Coming Monday/Tuesday in Bonney Lake/Sumner Patch: Sumner School District Copes with Financial and Social Toll of Homeless Students

A team of InvestigateWest reporters and researchers collaborating with
Patch local editors spent the last several months looking at how Washington
is grappling with a growing population of homeless students -- even as
budget cuts further slash their ability to meet their federal obligation to help
those students.

Among the findings statewide and in Bonney Lake and Sumner, coming Monday/Tuesday:

• In the 2009-2010 school year, schools reported 21,826 homeless students statewide, up 30 percent from the 2006-07 school year.
• Within school districts with the highest number of homeless students, districts saw increases in the number of students without regular homes ranging from 3 percent to 104 percent.
• In Bonney Lake and Sumner, the number of homeless students rose 38.5 percent since the 2006/2007 school year, a number slightly higher than the national average.
• Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, school districts are required to identify and report homeless students and to guarantee those students transportation so they can stay at their original schools, even if they have been forced to find emergency shelter outside the district. The cost to the districts to meet this mandate is heavy.
• A small 2006 pilot study by the Washington State Department of Transportation found that while homeless kids typically had lower grades and Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores than non-homeless students, the grades and scores were better among those homeless students who got to stay in their original schools.

Related materials:
• Interactive Map – Click on your individual county and your school.
• For more coverage on other Patch sites look here:

Edmonds Patch:
Day 1
http://patch.com/A-hYP0
http://patch.com/A-hYQ5
Day 2:
http://patch.com/A-hZrl

Enumclaw Patch
Day 1:
http://patch.com/A-jfBB
http://patch.com/A-jfB0
Day 2:
http://patch.com/A-jh4r
http://patch.com/A-jh4y

Kirkland Patch
Day 1:
http://patch.com/A-jfP8
http://patch.com/A-jfPT
Day 2:
http://patch.com/A-jjbX

Redmond Patch
http://patch.com/A-jgBB
http://patch.com/A-jgDj

Woodinville Patch:
http://patch.com/A-jfyN
http://patch.com/A-jdbc

Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch:
http://patch.com/A-jhcs
http://patch.com/A-jh7c

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