[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 36 (Monday, September 12, 2005)]
[Pages 1358-1359]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Efforts To Assist Students and School Districts Displaced by 
Hurricane Katrina

September 6, 2005

    The President. Laura and I just had a good visit with Secretary of 
Education Spellings and her team about the--about the school children 
who have been displaced because of Hurricane Katrina. You know, this is 
a time when a lot of families are looking forward to sending their child 
back to school, and their children are excited about school. But a lot 
of those dreams and a lot of that excitement has been upset for a lot of 
students because of the storm.
    Yesterday we went to a shelter in Baton Rouge and met a lot of 
little kids, many of whom are starting school in Baton Rouge. And it's 
indicative of what's taking place

[[Page 1359]]

across the country. A lot of school districts are taking in these 
children who have had to leave their homes and their local districts. 
And we want to thank the schools and the school districts and the 
teachers and the PTAs for reaching out and doing their duty.
    We spent time talking about how to help States absorb the costs. And 
Margaret is working on a plan that we'll announce to the country after a 
while. The other thing that--and by the way, they're going to set up a 
web page tomorrow that will enable people from around the country to be 
able to access the Department of Education web page to determine how 
they can help these school districts that are bringing in the new 
students.
    As well, yesterday, when Laura and I were in Mississippi, I ran into 
a young pharmacy student that had been going to Xavier in New Orleans. 
And Xavier is one of our great universities, and she was so excited 
about going to school and had to come back home because of the 
hurricane. And she was concerned and worried.
    One of the things that people can be assured of is that, one, we're 
reaching out to other universities to encourage them to accept students, 
and many are. And we will--there will be loan forbearance and loan 
extensions. In other words, the Department of Education will help those 
who have--are dependent upon student loans, will help them be able to 
finance their education, will help them--if they're not going to go back 
to school--and we hope they do, but if they choose not to, there will be 
a loan forbearance. In other words, this Education Department of ours is 
going to be flexible.
    I'm confident that this Government of ours will be able to help the 
local school districts, and I'm confident that the local school 
districts will still want to maintain a high standard of excellence and 
make sure every child learns to read and write and add and subtract.
    Laura is going down to DeSoto County, Mississippi, to comfort the 
folks there and to let them know the Federal Government is aware of the 
problems when it comes to education and that we will step up and assume 
our responsibility to make sure every single child in this country gets 
a good education.
    And again, I want to thank the local school districts all around the 
country who are making extraordinary efforts to make sure that the 
children who have been upset by this hurricane are able to find some 
comfort and some solace in the midst of their anguish by being able to 
go to a school.
    Thank you all.
    Q. Can you take a question on energy, sir?
    Q. When is the First Lady going, sir?
    The President. Thursday.

Note: The President spoke at 2:04 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.