State Superintendent Thurmond Announces Federal Emergency Grants for Schools and Students Impacted by 2018 Wildfires and Emergency Incidents

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that the California Department of Education (CDE) will receive more than $21 million in federal disaster recovery grants to help students and schools impacted by wildfires and related events in 2018.

“We are thankful for the federal assistance and grateful for the hard work by our educators in pursuing and securing this additional support for our students,” said Thurmond.

The 2019 Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program will fund $16.5 million of the awarded grants. The CDE will distribute Restart funding to California local educational agencies (LEAs) to assist with expenses related to the restart of school operations following 2018 disasters, including the Carr Fire and Camp Fire. Eligible expenses include school operational needs as well as education and support services, such as hiring additional staff to provide behavioral or counseling services for students and staff.

The 2019 Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students (EIA) grant will fund the remaining $4.5 million to reimburse LEAs for educating students who were displaced as a result of an eligible disaster or emergency.

The U.S. Department of Education awards these grants to state education agencies, which then distribute the funds to local school districts and nonpublic schools. The CDE worked closely with affected LEAs and nonpublic schools to identify the scope of California’s Restart and EIA funding requests this fall.

More information about LEA resources related to response and recovery associated with natural disasters and emergency incidents can be found on the CDE School Disaster Recovery web page.

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100