Tuesday, March 3, 2009

The homelessness epidemic

The numbers are only coming in (and, as you'll see, they're often untrustworthy), but it's clear that there's a rising tide of homelessness in the country. Who is on the front lines in dealing with it? The local public school:

Under federal law, schools are charged with keeping homeless students like Daniel from falling behind their peers academically. This can mean providing a wide range of services, including transportation, free lunches, immunizations and referrals to family services.

But with insufficient federal funding and budgets that are severely strained, many schools are struggling to meet the rising need.

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