to support recovery. These officials said that such
funding was temporary and did not meet their districts' needs for long-term mental health
support. Some said that providing mental health services has been especially difficult during the
COVID-19 pandemic. One school disaster recovery expert said that because half of her
students live in poverty, they access mental health services through the school and were
completely cut off from those services because of the pandemic.
Lost Instructional Time
Participants in most of our interviews with local education officials expressed concern that the
COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant lost instructional time for students who already
lost instruction time due to recent natural disasters. For example, as of August 2020, students in
Sonoma County, California, have lost about 60 days of instructional time due to the pandemic,
according to one county official. Some of these same students previously lost nearly 40 days
due to wildfires, floods and power shutoffs in recent years, according to nonprofit newsroom
CalMatters. 12 The official noted that prior to the disasters, the county was performing above the
state average on standardized testing, but now the county’s scores were at or below the state
average. This official and others also noted that their students—many of whom were affected by
12CalMatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks school closures in California using data from the
California Department of Education.
Page 4 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
other adverse childhood experiences—had begun to demonstrate academic gains when their
natural disaster struck and halted their progress. For example, Florida officials noted that prior
to Hurricane Michael, the district had made significant efforts to improve academic achievement,
reducing the number of schools labeled as failing by the state from 11 to two. They explained
that the hurricane disrupted this positive momentum, and the pandemic, which resulted in a loss
of about one-quarter of the school year, would disrupt momentum even further. Local education
officials in another area noted that even though they were able to offer on-line education
relatively quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic, the quality of the instruction was not as high
as it was in person. They said that teachers need professional development to successfully
transition to on-line instruction.
Participants in some interviews with local education officials said they were particularly worried
about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their low-income and at-risk students, noting
that these students are especially vulnerable to the negative effects of lost instruction time. For
example, a Sonoma County official noted that, over the last decade, school districts there had
narrowed the gap between White and Hispanic students regarding high school graduation rates
and college attendance. However, after natural disasters there, both rates declined for Hispanic
students in the county. Additionally, participants in some interviews said their low-income
students often lacked internet access and had difficulty accessing online education during the
pandemic. As a result, these students may have missed instruction time available to their peers
with access.
Staff Burnout
Participants in nearly all of our interviews with local
education officials suggested that the work of responding “The biggest issue is that you can never have
confidence from a safety and security
to and recovering from consecutive disasters contributed perspective. The challenge rolls into the next
to staff burnout. Hawaii officials explained that challenge.”
consecutive disasters—the 2018 eruption of the Source: Superintendent in Hawaii
Kilauea volcano, followed by Hurricane Lane, and then
COVID-19 in 2020—meant that leadership never had time to “catch their breath,” or experience
a sense of security. Some local education officials noted that educators spent their energy
leading and supporting students through recovery, while also having to manage the stress of
their own recoveries. For example, Florida officials emphasized that like students, many
educators lost their homes and personal belongings during Hurricane Michael, and needed time
after school re-opened to fix their homes and procure
“We learned the hard way that expecting needed goods.
administrators to continue to focus on the
‘normal day-to-day business of doing school,’ Participants in some interviews with local education
while rebuilding a district at the same time is leaders explained having school staff manage disaster
too much, even for the most organized and
dedicated of team members. It is a recipe for recovery tasks, such as coordinating state and federal
burnout.” support, while fulfilling their primary duties was not
Source: Recovery subject matter expert supporting schools
in disaster-affected states
feasible. Accordingly, some said that hiring additional staff
would aid with recovery, such as staff with subject matter
expertise in disaster management or federal grant processes. Burnout has become a concern
as local education officials work to balance the demands of educating students with responding
to the challenges of COVID-19.
Recovery Projects Delayed
Participants in some interviews with local education officials provided examples of how the
COVID-19 pandemic slowed progress on disaster recovery projects. For example, officials in
one district said that the pandemic made it difficult to spend grant money on supplemental
Page 5 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
mental health services because hiring new staff became difficult. Similarly, an official in another
district said that the pandemic delayed efforts to restore running water to school buildings
damaged by a wildfire. He noted that running water would be especially important for
handwashing hygiene when schools physically re-open (see fig. 2).
Figure 2. School Water System Damaged by the Camp Fire in 2018
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands officials said some school construction projects
were delayed during the pandemic, as one of the contractors had to shift focus to setting up
quarantine facilities. Moreover, the district had to furlough maintenance and repair staff due to
pandemic-related budget cuts. After Super Typhoon Yutu, numerous school buildings needed
repair, and some students were still attending classes in tents as of July 2020 (see fig. 3).
Education officials also said that some district services funded with Restart grants, such as
mental health services for students, were delayed as a result of the pandemic. Officials
explained that these delays have arisen because these services were provided at the physical
school buildings and districts needed to shift their focus to responding to COVID-19 instead of
natural disaster recovery. 13
13Education officials specifically identified districts in California, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
Florida, and Puerto Rico as needing to delay federally-funded recovery efforts because of the pandemic.
Page 6 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
Figure 3. Attending Class in Temporary Tents after Super Typhoon Yutu
Financial Strain
Participants in some of our interviews with local education officials said that the pandemic-
related recession would reduce their budgets. At the same time, others noted that the pandemic
led them to increase spending on operating costs, such as cleaning school facilities.
Participants in nearly all of our interviews said that they were still recovering financially from the
costs associated with recent natural disasters. For example, California and Florida officials said
their districts were still operating in a financial deficit. They explained that, after their disaster,
they spent millions of dollars to resume educating students and reopening schools. In some
cases, districts lacked necessary funding to make repairs, and in others, their costs were not
reimbursed by insurance or state and federal governments. For example, Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands officials said they did not have the financial resources upfront to make
critical building repairs and had to wait to see whether they would be granted federal funding
before proceeding.
Local education officials also explained how recent natural disasters created other types of
budgetary challenges for their districts. Officials in California, Florida, and Hawaii said that
because so many families moved away from the community after the disaster, the districts’
student enrollment counts dropped, resulting in a loss of state and federal funding. A local
education official in Hawaii said that when a school loses 100 students, the school is no longer
able to offer certain enrichment activities like sports and clubs. In addition to revenue lost from
reduced enrollment, districts struck by natural disasters can have their budgets reduced when
local tax bases shrink. For example, a California official said that districts in his county
experienced financial pressure because income and property tax revenues declined after
disasters there. This official noted that a pandemic-related recession will further reduce the
budgets of these districts for the same reason. Similarly, a Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands official said that the district’s budget was cut by about half mid-way through the
school year since the pandemic depressed tourism-related revenue.
Page 7 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
Education Has Provided Ongoing Support to Disaster Grantees, but COVID-19 Has
Complicated Education’s Efforts to Identify Technical Assistance Needs
Education awarded nearly $1.4 billion to assist schools in over 30 states and U.S. territories with
recovery from presidentially-declared major disasters occurring between 2017 and 2019.
Education provided this funding through grant programs including Restart and Project SERV
(see enc. I). 14 Local education officials from several districts or counties told us that they are
using or planning to use Education disaster grants to provide mental health services to students
and cover other costs associated with re-opening, such as additional transportation services.
Several districts have transitioned their grant-funded mental health services online as a result of
the pandemic-related school closures, according to Education and local officials. One local
education official said that without the Education disaster grants, his district’s schools would not
have been able to re-open after a major natural disaster.
Education officials told us they paused on-site monitoring efforts for recent disaster grants as a
result of inability to travel and changes in workload during the COVID-19 pandemic, but
continue to monitor grantees virtually. According to Education officials, previous on-site visits
helped them identify grantees’ technical assistance needs. Due to the pause in visits, they said
they do not have feedback from grantees on how well these grants are currently meeting
schools’ needs and the areas where technical assistance may be necessary. Education officials
told us they have begun virtual monitoring visits and have several more planned for the fall of
2020, where they plan to ask grantees about their needs. They also said they continued to hold
quarterly phone calls with Restart grantees, who have noted some challenges related to the
program, but have not discussed specific technical assistance needs. 15
Local education officials told us that using Education’s disaster funds during the COVID-19
pandemic was challenging in some cases. Officials in two counties said that timeframes for
using funds under the Restart program, which expire after 2 years, were too short for long-term
mental health services, particularly now with the compounding effects of the pandemic. 16
Moreover, officials in one of these counties explained that, due to challenges with using grant
funds while schools were closed because of COVID-19, they would have a more compressed
timeline for using their Restart funding before it expires. Education officials said grantees may
request that the end dates of these grants be extended. 17 Education officials said that no
Restart grantees who experienced a 2018 presidentially-declared major disaster had requested
14These disaster grant programs have generally been funded through supplemental appropriations. For example,
supplemental appropriations to fund recovery grants for 2018 and 2019 presidentially-declared major disasters were
authorized in June 2019. Pub. L. No. 116-20, 133 Stat. at 891.
15In addition to supporting grantees through regular calls, Education has also responded to their needs during the
pandemic by issuing extensions for grantees’ quarterly and annual disaster grant reports.
16Grantees receiving funds through the Restart, Project SERV, and certain other grant programs are generally
required to expend funds within a maximum of 24-months following Education’s obligation of funds unless the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget waives this requirement and submits a written justification for such
waiver to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate. See Additional
Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act of 2017, Pub. L. No. 115-72, § 305, 131 Stat.
1224, 1228 (as amended by Pub. L. No. 115-123, § 21208(a), 132 Stat. at 108). While these grant funds must
generally be expended within 24-months, some Project SERV grants may have shorter grant award periods,
according to Education.
17According to Education officials, Education submits such requests to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for approval.
Page 8 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
an extension as of October 2020. 18 Prior to the onset of the pandemic, OMB noted in a waiver
approval letter for recent disaster grants that some recovery activities are long-term by design,
and it is impracticable to expend funds within the 24-month period and achieve program
missions. Interruptions in the ability to implement recovery programs during the COVID-19
pandemic may exacerbate these timing issues.
Education disaster grants–such as Restart–can only be used for services related to specific
disasters, which local education officials said has been challenging because of overwhelming
needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some local officials said that the available grant
funding did not align with their current needs during the pandemic. For example, a local official
was unsure whether providing mental health services to students related to challenges arising
from COVID-19 would be an allowable cost under their grant if those services were provided to
the entire student body, rather than only to students impacted by their natural disaster. Officials
in another county said they wanted to use funds to deliver meals to students over the summer
because of food insecurity caused by the pandemic, but they were unable to do so because that
expense would not be tied to their natural disaster. Further complicating use of disaster funds
during the pandemic, several local education officials whose districts experienced natural
disasters in 2018 said their districts received Restart grant funding in the spring or summer of
2020, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the difficulties school communities are
facing in making progress recovering from recent natural disasters, and grantees’ concerns
about lack of clarity regarding how to use their disaster funding during the unprecedented
pandemic, we will continue to monitor federal actions as affected schools work to recover from
both natural disasters and the pandemic.
Agency Comments
We provided a copy of this draft report to Education for review and comment. Education
provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. We are sending copies of
this report to the appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of Education, and other
interested parties. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the GAO website at
http://www.gao.gov.
-----
If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact Jacqueline M. Nowicki
at (617) 788-0580 or nowickij@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional
Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made
key contributions to this report are listed in enclosure II.
Jacqueline M. Nowicki, Director,
Education, Workforce and Income Security
Enclosures – 2
18These Restart grants were awarded in December 2019, and several local-level grantees told us they received their
grant funds in the spring or summer of 2020.
Page 9 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
List of Committees
The Honorable Lamar Alexander
Chairman
The Honorable Patty Murray
Ranking Member
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
United States Senate
The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito
Chairman
The Honorable Jon Tester
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
The Honorable Roy Blunt
Chairman
The Honorable Patty Murray
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
The Honorable Robert C. “Bobby” Scott
Chairman
The Honorable Virginia Foxx
Ranking Member
Committee on Education and Labor
House of Representatives
The Honorable Lucille Roybal-Allard
Chairwoman
The Honorable Chuck Fleischmann
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Chairwoman
The Honorable Tom Cole
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Page 10 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
Enclosure I: Relevant U.S. Department of Education Grants for Recovery from Natural
Disasters
Table 1: U.S. Department of Education Grant Programs Supporting K-12 School Recovery from
Presidentially-Declared Major Disasters
Grant awards
Grant awards for for 2018-2019
Grant Description 2017 disasters disasters
Immediate Aid to Funds expenses related to restarting $791.1 million $99.8 million
Restart School school operations after a covered disaster
Operations or emergency. Examples of allowable
expenses include replacing district
information systems and instructional
materials, reasonable transportation costs,
and initiating and maintaining education
and support services, such as counseling
services.
Project School Funds services to help restore the learning $8.0 milliona $7.0 million
Emergency environment after violent or traumatic
Response to events, including natural disasters.
Violence
Assistance for Funds expenses for the educational and $25.0 millionb N/Ac
Homeless Children related needs of homeless children and
and Youth youth displaced by a covered disaster or
emergency. Allowable expenses include
evaluation of student needs, provision of
tutoring and supplemental instruction, and
professional development for staff to better
meet the needs of homeless children and
youth.
Temporary Funds expenses for educating students $438.8 milliond $22.4 millione
Emergency Impact who were displaced by a covered disaster
Aid for Displaced or emergency. Allowable expenses include
Students providing academic, counseling, and
transportation services for students,
acquiring educational materials and mobile
educational units, and paying the salaries
of school personnel.
Source: GAO analysis of information from the U.S. Department of Education (Education) and relevant federal laws.
Note: Award amounts rounded to the nearest decimal place.
aIncludes $5 million that states did not use. Education officials said they are in the process of de-obligating these funds.
bIncludes $109,769 that states did not use. Education officials said they are in the process of de-obligating these funds.
cNot applicable. There were no grant awards under this program for 2018-2019 disasters.
dIncludes $79 million that states did not use as a result of downward adjustments of student counts eligible for these funds.
Education officials said they are in the process of de-obligating these funds.
eIncludes $433,375 that states did use as a result of downward adjustments of student counts eligible for these funds. Education
officials said they are in the process of de-obligating these funds.
Page 11 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
Enclosure II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
GAO Contact: Jacqueline M. Nowicki at (617) 788-0580 or nowickij@gao.gov
Staff Acknowledgements: In addition to the contact name above, Scott Spicer (Assistant
Director), Amy Moran Lowe (Analyst-in-Charge), Morgan Jones, Bill MacBlane, and Liam
O’Laughlin made key contributions to this report. Also contributing were Joel Aldape, Aditi
Archer, James Bennett, Elizabeth Calderon, Alison Grantham, Flavio Martinez, Sheila R.
McCoy, Jean McSween, Stacy Ouellette, Barbara Patterson, Ellen Phelps Ranen, Almeta
Spencer, and Matthew Valenta.
(103855)
Page 12 GAO-21-62R Disaster Recovery in K-12 Schools
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