Homeless students can ride buses

A settlement agreement announced yesterday finalizes the February ruling by U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor that the state must revise enrollment forms and computer registration programs to better identify, track and transport homeless students as required by federal law.

Gillmor said in the February order that the Education Department could account only for 300 of the 2,000 students estimated to be homeless in past school year.

“Under this agreement, we shouldn’t hear any more stories of children being forced, repeatedly, to change schools or of children waking up at 4 in the morning just to get to school on time,” said William Durham of Lawyers for Equal Justice, who filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of three homeless families.

The state agreed to inform homeless families of their rights under the McKinney-Vento Act, which gives Hawaiʻi about $200,000 a year in federal grants for homeless programs. The law mandates that schools offer transportation and allow children to continue enrollment in a school they have attended even if they move outside the district in search of shelter.

The state will add school buses on the Leeward coast, offer mileage reimbursement for parents who drive their children to school and supply bus passes to students and adult guardians when a child is too young to travel alone.

The Education Department will also conduct yearly training of school personnel and make annual visits to schools and homeless shelters statewide.