High and dry: homeless education in Los Angeles and the United States

Restricted until 17 Apr. 2010.Homeless students suffer from a wide variety of problems in their pursuit of their education -- from less educational continuity, to more unstable home lives, to difficulties in enrolling, to a lack of basic funds to help them get through their school year, homelessness has a significantly negative effect of education. With approximately 13,500 homeless students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, 170,000 in California, and nearly one million in the country, there is a clear need for drastic action.; However, the federal government has not come up with nearly the funds necessary to combat this crisis. This inability to recognize the severity of the problem has contributed to a worsening of the situation, and with the housing crisis and a recession looming, this problem will only get worse. Everybody involved in this, from the administrators at the top to the students themselves, are forced to try to make miracles happen on a shoestring budget, and -- unfortunately -- these miracles just aren' t materializing. Without any new funds, say people involved with homeless education, a crisis that is already sabotaging the futures of the most vulnerable students is only going to get worse