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Schools Find Ways to Transport Homeless Students Despite Strained Resources


By Art Gissendaner Te number of homeless children who qualify for free


transportation under a federal mandate continues to grow faster than the financial assistance school districts need to remain in compliance, according to national, state and local officials. Even so, these officials say most school districts are exerting


Herculean efforts to make sure children covered under the McKinney-Vento Act actually get to school. Tey also agree that getting in front of the problem is like trying to keep up with, well, a runaway bus. “We have seen some extraordinary efforts by drivers, supervisors


and administrators who have come together to make things right for these students because being homeless is not their fault,” says Barbara J. Duffield, policy director for the National Association of Homeless Children & Youth in Washington, D.C. “Many districts have gone to great lengths to meet the letter and the spirit of the law, but it is challenging when you don’t have the money.” McKinney-Vento is federal legislation that requires school


districts to transport homeless students to their home schools even though they may be housed in shelters miles away in a different district. Sometimes that’s another county. In these cases, both school districts must coordinate the child’s transportation.


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According to a recent survey of approximately 6,000 STN


readers who identified themselves as transportation directors and supervisors (152 responded), 53 percent say the number of homeless students they transport has increased compared to the last school year, while 38 percent report a decrease and 4 percent report no change.


We have seen some extraordinary efforts by drivers, supervisors and administrators who have come together to make things right for these


students because being homeless is not their fault.❞ — Barbara J. Duffield, National Association of Homeless Children & Youth


Federal funds to supplement the efforts of local school


districts have stagnated. Duffield says McKinney-Vento has been flat-funded at $65 million for the past five years. Still, while some school districts are not complying with the law, many are bearing the cost and making it work. “I don’t want to create a rosy picture by saying everyone is


doing it well, but many school districts have come up with very innovative and creative ways to provide transportation for homeless children,” Duffield says. “We are facing more homeless children, and resources are stretched almost to the breaking point in many school districts.” Recent news reports have highlighted spikes in the numbers of


homeless children requiring transportation and the increase in cost. Duffield says 939,903 students were eligible for McKinney-Vento during the 2009-2010 school year (the most current data available).


20 School Transportation News Magazine February 2012 A school official in Washington state notes that districts have


been impacted “tremendously” because they are transporting “large numbers” of homeless students without funding because the students enrolled after school started. Tey are hoping that a change in the state’s funding formula will help. Tere are no homeless shelters in that district. Megan Carey, national director for student transportation at


American Logistics Company (ALC), a private contractor that specializes in transporting special needs and homeless students, says she has noticed an acute increase in McKinney-Vento students this year in Washington, one of 11 states where ALC maintains a presence. “I’ve worked with school districts that might have one or two


homeless students at the start of the school year, and by the end of the year, they might have a thousand,” Carey said.


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