Shelby County Schools have some extra funds in their coffer to help offset the cost of serving children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

According to media reports, the State Department of Education recently sent the first installment of $30 million in federal aid for teaching those students.

Schools were to receive $6,000 for each general education student and $7,500 for each special education student.

The funds released represent half that expected for the first quarter.

School Superintendent Evan Major said Shelby County Schools received $183,187.50 and distributed another $6,000 to a couple of private schools in the county for displaced Katrina students.

The total amount

received by the county school system was $189,187.50.

Shelby County served 238 regular education students and five special education students who were displaced by last year&8217;s Hurricane Katrina. That was the second highest number of students received by schools in Alabama.

Major said the funds received through the federal government would help offset some of the expenses the school system incurred for desks, books and teachers.

Leah Anne Lowe, federal program area specialist, said Shelby County was actually paid for 243 students in the county school system plus eight students in private schools.

And the money the county schools distributed to private schools was for those eight students.

But the numbers are dropping, according to Lowe.

She said by Nov. 21, there were just 192 displaced Katrina students still in the county school system and eight in private schools.

By Jan. 23, she said, the number in county schools had dropped to 139 while the number in private schools fell to six.

She said the next count will be taken at the end of April