Hurricane Florence: $ 25 Million Sent to Repair Damaged Schools



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Governor Roy Cooper announced Monday that he would send $ 25 million from the Lottery Fund for Education in North Carolina to speed up repairs in K-12 schools damaged by Hurricane Florence.

Florence damaged schools across the state last month. Cooper said Monday that several school districts were still closed, leaving more than 130 schools serving nearly 90,000 people out of class. According to Cooper, the lottery funds will be useful because the affected school districts have used most of their contingency funds and need immediate help to repair roofs, flooring and electrical wiring. , to eradicate mildew and replace the furniture to allow the reopening of schools.

"Students need to resume learning and teaching, teaching, but many school districts can not afford the repairs they need," Cooper said in a press release. "The lives of thousands of students, teachers and families are unresolved and they need our help to recover."

Cooper said the emergency funds would be managed by the state 's Department of Public Instruction. He indicated that priority would be given to District Schools and County Schools in Brunswick, Craven, Duplin, Jones, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and Robeson, which have immediate repair needs and are not yet operational. .

Cooper said some of the repairs should be repayable by federal disaster recovery funds. The money transfer now gives schools faster help and allows them to hire contractors to speed up repairs, according to Cooper.

Last week, Eileen Townsend, section head of the school insurance fund at DPI, said that $ 40 million had been reserved for processing claims still pending. She said that this amount was greater than the 14 million losses following Hurricane Matthew in 2016 because of wind and flood damage in Florence.

Last week, legislators approved a bipartite emergency relief act to deal with the storm. Legislators have said that they will meet the needs of schools as soon as new information becomes available.

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