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Last update: November 23, 2009
"THE EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITHOUT HOMES ACT"
"THE FOSTERING SUCCESS IN EDUCATION ACT"
On Thursday, November 19, US Senators Patty Murray and Al Franken introduced the "Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2009," S. 2800, and the "Fostering Success in Education Act of 2009," S. 2801.
The "Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2009," S. 2800, amends the McKinney-Vento Act's Education for Homeless Children and Youth program, Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), and other related titles of the ESEA. S. 2800 makes a strong law even stronger by reinforcing and expanding its key provisions, including school stability, enrollment, and support for academic achievement. S. 2800 also expands authorized funding to meet transportation needs. A summary of the legislation is available here.
The "Fostering Success in Education Act of 2009," S. 2801, establishes a new education program to ensure that all children and youth in foster care have school stability, immediate school access, and support for academic success. S. 2801 requires child welfare agencies to pay for the cost of transportation when necessary to enable foster youth to continue in their school of origin, while requiring school districts to collaborate with child welfare agencies to facilitate transportation in a cost-effective manner. A summary of the legislation is available here.
1. Please contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to co-sponsor S. 2800 (homeless bill) and S. 2801 (foster bill). Contact information for U.S. Senators may be found at www.senate.gov. A sample letter may be downloaded in Microsoft Word format here.
2. Please distribute this alert and urge others to contact their U.S. Senators.
For More Information:
Please contact Barbara Duffield at bduffield@naehcy.org or 202.364.7392.
Last Update: September 1, 2009
The Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program removes barriers to the enrollment, attendance, and success of homeless children and youth in school. Congress established the EHCY to assist state and local educational agencies in implementing educational rights for homeless children and youth provided by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Local school districts receiving EHCY funds as subgrants from state educational agencies use their moneys for outreach and identification, enrollment assistance, transportation assistance, school records transfer, immunization referrals, tutoring, counseling, school supplies, assessment, professional development for educators, and referrals for community services targeted to homeless students.
A March 2006 U.S. Department of Education report on the EHCY program concluded that "states and local educational agencies (LEAs) have generally made significant progress in reducing the barriers that homeless children and youth face in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. The legislation has prompted States and LEAs to focus more on the needs of homeless students and has helped facilitate the expansion of local support networks to meet those needs... Although the appropriation levels for this program are relatively small, the impact of the program has been very widespread."
Despite these successes, the extremely limited resources available to the EHCY program have created challenges for schools in fully implementing the provisions of the McKinney-Vento Act and in reaching all children and youth experiencing homelessness. The EHCY program was funded at $65 million in FY2009. Between the 2006-2007 school year and the 2007-2008 school year, there was a 17% increase in the number of homeless students identified by public schools (from 679,724 homeless students to 794,617 homeless students). Yet in 2007-2008, states were able to provide subgrant funds to only nine percent of school districts nationwide. Forty-one percent of students identified by local educational agencies as homeless are in school districts that do not receive subgrants. This school year, 2008-2009, increases in homelessness are even more severe due to the economic downturn, with many school districts reporting spikes in the numbers of homeless students (see "The Economic Crisis Hits Home" for school district survey data).
Increased funding for the EHCY program would allow significantly more homeless children and youth to receive the services they need to succeed. It would also enable more schools to provide a greater level of support to children experiencing homelessness, particularly the outreach, enrollment assistance, referral, counseling, and transportation services that are essential in ensuring school access and stability.
Both House and Senate FY2010 Appropriations bills for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, provide $65 million for the EHCY program. This is the same amount as the previous year. Even with the new stimulus dollars, this funding level is woefully inadequate to meet pre-existing demand and the growth in student homelessness caused by the recession.
Please contact your Members of Congress and ask them to support at least $210 million in EHCY funding for FY2010. Contact information for U.S. Senators may be found at http://www.senate.gov and for U.S. Representatives at http://www.house.gov
Please contact Barbara Duffield at bduffield@naehcy.org or 202.364.7392.
Last Update: June 16, 2009
Congress passed S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009 and Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act 2009 on May 19, 2009 and the President signed it the following day.
S. 896 also includes the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act, which reauthorizes the HUD McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act programs and amends HUD's definition of homelessness. This bill is reauthorized for only two years. NAEHCY remains committed to homeless policy that allows community providers to respond to the local needs they have identified.
Read NAEHCY's statement on the passage and enactment of the bill, next steps, and a summary of key provisions.
Please contact Barbara Duffield at bduffield@naehcy.org or 202.364.7392.
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