homelessness among youth in dane county

housing is one of the things i report on in madison, wi. last month, i moderated a panel of staff members from local schools who talked about how homelessness impacts their students and what they’re seeing.

what i learned was that the mckinney vento act, which federally mandates that schools provide resources for students experiencing housing instability, isn’t funded by the government. instead school districts can apply for extremely competitive grants funded through the state department of public instruction, the panelists said, which doesn’t always ensure the most populous districts get the support they need. otherwise, funding for things such as transportation to and from school activities, free meals, and fee waivers comes out of annual operating budgets, which are funded by taxpayer dollars and increasingly growing.

at the same time, because the schools are expected to help all students, regardless of how “homeless” they are, this has created a burden on staff who are already limited in resources, and lack administrative support.

an article about the panel i wrote for the cap times can be read here.

the full panel video can be watched here.