As students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continue returning to their home school districts in Louisiana and Mississippi, tens of thousands remain scattered elsewhere in those states, in nearby states, and across the nation. Months after schools began rolling out the welcome mat for families fleeing New Orleans and other storm-ravaged communities, officials were still working out graduation requirements, cost reimbursements, and other questions affecting students who cannot return home yet, or who are making a new home. With the passage of the federal Hurricane Education Recovery Act--which allocated more than $1.4 billion to rebuild districts and help schools that took in displaced students--the states most affected by the storms might have to begin tracking enrollment figures differently, said Caron Blanton, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Education. She said that before the enactment of the federal legislation, which was signed into law on December 30, 2005, the state education agency counted displaced students as those who had moved to another district because of a hurricane. The law, however, defines student as displaced if they are in permanent or temporary school buildings that are different than the ones they attended before the storms. As a result, a few districts, for purposes of federal hurricane-related school aid, will be counted as having lost almost their entire enrollments because most of their students were moved into portable classrooms, even though they did not leave the districts. (Contains 2 tables.)