On March 3, SB 1539 relating to homeless youth in Oregon schools, sponsored by Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend) died quietly and was laid to rest on a strait party line vote. All nine republicans voted yes and 18 democrats voted no. The vote sent a clear message to Senate Republicans -- inculcating socialist ideology using public schools is the purview of progressive Democrats -- stay out. Some saw this as a rare case of Democrats saving Republicans from themselves.

The summary of SB 1539, “Establishes a pilot program to provide funding to school districts for purposes of increasing access to schools by homeless students and improving academic achievement of homeless students. Directs Department of Education to award grants to school districts participating in pilot program from Statewide Education initiatives Account.” The bill’s intent was to identify 7 out of 222 public school districts in Oregon with a “significant population” of homeless students, as determined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C 11434a(2), those districts would receive funding to track, support and enable academic success of homeless students. The funding would come from realignments of Oregon’s corporate sales tax.

SB 1539 had the political tax-and-spend trifecta: children, education and homelessness. According to Senator Knopp, “The state has just not done a good job in supporting homeless youth.” However, had Senate republicans gone to school on student homelessness, they would have uncovered multiple layers and $100s of billions in taxpayer funded programs widely available and targeted directly at homeless students, schools, unaccompanied minors and families.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

No need for pilot programs, federal subgrants exist to do just what Senator Knopp proposed. Further, The Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act established program offices in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to manage and ensure every school district throughout the nation has at least one taxpayer funded McKinney-Vento homeless educational liaison. Depending on a district’s size there could be several. According to the National Center for Homeless Education, a McKinney-Vento homeless liaison’s job includes the following:

• Homeless students are identified and supported to maintain enrollment in their school-of-choice with the same opportunities for attendance and success as any other child. The liaisons use a variety of community and school outreach methods to identify and implement support for homeless students.
• Liaisons ensure children, youth, and families experiencing homelessness receive referrals for taxpayer funded health care, dental, mental health, substance abuse, housing, counseling and other appropriate services.
• Liaisons coordinate taxpayer funded transportation to get homeless children to and from school, if needed, as well as to tutoring sessions and other school activities. Funding can also include car repairs, taxis, local transit, Uber and other modes of transportation required for school related needs.
• Enrollment is immediate -- documentation is not required -- this includes medical and vaccination records, proof of residency, school disciplinary records and transcripts. Additionally, liaisons, school authorities and others cannot contact landlords, leaseholders, host families, housing authorities or anyone else to validate or discuss a student or family’s living situation. In short, there is no means-test to actually prove homeless status under the McKinney-Vento Act. Proving guardianship or status is critically important in cases of child abduction or human trafficking.
• Requirements outlined above also apply to preschool, Early Head Start and Head Start programs. At the other end of the academic spectrum, liaisons assist homeless and unaccompanied students with waivers for college entrance testing, pay for any testing and provide special school district help for college preparation and assistance with financial aid and applications as needed. Parental financial information or signature is not required.
• Pre-paid debit and credit cards, cell phones, wi-fi, computers, supplies, clothes and other elements may be provided as needed to maintain educational attendance and support.

A definition of homeless children and unaccompanied minors is defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act as children from 5 to 24 years old who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The Act itself does not objectively define the terms, fixed, regular or adequate; therefore, broad subjective assessments can be created locally as needed.

With billions of dollars at stake, district liaisons, school district administrators and 1000s of federally funded homeless and migrant organizations are incentivized to define student homelessness as broadly as possible. For example, if parents move to a new job and children stay with relatives to finish a school year (or beyond) they could be defined as homeless. A family living in a motorhome while their house is under construction can be considered homeless. Children living in trailer parks, transitional housing or staying with relatives or friends for a variety of reasons can be defined as homeless.

According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Oregon in 2020, had about 14,000 persons experiencing homelessness in one point-in-time count but the same site lists 24,000 homeless students. Keep in mind, these numbers are separate. For example, best-available data from 2017-18, shows Clackamas County had 287 total homeless persons but 1147 homeless students, Morrow County lists 0 homeless persons but 112 homeless students, Linn County had 180 homeless persons but 1024 homeless students.

If new data ever gets published, expect homeless student numbers to explode. Why? Around 80 percent of homeless children are classified as “doubled-up” meaning, “living with another family or a sponsor.” This category represents 100s of thousands of unaccompanied minors and families entering the country illegally. They are transported by Health and Human Services to sponsors and federally funded private agencies for placement throughout the country. Once enrolled, no questions asked, they enter the system and years of taxpayer financial support begins.

Keep in mind, numbers were before the Biden administration opened the border and data reporting stopped, ostensibly due to Covid. Texas may indicate what’s coming, going from 111,117 designated homeless students in 2016-17 doubling to 221,305 in 2017-18. A 107 percent increase in one year – and this data is 4 years old. Homeless student numbers for Texas alone might be over 500,000 by the end of 2022 with relative increases in every school district around the country. How will taxpayers pay for this?

The 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—Homeless Children and Youth act allocated $800 million specifically for homeless students. Oregon received $7.4 million which was distributed to local public school districts. Additionally, there were three rounds of funding for schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief act ESSER I, ESSER II, and ESSER III each with homeless set-asides. Oregon received approximately $1.63 billion from the three ESSER rounds – money falling from the sky for Oregon school districts.

Simultaneously, there were 3 rounds of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Funds GEER I, GEER II, GEER III totaling another $60 million for Oregon schools -- fund distribution was based on criteria set by Governors. An additional $30 million dollars was provided to Oregon for Comprehensive Distance Learning with another $28 million dollars in Educational Assistance to Non-public Schools. Oregon’s migrant student allotment was $27 million just for migrant student education with $7 million more for English teaching. Most Americans and many others also received money from each Covid funding round totaling $3200.00 for every adult and $2500.00 for every child. A family with 4 children, including homeless families, received $16,400.00 in “free” money – enough for a down payment on a house.

Every homeless student, at-risk family, unaccompanied minor, and migrant family is also automatically entitled to Title I federal benefits. Title I programs provide additional $10 of billions annually for low-income students, minorities, disabled, delinquent, at-risk youth and others. Title I programs automatically enroll recipients into other taxpayer funded programs such as HUD housing assistance, food stamps, USDA school feeding programs, welfare benefits, medical, dental, mental health care and much more. This money is all totally separate from the additional billions in property tax money Oregon homeowners pay annually to fund public schools.

Evidence is mounting, that using COVID as a pretext, progressive politicians and teacher’s unions -- coordinating with the CDC, Department of Education, Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies likely exacerbated student homelessness and created at-risk families by shutting schools, closing business, forcing parents out of work and opening the southern border. Following destabilization, their solution was a staggering redistribution of wealth, totaling over $5.3 trillion dollars, which moved income from taxpayer pockets to progressive social and welfare programs. Informed conservatives, parent’s rights groups and education analysts suggest this is part of Obama and Biden administration initiatives to, “fundamentally transform America” toward progressive socialist ideology. Children and schools are a primary lever and point-of-entry for this transformative inculcation and to federalize public education.

Oregon senate republicans would be relieved to know, that had they looked, there are billions in taxpayer dollars for Oregon’s homeless students, migrant students and others. No need to readjust Oregon’s corporate sales tax for 7 school districts. Actually, there is enough money available to send every legitimate homeless student in Oregon to the Exeter Academy, Harvard University’s prep school and the top-rated private boarding school in the nation. Hopefully, future Senate republicans will vote unanimously, not for liberal tax and spend schemes, but to uphold conservative principles, traditional values, free-markets and fiscal responsibility.


--Clarke Vesper

Post Date: 2022-04-05 10:55:06

Last Update: 2022-04-05 14:46:41