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Schools strapped for money to educate homeless
students
By Jodi Weigand
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, October 16, 2011
School districts are serving more homeless children for longer periods even as federal funding aimed to
help them remains flat.
"Six weeks might now be six months," said Nicole Anderson, coordinator of the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit's Homeless Children's Initiative, of the growing need.
The number of homeless children in the state jumped 55 percent from 2007-08 to 2009-10, according to
the National Center for Homeless Education. In the nine Western Pennsylvania counties the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit serves, the number increased by 23 percent, from about 1,800 children to 2,200, during
that time.
"The economy is causing people you would never suspect to come to be in those circumstances," said
Mary Clark, site manager of the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit's Homeless Children's Initiative. "People
were middle class, secure in their houses and lives, and now Dad or Mom loses a job or is working a
minimum-wage job, and all it takes is one thing and it starts to spiral downward."
Pennsylvania's share of federal Title I funds, which benefit low-income students and can be used to help
homeless students, dipped from $13.7 million in 2009 to an estimated $11 million for 2012.
Pennsylvania has received about $2.5 million in federal funding annually specifically for homeless
students since 2007. The state's intermediate units, which oversee initiatives for homeless children in
eight multicounty regions, work with districts to distribute that money to fund part of the cost of things such
as transportation, counseling and tutoring.
The AIU received $300,000 in federal money for its nine-county region this school year. That's nearly
$200,000 less than 2009-10, when federal stimulus money boosted funding; and about $50,000 less than
2008-09, according to the state Department of Education.
"It's not adequate funding," Anderson said. As a result, the agency eliminated the emergency grants it
provided shelters.
"They would apply for them to get school uniforms, yearbooks or things like assisting a child with a field
trip," Anderson said. "We still try to fulfill the request, but we had to cut that line item in our budget."
To raise awareness about the plight of homeless children, the Homeless Children's Education Fund is
hosting Pittsburgh's first Homeless Children's Awareness Week through Saturday.
The nonprofit provides money to 17 homeless agencies in Allegheny County to set up libraries in shelters,
and for things such as trips to the zoo and animal shelters, therapeutic materials, and etiquette and
cooking classes.
Bill Wolfe, executive director of the fund, said it's important that homeless children have stability and
support at school even if they don't have it anywhere else.
"Children who experience a homeless event fall four to six months behind in their educational process,
and if there's not support out there to get back current, then they get frustrated in school and drop out," he
said.
Homeless children are twice as likely as other children to repeat a grade in school, be expelled or
suspended, or drop out of high school; and less than 25 percent graduate high school, according to the
National Center on Family Homelessness, a research and advocacy group for homeless families.
A homeless child isn't just one who's living on the streets. Federal law defines a homeless child as one
who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. That includes a child sharing a home with
someone because of an economic hardship; or living in a motel, hotel, campground, transitional shelter,
vehicle or public place.
About 71 percent of homeless children nationwide in 2009-10 were "doubled-up," meaning they lived in
someone else's home; about 19 percent lived in shelters, according to the National Center for Homeless
Education.
Of the children the AIU served, about 70 percent of the students were doubled-up and about 25 percent
were in shelters, Anderson said.
Federal law requires homeless children to receive the same quality of education and services as their
peers.
A key provision is to ensure their ability to stay in the same school they attended before they became
homeless, regardless of where they're living while their parents find permanent housing. This means
districts are required to transport children across district lines, which is one of the their biggest expenses,
officials said.
"We get calls daily for emergency bus passes," Anderson said. "Our budget for bus tickets has been cut
this year. We just can't provide the same level of funding."
The New Kensington-Arnold School District tries to minimize its costs by scheduling the transportation of
homeless children with that of students going to private or charter schools, said Renee King, homeless
coordinator in the district.
"They need the stability to stay in one building for the whole year," she said. "Going to a new school
means they have to make new friends and adapt to a new routine, and that's difficult."
Jodi Weigand can be reached at jweigand@tribweb.com or 412-320-7910.
Images and text copyright © 2011 by Trib Total Media, Inc.
Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent.
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