Homeless Students Can Fall Through the Cracks

There were roughly 1.4 million pre-K-12 homeless students in the 2022-’23 school year in the U.S., according to the latest federal data. Education law defines homelessness as lacking a “fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” — which includes families living doubled up with others. The federal law known as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act allows students to stay in their school even when their housing takes them far from where they originally enrolled. McKinney-Vento provides extra help through legal protections and a federal grant program to make sure these students get an education. As the Trump administration works to close the U.S. Education Department, which oversees McKinney-Vento, advocates fear the law’s protections could be eliminated, too.

“And if they don’t exist anymore, then that means we revert back to 30 years ago where children languished in shelters, they languished on couches and cars, because they weren’t actually in school,” said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national nonprofit that advocates for homeless youth.

The Trump administration hasn’t said what it plans to do with McKinney-Vento if it succeeds in closing the Education Department. Trump’s “skinny” budget proposal released earlier this month would consolidate 18 federal education programs into a block grant, but it does not name those programs. If it is, Duffield said, “It effectively would repeal the program in its entirety, removing protections and dedicated funding [for students experiencing homelessness].”

Last year, Congress set aside $129 million for McKinney-Vento grants to help schools cover the costs of supporting students experiencing homelessness. Megan Mainzer is the district’s McKinney-Vento liaison, tasked with identifying students experiencing homelessness and making sure they receive the resources they’re entitled to under the law. She said the district’s McKinney-Vento money helps pay for transportation, scholarships for after-school care, hotspots, gas and groceries for families. It has also helped Mainzer launch and staff a food pantry – in partnership with the local Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center – at Middletown High School.

Mainzer is deeply concerned that the law and the federal funding that supports homeless students are at risk. Losing McKinney-Vento “would affect our ability to help families,” she said. She’s not the only one who’s worried. McKinney-Vento liaisons and advocates across the country are also anxious that if the Education Department is eliminated, the law itself could be rescinded. Even if the law remains, they’re worried federal funding for it could be cut.

“It’s terrifying,” said Susie Terry, the coordinator for homeless education services for the San Diego County Office of Education. School districts in her county have identified more than 23,000 students experiencing homelessness. “All of it keeps me up at night. I think that the dismantling of the [Education] Department and or the dismantling of the program — the funding for the program — is probably my biggest concern right now,” she said. Terry said districts that receive federal grant money use it to pay for things like transportation and to offset the salaries of McKinney-Vento liaisons. “And it’s not enough [money] by a long shot,” she said, but the money schools do receive is crucial.

Maura McInerney, legal director at the Education Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization in Pennsylvania, explains what’s at stake if the Education Department disappears. “Dismantling the Department of Education means that we don’t have people at the federal level ensuring that children experiencing homelessness are receiving the guarantees of [McKinney-Vento].” If the department remains, but the funding for McKinney-Vento is lumped into a block grant, she said school districts would be able to spend that money on things that have nothing to do with serving homeless students. “It wouldn’t come with the requirements that they comply with the law — that they’re following McKinney-Vento, and that it’s used for children experiencing homelessness,” McInerney explained.

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services