Frockt bill to support homeless students passes legislature

Sen. David Frockt supports
homeless students

A bill sponsored in the State Senate by 46th District Democrat David Frockt to support homeless students has passed the Legislature with bipartisan votes in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

The Senate passed the Homeless Children Education Act Friday, a bill that matches a companion bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Kevin Parker of Spokane, that the House had passed earlier on a 90-6 vote.

Frockt says that the bill will improve the tracking and reporting of data on the educational outcomes of homeless students, as well as improve training tools available to teachers that will enable them to connect homeless students with existing resources that will help them graduate.

A team of six students with the University of Washington Law School’s Children and Youth Legislative Advocacy Clinic brought the problem to the attention of the Legislature. Frockt and Parker worked in collaboration with the students, Columbia Legal Services, and other groups to develop the first step in addressing the problem.

Children and Youth Legal Advocacy member Liz Allen said recently, "As a former teacher, I know that these are the most vulnerable students in the classroom and we applaud the legislature for taking this groundbreaking step."

Frockt noted that, despite recovery in the economy, the number of homeless students in Washington state has increased for the sixth year in a row.

Numbers released recently by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction show that 30,609 students were counted as homeless this year. The number represents an 11.8 percent increase from 2011-12 and a 47.3 percent increase from 2007-08.

“Our growing population of homeless students is a crisis,” Parker said. “With improved data analysis, availability of staff trainings, and distribution of information on the services available to homeless students, we will be able to reach more of these kids and help put them on the path to academic success. No child deserves to be homeless, and this bill is a key first step towards further action that we can take.”

Frockt and Parker noted that housing instability causes increased mobility, which in many cases results in students transferring between schools more than once per year. Each time they change schools, they pointed out, research indicates that they lose four to six months of academic progress. 

This, they said, has an impact on a homeless student's ability to excel academically. Only 37 percent of Washington’s identified homeless students are proficient in math, versus 64 percent of their housed counterparts, according to an analysis of data from the superintendent of public instruction.

“These numbers are a wake-up call for our state,” Frockt said. “We know that hungry and homeless kids face enormous challenges to succeed in school. If we’re going to close the opportunity gap and give every student a chance to succeed, we need to take this issue on and help these kids get back on track.”

The bill will require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to collect information on the educational outcomes of homeless students and report to the Legislature on those outcomes. Frockt and Parker said that this data will tell the Legislature about the issues facing homeless students while helping lawmakers make better decisions as they take additional steps to address youth homelessness.

Additionally, the Superintendent of Public Instruction would develop or acquire a short video providing best practices for identifying and supporting homeless students, while explaining how these activities are critical to student success. School districts would encourage staff review of the video annually and would provide educators additional information about services and support for homeless students.

After the bill passed the Senate on a 48-0 vote, the bill now goes to Gov. Inslee’s desk for his signature.

Frockt represents the 46th Legislative District, including Lake Forest Park, Kenmore and northeast Seattle.