Children and youth experiencing homelessness face significant barriers to maintaining a stable education, including frequent moves, lack of transportation, difficulty providing traditional enrollment documents, and disruptions to their schooling. In Pennsylvania during the 2024-25 school year, over 50,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness received services through Pennsylvania’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) Program. Despite the important work done by this program, it is not currently enshrined in state statute.
 
Therefore, this legislation would amend the Public School Code of 1949 to codify in Pennsylvania law core educational protections for children and youth experiencing homelessness that are currently provided under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The legislation would ensure protections related to equal access to education, enrollment, school stability, transportation, dispute resolution, and support from designated homeless education liaisons.
 
We believe a child’s housing circumstances should not prevent them from receiving a consistent, quality education. By establishing these protections in state law, we can help students experiencing homelessness remain connected to their schools, have access to educational opportunities and services, and do not face unnecessary disruptions to their education.
 
We respectfully ask you to co-sponsor this legislation to codify core educational protections for children and youth experiencing homelessness in Pennsylvania law. Let us join together to help ensure that housing instability does not become an additional barrier to a child’s education and future success.