...homeless children....

As G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney left office, the housing market was collapsing, the financial market and bogus financial instruments already wreaking havoc on the global economy.

As unemployment predictably mushroomed and then housing foreclosures along with it, the only evidence of "Trickle Down" was children without homes.

When the cause is housing foreclosures, shouldn't we target the cause to prevent an escalation?


OPINION: State must fund safety net for homeless children
GateHouse News Service
Posted Feb 10, 2012

There are sound reasons for a government policy that calls for homeless students to be allowed to stay in the school they know even when their family is forced to seek shelter in a neighboring community.

Yet if Massachusetts tells local school districts they must adhere to such a policy, state law says it must also be responsible for the cost.

That responsibility, however, has not been met and as a result local communities are being unfairly forced to carve millions of dollars out of already strained school budgets to transport students from one school district to another.

This needs to be rectified.

A recent survey by the state auditor’s office found that Brockton and Weymouth were among the communities hardest hit by such costs, which statewide last year reached $11.3 million.

Brockton expects to spend $285,000 this year, and Weymouth is on track to spend about $217,800. At the other end of the spectrum are towns such as Cohasset and Duxbury, where there are no such costs.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump recently determined that these expenditures constitute an unfunded state mandate and has rightfully called on the governor and Legislature to pass a supplemental budget to reimburse affected communities.

The situation stems from the state’s participation in a federal program that provides funds for homeless services, but also requires states that accept the funds to abide by certain federal requirements, including one that says children who become homeless can stay in the same school even if their family finds shelter in another community.

In such circumstances, both the sending and receiving school district have been splitting the cost of transportation, which is provided in modes ranging from school bus to a taxicab.

For most of us, it’s hard to imagine the stress children feel when they and their family suddenly find themselves homeless. That’s why we support the idea that they should not be separated from friends and teachers who can give them a sense of stability when their lives are anything but. Yet Bump’s investigation has made it clear that the financial burden associated with that policy must be borne by the state. Forcing local school districts to indefinitely pay it is wrong.



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