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Private school administrators are trying to get on an equal footing with public schools when it comes to qualifying for money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace buildings and school materials damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Public schools and universities can apply directly to FEMA for grants to rebuild their facilities and replace damaged furniture, equipment, and textbooks. By contrast, private nonprofit K-12 schools and universities must take the extra step of first applying to the U.S. Small Business Administration for a disaster loan before they can ask FEMA for a grant.
Private schools can get loans of up to $1.5 million, at an interest rate of 4 percent, from the SBA if they are deemed capable of repaying them. If a private school is denied a loan or the loan doesn't cover the cost of eligible expenses for repairs after insurance, then the school is eligible for a grant from FEMA to pay for the same kinds of expenses that the agency covers for public schools.
"I think [private schools] ought to be given better consideration than we've been given," said Mike Ladner, the superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Biloxi, Miss., which had five schools destroyed and six others damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The school system enrolled 4,500 students in 18 schools before the hurricane struck the Gulf Coast in late August.
It doesn't seem right, said Mr. Ladner, that some private nonprofit organizations, such as hospitals or those providing water or sewage services, have the same standing as their public counterparts in applying for repair grants from FEMA because they're classified by law as providing "critical services."
The law says private schools offer "noncritical services." Mr. Ladner believes...