{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dent.house.gov/2017/12/dent-local-school-districts-need-aid-to-help-provide-for-displaced-puerto-rican-students", "Dent: Local School Districts Need Aid to Help Provide for Displaced Puerto Rican Students", "2017-12-08", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Charlie Dent", "D000604", "dent.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. -\u00a0Representative Charlie Dent (PA-15) joined with his colleague, Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-16), to bring attention and aid to the costs facing local school districts dealing with the substantial influx of Puerto Rican students displaced by Hurricane Maria. Representatives Dent and Smucker wrote to Speaker Ryan and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling for additional disaster funding for these school districts.\r\n\u201cWe have to recognize that the children impacted have been through an unbelievable amount of stress and they need help,\u201d said Rep. Dent. \u201cMany have emotional issues as a result of having to deal with the disaster of losing their family homes. They need to develop their fluency in English and are facing adapting to a new school environment. The schools are doing amazing work providing for them and meeting their educational needs, but the schools themselves need additional support,\u201d Dent concluded.\u00a0\r\nThe Allentown School District has enrolled over 200 new students from Puerto Rico students since the hurricane. Bethlehem Area School District has now accepted over 100 students. Rep. Smucker\u2019s district has enrolled over 500 new students.\r\nDent and Smucker praised the financial response by the Federal government thus far to the disaster, but called for action on this issue. \u201cThese districts are facing financial challenges in order to help these new students. The Federal government should provide the supplemental disaster relief funding necessary to help alleviate the financial pressure on them and that\u2019s why we raised the issue with House leadership,\u201d said Dent.\r\n***\r\nCONTACT: Shawn Millan (610) 770-3490", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dent.house.gov/2017/12/dent-local-school-districts-need-aid-to-help-provide-for-displaced-puerto-rican-students"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8168199565261602, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}