Students in high-poverty areas face additional, compounding obstacles to education following extreme weather disasters, a new Government Accountability Office report finds. Schools in low-income areas face disproportionate barriers to recovering from major disasters like hurricanes. “Socially vulnerable groups are more likely to attend under-resourced and poorly maintained schools,” according to a subject matter excerpt cited in the report. “In turn [those school districts] are more likely to suffer extensive damage due to disasters, causing extended school closures and student displacements.” Climate change, primarily caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making extreme disasters like hurricanes and wildfires worse and more frequent. (ABC, The Hill; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Wildfires)
