For about 300,000 homeless children living in California, it’s hard enough finding a place to sleep, much less trying to attend school. Some schools won’t admit students without a permanent address and phone number. And without education, these kids have less of a chance to break out of the cycle of poverty.
There is a law that addresses this issue. Since 1987, the McKinney-Vento Act has been on the books. It made it illegal for public schools to turn away homeless kids just because they didn’t have a permanent address or couldn’t provide immunization records. McKinney even provided grant money so public schools could put special programs in place for homeless students. The problem was, without enforcement, a lot of schools either didn’t know about McKinney or simply ignored it.
To aid homeless children and pick up the public school’s slack, some homeless advocates support separate schools for their special needs — schools that are flexible about enrollment policies and provide meals and buses that alter their routes to pick up kids daily, all in order to provide a stable environment for kids without a permanent residence.
Ten years ago, Sara Garfield didn’t even know that the McKinney Act existed. All Garfield saw was that homeless kids needed the basics — not just an education, but food, clothes, medical and dental care — things that public schools didn’t provide. She started the Transitional Learning Center in Stockton with aid from the county, Stanislaus University and St. Mary’s Interfaith Dining Room.
California Connected profiles the Transitional Learning Center this week — a special school that gets high marks from community groups and politicians alike.
- The Transitional Learning Center
- McKinney-Vento Act explained and illustrated from the National Coalition for the Homeless
- Homeless education laws, advice, reports from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
- The National Center for Homeless Education