France coming to aid of Louisiana schools

Thu Jan 19 15:24:37 UTC 2006

France coming to aid of Louisiana schools

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The French government is planning to
allocate $431,000 to Louisiana schools as part of a program to help the
state recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The local French consulate said $151,000 will go to three New Orleans
schools with special French-language programs that have reopened or will
reopen in the next few weeks, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The
three are Audubon Charter School, the International School of Louisiana
and Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orleans. Another $280,000 will go to
other Louisiana schools. The money --$100 per enrolled student-- can be
used for facilities, educational equipment, teaching materials, books,
software or other purposes, the newspaper said.

The French consulate said France has been involved for many years with
efforts to promote teaching of French in Louisiana schools.