Advancing K–12 and Higher Education Recovery in California Following Severe Late Winter Storms

Impact

• Established a cross-sector education recovery workgroup to address school and higher education recovery needs, including FEMA Public Assistance navigation, federal education resources, and philanthropic support.

• Supported impacted school districts in securing three U.S. Department of Education Project SERV grants totaling nearly $300,000.

• Delivered technical assistance to K–12 schools and institutions of higher education on recovery funding, operational continuity, and educational delivery challenges.

• Strengthened coordination among state, federal, and local partners to address infrastructure, staffing, transportation, and student support needs.

• Expanded peer-to-peer recovery planning by connecting California education partners with promising practices from prior disaster recovery efforts.

Background

California’s severe late winter storms caused widespread damage to homes, infrastructure, and communities, with major flooding, historic snowfall, and nine known fatalities. The disaster significantly disrupted K–12 schools and higher education institutions through closures, power outages, transportation barriers, and facility damage. These impacts strained families, educators, and students while limited staffing and capacity hindered schools’ ability to access recovery resources and maintain continuity of learning.

Recovery

Through coordinated recovery support, education partners advanced a set of targeted strategies to stabilize operations, restore the learning environment, and strengthen long-term resilience across K–12 and higher education systems.

• The Interagency Recovery Coordination structure convened an education-focused workgroup that brought together state and federal Health and Social Services partners, the Infrastructure Recovery Support Function, FEMA Public Assistance staff, and FEMA’s Children’s Advisor. The workgroup provided cross-cutting technical assistance to impacted schools on navigating FEMA Public Assistance, elevating operational challenges through the U.S. Department of Education, and identifying philanthropic resources.

•  Impacted school districts joined Project SERV technical assistance sessions and secured three grant awards totaling nearly $300,000. The grants supported mental health services, health care services, teaching capacity, staff transportation, sandbags, flood-related corrective actions, fencing and playground safety measures, and other activities to improve school safety and restore the learning environment.

• Federal partners conducted onsite visits in Santa Cruz and Tulare counties to provide institutions of higher education with direct technical assistance on Project SERV opportunities and Title IV waivers and flexibilities.

• Recovery partners drew on lessons from a previous flooding recovery mission to foster peer-to-peer engagement with California institutions. These exchanges identified strategies to organize students for future recovery efforts, expand the use of near-graduation social work students in paraprofessional behavioral health roles, and create new academic pathways aligned with local workforce needs and emerging economic opportunities.