U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that South Carolina is among 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands that will receive new federal assistance funding under the Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program (Emergency Impact Aid). South Carolina will receive $304,000 of the $359.8 million total. The program assists with the cost of educating students displaced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria or the 2017 California wildfires. 

“The impact of natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires goes beyond the disaster area. The effects are felt nationwide, especially in those communities that take in displaced students and families,” said Secretary DeVos. “This additional funding will ensure schools serving displaced students are able to meet their unique needs under such difficult circumstances.”

Five South Carolina school districts reported to the South Carolina Department of Education that students were displaced under the Temporary Emergency Impact Aid guidelines. These five districts are Colleton, Beaufort, Anderson 5, York 3 (Rock Hill), and Clarendon 1. Exact distribution amounts of the state total of $304,000 will be forthcoming.

Under the Emergency Impact Aid program, the U.S. Department of Education is authorized to award funds to eligible state educational agencies (SEAs) to enable them to make payments to eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) and eligible Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools for the cost of educating during the 2017-2018 school year public and non-public school students displaced by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, or the 2017 California wildfires.

These awards were made based on the quarterly counts of displaced students that are included in the SEA applications for Emergency Impact Aid. The statute specifies that the annual per-pupil amounts shall be the sum of $9,000 for each displaced student who is an English learner, $10,000 for each displaced student who is a child with a disability; and $8,500 for each student who is not reported as a child with a disability or an English learner.

Congress appropriated a combined amount of approximately $2.5 billion for Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) and Emergency Impact Aid programs. The amounts awarded under each program are based on demand and specific data received from eligible applicants.