Written by guest bloggers, Casey Trupin and Erin Shea McCann, attorneys at law, Columbia Legal Services 

In the 2008-09 school year, over 20,000 students in Washington State were homeless—3,404 of these homeless students were in school districts in King County. Public schools are often the first place where a child or family may be identified as homeless or on the verge of homelessness. Thus, it is critical for schools to properly identify homeless students and families as access to education is crucial in providing homeless students with a source of stability in their otherwise chaotic lives. School stability also gives them an opportunity to rise above poverty and homelessness for themselves as adults.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is the primary piece of federal law dealing with the education of children and youth in homeless situations. It was reauthorized in 2002 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Children are considered homeless under McKinney-Vento if they lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, which includes: sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason; living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping grounds due to lack of adequate alternative accommodations; living in emergency or transitional shelters; awaiting foster care placement; living in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, bus or train stations; and migratory children living in above circumstances, among others. It also includes youth who meet the definition of homeless and who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian (“unaccompanied youth”). McKinney-Vento has the broadest definition of homelessness so that children and youth can potentially be identified before they become homeless.

The Act has four main components to ensure that students experiencing homelessness have full access to education, including: school stability (allowing children and youth to stay in their school of origin if the family moves out of the school district due to a loss of housing), school access (ensuring homeless children and youth are transported to/from their school of origin, if that is what the family desires and the transportation is feasible), support for academic success (ensuring homeless children and youth can fully participate in school and activities), and child-centered, best interest decision making.

Although one in every 50 Washington State students has been identified as homeless, this number is likely a significant undercount, as dozens of medium to large school districts have identified very few homeless students despite district demographics suggesting far greater numbers. Columbia Legal Services is working with districts to identify strengths and areas for improvement regarding services for homeless students and is hosting forums in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties to bring together school district staff and administrators as well as service providers in the community who work with homeless families – as collaborative relationships and streamlined communication between service providers and schools is absolutely necessary to ensure homeless students are identified and quickly served.

Too often, school districts bear the cost burden to identify, transport and serve homeless students because of a lack of strong partnerships with community service providers. In an effort to alleviate the cost of transporting homeless students that school districts shoulder, CLS is working with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty to develop a report on the importance of building affordable housing in areas with high rates of family homelessness and how school districts should play a central role in that planning process. It is our hope that through strong community partnerships, streamlined communication between schools and service providers, and thoughtful affordable housing planning, not only will homeless students and families be better served, but school districts will be an equal partner in the homeless family provider community. The schools are, after all, the most likely entity to first identify whether a family is at risk of homelessness and will be the most consistent entity as the family moves through the experience of homelessness.

The data on homeless students in King County are interesting. The 3,404 homeless students in King County in the 2008-09 school year represent 1.22% of all students in King County and 16.4% of homeless students statewide. Statewide, 2.00% of students are homeless. The number of homeless students in King County has declined 3.16% since 2006-07, while the number of homeless students statewide has risen 23.3% in the same period. We believe that some of the decline, in the face of rising numbers throughout the rest of the State and Country, and a huge financial crisis, is due to a failure to identify homeless students.

For more information about best practices in Washington State, data analysis, and national resources, please visit www.schoolhousewa.org.

 What is the breakdown of those figures over time? 

 How have these numbers changed over time? 

From 2006 – 2009, there was a 3.16% decrease in King County and a 23.3% increase in Washington State in total number of homeless students.         

Comparing the most recent two schoool years, 2007-2008 to 2008-2009 SY, there was a  1.65% decrease  in King County and a   11.3% increase in Washington State in total number of homeless students.