08-27-2026 Gov. Braun’s Disaster Recovery Efforts Continue With a Focus on Schools and Students

Gov. Braun's Disaster Recovery Efforts Continue With a Focus on Schools and Students

INDIANAPOLIS - As storm recovery continues across portions of the state and schools reopen their doors, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun is mobilizing dedicated support teams to provide expertise and guidance focused on student learning.

This is one part of the state's ongoing response and recovery efforts following the significant weather that recently affected large portions of Indiana. On Tuesday, Gov. Braun announced the approval of a major disaster declaration by President Donald Trump through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"As schools in our most severely impacted areas reopen, our focus now includes academic recovery," said Gov. Braun. "We know that what a student learns today impacts what they can learn and achieve tomorrow. By working side-by-side with our schools and communities to find the solution that works best for them, our goal is to recover as much lost instructional time as possible so that students get the support they need to stay on track."

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security and Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) collaborated to identify districts located in counties with a local disaster declaration and provided direct outreach and information sessions. The education team also worked with schools to offer grab-and-go meals during closures and visited Northwest Indiana to see the devastating impacts on school communities to inform ongoing collaboration and support.

While reopening schools is the first step, schools will need ongoing support as recovery efforts continue. Indiana is deploying the following additional supports, specific to education:

• Recovering Lost Instructional Time - Many schools in the areas hit hardest by storms lost days of instruction and learning. This loss can have lasting impacts on academic growth, particularly for students who need additional support in key areas like reading and math. To ensure students get that time back in the classroom, IDOE is working directly with school corporations to develop plans to recover meaningful instructional time while minimizing additional disruption for students, educators and families. These solutions will look different for every school corporation and may include using already built-in make-up days, adding days during scheduled breaks or professional development days, or extending the school day with more time focused on learning. Impacted school corporations will submit their plans by Sept. 18 and, once submitted, IDOE will review those plans with urgency to provide clarity to parents and families as quickly as possible.
• Supporting Displaced Students and Families - With many families and students still displaced by the storms, the federal McKinney-Vento Act guarantees homeless and displaced students have continued access to education, and support related to enrolling, attending, and thriving in school. This includes students temporarily living in someone else's home due to loss of housing, as well as students living in emergency or transitional shelters. As this need grows due to the recent storms, Indiana will open a grant opportunity to make additional funding available to schools, helping them support displaced students with food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.
• Providing Individualized Support by District - IDOE is making specialized teams of experts available to provide one-on-one guidance and support to school districts. As active partners in both the immediate return to school and each corporation's longer-term goals for students, these teams will ensure that school districts have action plans that are best suited for their unique situation and the needs of their students, faculty, staff and families.

Gov. Braun has made available every federal, state, and local resource to help storm-impacted Hoosiers, including students, families and school districts, recover.

On Wednesday, Gov. Braun announced a new texting tool impacted Hoosiers can use to find disaster recovery resources available in their communities. Through Indiana 211, residents can now text IN211HELP to 898-211 to get started. The 24/7 service will prompt users to select the type of assistance they need and will provide a list of disaster-specific resources based on their entered zip code.

Additionally, the Governor's major disaster declaration approved by President Trump frees up funding to help individuals and public facilities, such as storm-damaged schools, recover.

Hoosiers who live in the following counties may apply for individual assistance by visiting disasterassistance.gov : Carroll, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Lake, LaPorte, Madison, Marion, Morgan, Porter, Pulaski, Randolph, Rush, Tipton, Union, and Wayne Counties.

Leaders in the following counties may apply for public assistance: Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hamilton, Henry, Lake, LaPorte, Madison, Porter, Tipton, and Wayne Counties

More information and resources available to Hoosiers can be found on Governor Mike Braun's website here.

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