Giving Compass' Take:

• The Department of Education is awarding school districts grant money for accepting students that were displaced by natural disasters, with additional financial support for those who are English learners and students with disabilities. 

• How can philanthropists collaborate with schools to offer more additional support systems for students' families?

• Read about the efforts to help educate children displaced in Houston while they were living in shelters.

School districts across the country educating students displaced by natural disasters last fall can now apply for federal funds to help defray the cost of the unexpected enrollment surge. That includes funding for districts that accepted students displaced by wildfires in California, as well as hurricanes in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Texas.

Last week the U.S. Department of Education announced the application process for federal grants to assist affected schools.

Under the program, affected schools will receive $8,500 for every displaced student they’ve enrolled during the 2017–18 school year. Additional funding will be given to support students with greater needs: $9,000 for each English language learner and $10,000 per student with disabilities.

The emergency impact aid for displaced students is earmarked for districts that enrolled displaced students from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the U.S. territories last September, as well as those that enrolled Texas students after Hurricane Harvey struck the state in late August.

Read the full article about aid for displaced students by Mark Keierleber at Home |The 74