A Report On Homeless Students Shows New Jersey With A Sharp Increase
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The National Center for Homeless Education this week reported a record 1.3 million homeless children attending school in the United States.
New Jersey reported more than 8,600 homeless students in the 2012-2013 school year, a huge increase over the 4,900 reported the year before. Education Department spokesman David Saenz stressed the state used a new reporting method that accounted for some of the increase, but said some could be attributed to Superstorm Sandy.
"We don't have an exact amount because the data is not personalized by asking students, 'were you displaced by Sandy?' but if you look at the districts, they're along the shore," Saenz said.
Pennsylvania also reported an increase in the number of homeless students from 18,231 to 19,459. That's a 15 percent increase, not as large as New Jersey's, but almost double the eight percent increase reported nationally.
Philadelphia enrolled 4,000 of those students and another 3,268 were enrolled in district 8, which includes Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Berks and Lancaster Counties.
Shane Burroughs, the regional site coordinator for district 8, says the numbers help gauge what services are needed for students experiencing homelessness.
"It would be a terrible tragedy for those students not to continue to attend their school of origin because their housing is unstable," Burroughs said. "Students sometimes move five times in a school year. We help create a sense of normalcy."
The state's homeless children's initiative will even provide fees for field trips and picture day in an effort to insure the children's education is disrupted as little as possible.
You may also be interested in:
