Dear editor,

The number of homeless school children is rising at an alarming rate in schools throughout the nation.  Recently released statistics from the U. S. Department of Education’s say 1.3 million homeless children were enrolled in United States’ schools in the 2012-2013 school year — an 8 percent increase from the previous year. One child in fifty is homeless in America.

School districts reported that nearly 76,000 of these students were living on their own, such as runaways.  About 70,000 were identified as living in a hotel or model.  Many of them are in school during the day and in the streets at night.  California leads the nation in homeless school children. Homeless students’ education is often disrupted because they frequently move.

According to the Institute for Children and Poverty, homeless children are nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to drop out of school, and three times more likely to be placed in special education programs than their peers.

The federal government has implemented procedures to remove barriers for homeless school children.  Congress established the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program in 1987 in response to reports that 57% of homeless children were enrolled in school. The EHCY Program provides formula grants to state educational agencies to ensure all homeless children have equal access to the same free education as other youth.

Gerald Shirley

Selma