Who is responsible for this KATRINA calamity?
• Only 2 percent of the federal government’s hurricane-related funding went toward education recovery.
• The costs of hurricane destruction in K-12 and higher education were estimated at .2 billion, but only .2 billion in federal funding had been committed to restoring physical structures and property. Some rebuilding funds have come from the local and state levels and insurance, but several projects are unfinished.
• Displaced students re-enrolled in schools in 49 states, but a lack of adequate federal funding meant that schools with the greatest number of displaced students had insufficient classrooms, staff and supplies to support them. The report found that as many as 15,000 K-12 public school students and 35,000 college students in Louisiana and Mississippi missed school last year due to lingering problems associated with Katrina.
• Nearly one out of every six students in Louisiana’s public colleges and universities dropped out for the 2005-06 school year. In the 2006-07 school year, more than 26,000 students from Louisiana public colleges and almost 9,000 Mississippi college students remained out of school.
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28 comments
Beau D. Satva on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I can answer this in one letter: Dubya.
piratecaptainkyle on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Mother nature, and all the people that decided it would be a good idea to stay home in New Orleans and other affected areas.
buddhist_20 on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Well…mother nature is responsible for the hurricane.
We can only spread already low funds so thin. As sad as that is.
Daniel on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Our stupid politicians – democrats and republicans alike – ALL of them
soperson on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
i hear mississippi got more fed money than louisiana even though the latter suffered much more damage.
carlmax on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Well I guess you have pretty much already figured it all out.
ROB on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I SAY THE HURRICANE ITSELF
wild_wister on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
there is no one to blame. it was nature being nature.
Kevin B on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I would say the hurricane, and the people that should have left when they were told to. I also agree the state and locla governement were also a part of it as well as the federal government who everyone seems to only blame.
it’s sad that people like Beau above me are sick in the head enough to politicize a disaster, and for what to make another party try to look bad, when it was both parties involved, and many non political factors too.
pat from ohio on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Public schools receive most of their funding from the state, not the federal government.
Carla W on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
It was Mother Natures fault for Katrina, and the persons who wanted to stay in the places that were being evacuated.
Jeff C on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
if you believe in God – blame him. And blame builders, city/state officials for hundreds of years in New Orleans who build most of their city below the level of a giant river.
nurdee on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
clinton… he should have seen it coming and done something about it then… what could bush have done? fix the levy’s? deliver the trailers on time? evacuate the people? clean up the mess? please… he needs his vacation time like the rest of us
bdgizzy on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Maybe you should ask the politicians this question. You would never get a direct answer.
GIVRO on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Protocol mandates that the local government call in the federal government for assistance.
Louisiana’s Governor and the Mayor of NO should have been prostituted for negligence.
Lillian on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
6.2 was inflated and they know it. In reality 2% is 2.3 billion. That is a huge chunk of change. The hurricane caused the calamity in Mississsippi and Alabama. The corruptions of Louisiana politicians caused the calamity in New Orleans.
Ninja Rabbit 007 on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
The state and local governments!
Robert P on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
“Who is responsible for this KATRINA calamity?” Mother Nature!
Question is… who’s fault will it become when it happens again?
Fool me once, shame on you… fool me twice, shame on me.
“It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!!!”
friskygimp on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
we all are. if everyday people were concerned and demanded more from our "leaders" and politicians then rebuilding would have happened.
Alyssa on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I thought the idea was to vote for less government. Well they got it and they haven’t even made these big insurance companies pay off. Yet, they showed record profits this year.
So who is for big businesses? I mean the oil companies made record profits also. did anyone see gas prices coming down?
Shaneladd on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
The people of New Orlean, their corrupt government, and the government of LA deserve most of the blame. They knew a category 3 or higher hurricane would cause devestation to their city and they did not properly prepare for Katrina. Why should the entire US population have to bail out these foolish people? Whatever happened to personal responsibility and taking care of yourself?
Westhill on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Conservatives who have an agenda NOT to provide housing and schools for certain citizens of New Orleans are mainly to blame. There’s a reason why Nagin said in September, 2005, "this will stay a chocolate city"; he knew and he sensed the plan. He was wrong about winning though.
whyareyouaPOSER on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Mother Nature but in the aftermath the idiot savant Ray Nagin played a large roll in the cluster F.
D.A. S on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Mother Nature brought Katrina.
The Democratic Governor and Democratic Mayor of New Orleans brought about the havoc. Even though Bush was blamed, state law mandates that state officials make the call. Of course all I heard were these two officials blaming everybody else. I thought Bush proved to be the "bigger" person even talking to them.
lana_sands on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
1. Ok, so 2% went to Education. School Funding is a state& local issue. So now the USA should pickup the tab?
2. Tell the schools to join the club. Many others have the same issue. On the bright side? They have fewer students & thus need for fewer Facilities can make class sizes smaller( that’s what teachers are always asking for?).
3. They will make it up. The Schools they left were crappy anyway….
4. Nobody is stopping them from transfering to another school. America has plenty to choose from…
patsfan on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
FEMA, bush, the government. theyre to worried about the middle east. they just gave $25 billion to Israel to make them happy because we gave $25 billion dollars worth or weapons to Saudi Arabia (just the country were 80% of the 9/11 hyjackers were from) but atleast our government will be there when our roads crumble, our biridges collapes, or a city gets whiped out by a hurricane. well nvm that last statement they havent done anything like that. dose anyone else feel like America dosent matter??????
lilly4 on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
there was plenty of blame to go around especially with regard to the poor performances of Ray Nagin who failed to evacuate his people and Governor Blanco who failed to issue states of emergency and request federal assistance, necessary steps to get federal help (state’s rights and all). No one in the media ever pointed these little tidbits out. None of them faulted state politicians for failing to do their parts. Instead, it was all placed on George Bush who the liberals felt should have put on a red cape and swooped in to save the day.
Butterbar Bob on May 23, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Here are all the questions that popped up when I read the scant information contained in the question:
- Is it the federal government’s foot-dragging or is it the failure of the people requesting the money?
- What is the federal law regarding these rebuilding monies?
- Are there any legal roadblocks to these state agencies getting federal monies?
- Are other states experiencing the same or similar problems? If not, what is different?
- Is the federal government the one responsible for determining where the relief money goes, or is that division the responsibility of the requester?