La. officials say federal money lacks teacher pay

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Louisiana officials on
Saturday said a $2.6 billion aid package for schools affected
by Hurricane Katrina does not appear to include salaries for
displaced teachers, one of the state’s primary educational
requests.

Officials of the restructuring firm that runs the New
Orleans school system have said they are out of money to pay
teachers for any periods after Katrina. Cecil Picard, the state
superintendent of public instruction, said this week he would
seek $2.4 billion for teacher salaries and benefits alone.

But state officials said the $2.6 billion package from the
U.S. Department of Education will largely go to functioning
school districts that have received displaced students.

“Picard did express concern that as he interprets the
proposal it does not currently include money for displaced
teacher salaries,” the state said.

Officials from the Education Department in Washington could
not immediately be reached for comment.

Louisiana has 186,000 displaced students from kindergarten
through the 12th grade and 25,000 displaced school employees.
Already, other districts in the state have enrolled more than
20,000 displaced children.

Districts will get 90 percent of what the state usually
allocates per pupil, up to $7,500 per student. That was in line
with a call by U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday for
funding for districts that took in displaced students.