THE Homeless Children EDUCATION ACT

The Crisis: Homeless Students At Risk

27,390 96%
1 1

Homeless students have been identied in Washington State public schools. We estimate the true number is closer to 37,000. 2 Increase in student homelessness since the 2005-06 school year. Of learning progress lost each time a student changes schools, widening the learning gap. Cost to taxpayers if homeless students not procient in math fail to graduate.

The Learning Gap:

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Math Reading Science 37% 72% 64% 49% 41% 66%

4-6 months3 $3.4 billion4

Proportion of homeless students procient Proportion of housed students procient

Time to Act: Support for Homeless Kids in Schools

The Homeless Children Education Act would improve outcomes for homeless children in schools by supporting efforts to: Identify Homeless Students
! Improve identication and support homeless students through a 10 minute school staff training video ! Increase accessibility of data on homeless student educational outcomes to the public and present the data to the legislature on an annual basis

Provide Support & Stability

! Provide greater support and services to homeless in students through additional investment to districts ! Strengthen OSPIs ability to provide support services, training, and technical assistance through an additional position at OSPI ! Fund a pilot project to keep families in stable housing

(1) Ofce of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (2011-12 Data); (2) Columbia Legal Services Children & Youth Project; (3) National Center for Homeless Education; (4) Estimate includes higher tax contributions and lower social services spending over the lifetime of each student. Calculation based on OSPI and Alliance for Excellent Education data

UW School of Law Children & Youth Legislative Advocacy Clinic (CAYLAC)

Communications, Chris Jordan cjboog@uw.edu | Outreach, Randall Enlow randallenlow@gmail.com

A Statewide Problem: Homeless students occupy all corners of the state and 32% are in rural areas.5
Number of homeless students in school districts across the state

428 Bellingham
Port Angeles

Wenatchee

508

80

Colville

107

Seattle Tacoma

1,872 1,247
Olympia

27,390
440 557 486 Yakima

1,220 Spokane 221 Clarkston 294 Walla Walla 332 Kennewick

Source: OSPI (2011-12 Data) (5) SchoolHouseWA.org, Rural Counties Analysis

Vancouver

I Believe These Reforms Will Change Lives.

I know rsthand when schools know a kid is homeless and act to give that kid stability and support, it can make the difference between graduating and dropping out. It did for me - I was one of the lucky ones.
Brandy Sincyr Seattle Pacic University Class of 2013 When Brandys school found out she was experiencing homelessness, they gave her a coat, school supplies, free breakfast and lunch, and put her in touch with people in the community who could help. Brandy credits the support she received at school with getting her through high school. She recently graduated from SPU.
Join the Washington Coalition for Homeless Youth Advocacy (WACHYA) and the following organizations in supporting the Homeless Children Education Act!