NATCHEZ &8212; The race to file for federal hurricane reimbursement money was on at all local schools Tuesday.

Evacuee counts from public, private and parochial schools for the first two quarters are due today, and everybody wants their money.

About 470 evacuee students are still enrolled in Miss-Lou schools, a number down from close to 1,500 at one point.

Numbers peaked in October, and dropped steadily as Christmas approached.

As of Jan. 6 the Natchez-Adams district had 239 evacuees. As of Tuesday, the Concordia Parish schools had 209.

Cathedral School is down from 150 evacuees to 25. Trinity Episcopal has seven of 30 left. Adams County Christian School has two of six.

The Natchez public schools had 659 evacuees at one point. Concordia Parish had about 500. Now, the highest number of evacuees at any one school in the parish is 32 at Ferriday High School.

Through the Hurricane Education Recovery Act, all local schools qualify for reimbursement &8212; no one knows how much that will be, or when it will come.

Enrollment numbers from Oct. 1 and Dec. 1 are being turned in to the government today. Students who enrolled before, after or in between those days won&8217;t be counted.

Private and parochial schools submit their information through the public schools. Reimbursement money will come to the public schools and be distributed from there.

Private schools that charged tuition will receive full reimbursement if they reimburse tuition to the students&8217; families.

Trinity Episcopal Head of School Delecia Carey said she plans to return funds to the evacuee students who did pay.

&8220;We had a limited number admitted with complete financial assistance, and we had people who pay tuition. Those people who paid tuition will be reimbursed.&8221;

For each student claimed by a private or parochial school, there must be a parent signature &8212; something that is difficult for schools with students who have returned to New Orleans.

Of the students left at Cathedral, ACCS and Trinity, all are expected to stay through the year. Many of the public school students will do the same.

The schools will report numbers again on Feb. 1 and April 1 for reimbursement.