[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                  PICKING UP THE PIECES: STRENGTHENING
                CONNECTIONS WITH STUDENTS EXPERIENCING 
                HOMELESSNESS AND CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                            SUBCOMMITTEE ON
                      EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
                        AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

              HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 19, 2021

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-15

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                  
                                    

          Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov

                               __________
                               

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
44-537 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                  

                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona            VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut              Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN,      JOE WILSON, South Carolina
  Northern Mariana Islands           GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon             GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California              ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina        RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California         JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania             GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia                MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota                LISA C. Mc CLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan           DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico   MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York             VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana              MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair  MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin                JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas                Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                  Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
                               
                               ------                                

  SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

   GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman

JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut            BURGESS OWENS, Utah
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona              Ranking Member
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky            GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida         RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK De SAULNIER, California         FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
LUCY Mc BATH, Georgia                MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan                 MICHELLE STEEL, California
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina     JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York              Vacancy
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia  VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
                                       (ex officio)
                            
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on May 19, 2021.....................................     1

Statement of Members:
    Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee 
      on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education....     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     5
    Owens, Hon. Burgess, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early 
      Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.............     6
        Prepared statement of....................................     7

Statement of Witnesses:
    Davis, Gretchen, Foster Parent...............................    23
        Prepared statement of....................................    25
    Erb-Downward, Jennifer, MPH, Senior Research Associate, 
      Poverty 
      Solutions at the University of Michigan....................     9
        Prepared statement of....................................    12
    Lane, James F., Ed.D., Virginia Superintendent of Public 
      Instruction, Virginia Department of Education..............    27
        Prepared statement of....................................    29
    Linder-Coates, Michelle, M.Ed., Executive Director, School 
      District of Philadelphia...................................    17
        Prepared statement of....................................    19

Additional Submissions:
    Questions submitted for the record by:
        McBath, Hon. Lucy, a Representative in Congress from the 
          State of Georgia.......................................    69
    Response to question submitted for the record by:
        Mr. Lane.................................................    70

 
                  PICKING UP THE PIECES: STRENGTHENING
                       CONNECTIONS WITH STUDENTS
                     EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS AND
                        CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE

                              ----------                              


                        Wednesday, May 19, 2021

                  House of Representatives,
                   Subcommittee on Early Childhood,
               Elementary, and Secondary Education,
                          Committee on Education and Labor,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:19 a.m. via 
Zoom, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Chairman of the 
Subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Sablan, Hayes, Grijalva, Yarmuth, 
Wilson, DeSaulnier, McBath, Levin, Manning, Bowman, Scott (ex 
officio), Owens, Grothman, Allen, Keller, Miller, Cawthorn, 
Steel, Letlow, and Foxx (ex officio).
    Staff present: Melissa Bellin, Professional Staff; Paula 
Daneri, Professional Staff; Rashage Green, Director of 
Education Policy and Counsel; Christian Haines, General 
Counsel; Sheila Havenner, Director of Information Technology; 
Joe Herrbach, Professional Staff; Ariel Jona, Policy Associate; 
Andre Lindsay, Policy Associate; Max Moore, Staff Assistant; 
Mariah Mowbray, Clerk/Special Assistant to the Staff Director; 
Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique Pluviose, Staff 
Director; Lakeisha Steele, Senior Education Policy Advisor; 
Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information Technology; 
Joshua Weisz; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director; Amy Raaf 
Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human Resources 
Policy; Dean Johnson, Minority Legislative Assistant; Hannah 
Matesic, Minority Director of Operations; Mandy Schaumburg, 
Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of Education Policy; 
and Brad Thomas, Minority Senior Education Policy Advisor.
    Chairman Sablan. The Subcommittee on Early Childhood 
Elementary and Secondary Education will come to order. Welcome 
and good morning everyone. I know that a quorum is present. The 
Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on ``Picking Up 
the Pieces: Strengthening Connections with Students 
Experiencing Homelessness, and Children in Foster Care.''
    This is an entirely remote hearing. All microphones will be 
kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background 
noise.
    Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting 
themselves while they are recognized to speak, or when they 
wish to seek recognition. I also ask that Members please 
identify themselves before they speak. Members should keep 
their cameras on while in the proceeding.
    Members shall be considered present in the proceedings when 
they are visible on camera and they shall be considered not 
present when they are not visible on camera. The only exception 
to this is if they are experiencing technical difficulty and 
inform Committee staff of such difficulty.
    So if any Member experiences technical difficulties during 
the hearing you should stay connected on the platform, make 
sure you're muted, and use your phone to immediately call the 
Committee's IT director whose number was provided in advance. 
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty, or need to 
step away, Mr. Yarmuth, or another majority Member is hereby 
authorized to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
    This is an entirely remote hearing, and as such the 
Committee's hearing room is officially closed. Members who 
choose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room 
must wear headphones to avoid feedback, echoes, and distortion 
resulting from more than one person on the software platform 
sitting in the same room.
    Members are also expected to adhere to social distancing. I 
understand that there's some feedback. OK.
    Mr. Vassar. Mr. Chairman your audio is going to be just 
fine online.
    Chairman Sablan. Look if the livestream goes down at any 
point we must pause immediately. Committee staff will let you 
know if that happens and continue on for advice about what to 
do. Upon first hearing the livestream is down I will, or the 
Chair should interrupt whatever is happening and I shall read 
the following, and I will say something at that time.
    Mr. Vassar. Chairman Sablan I believe we are good to go to 
restart the hearing sir.
    Chairman Sablan. Right. So this is again an entirely remote 
hearing and as such the Committee hearing room is officially 
closed. Members who choose to sit with their individual devices 
in the hearing room must wear headphones to avoid feedback, 
echoes and distortion resulting from more than one person on 
the software platform sitting in the same room.
    Members are also expected to adhere to social distancing 
and safe healthcare guidelines, including the use of masks, 
hand sanitizer and wiping down their areas both before and 
after their presence in the hearing room.
    In order to ensure that the Committee's five-minute rule is 
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the 
Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear in its own 
thumbnail picture and will be named 001_timer. There will be no 
one minute remaining warning. The field timer will show a 
blinking light when time is up. Members and witnesses are asked 
to wrap up promptly when their time has expired.
    While a roll call is not necessary to establish a quorum in 
official proceedings conducted remotely or with remote 
participation, the Committee has made it a practice whenever 
there is an official proceeding with remote participation for 
the Clerk to call the roll to help make clear who is present at 
the start of the proceeding.
    Members should say their name before announcing they are 
present. This helps the Clerk and also helps those watching the 
platform and the livestream who may experience a few seconds 
delay. So at this time I ask the Clerk to please call the roll.
    The Clerk. Chairman Sablan?
    Chairman Sablan. Present. Sablan present.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Hayes?
    Mrs. Hayes. Present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Grijalva?
    Mr. Grijalva. Grijalva present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Yarmuth?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Wilson?
    Ms. Wilson. Ms. Wilson present.
    The Clerk. Mr. DeSaulnier?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Morelle?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. McBath?
    Mrs. McBath. Present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Levin?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Ms. Manning?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mr. Bowman?
    Mr. Bowman. Mr. Bowman is present.
    The Clerk. Chairman Scott?
    Mr. Scott. Chairman Scott is present.
    The Clerk. Ranking Member Owens?
    Mr. Owens. Owens present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Grothman? Mr. Grothman, I think you're on 
mute.
    Mr. Grothman. Sorry present.
    The Clerk. Thank you. Mr. Allen?
    Mr. Allen. Allen's present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Keller?
    Mr. Keller. Keller's present.
    The Clerk. Mrs. Miller?
    Mrs. Miller. Miller present.
    The Clerk. Mr. Cawthorn?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Mrs. Steel?
    Mrs. Steel. Steel present.
    The Clerk. Ms. Letlow?
    Ms. Letlow. Letlow present.
    The Clerk. Ranking Member Foxx?
    [No response]
    The Clerk. Chairman Sablan that concludes the roll call.
    Mr. Vassar. Mr. Chairman you're on mute sir.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c) 
opening statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking 
Member. This allows for us to hear from our witnesses sooner 
and provides all Members with adequate time to ask questions. I 
now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening 
statement.
    Today's hearing is focused on our responsibility to support 
the education of children who are homeless or in foster care. 
Children without stable homes start at a disadvantage that can 
follow them for the rest of their lives, denying them the 
opportunity to achieve their full potential as human beings and 
Members of society.
    That is a tragedy for them and a loss for us all. This is 
not an insignificant problem. Prior to the pandemic the 
Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 430,000 
children were in foster care. More than 1.3 million school 
children lack the stable and adequate place to sleep during the 
2018-2019 school year according to the United States Department 
of Education.
    More than 1.4 million children under the age of six 
experience homelessness. Recent research in Michigan suggests 
almost one in 10 public school students will be homeless at 
some point before graduation from high school. One in 10.
    And of course, youth homelessness reflects other persistent 
inequities in education and across our society. Black children, 
Native American children and students with disabilities, 
English language learners, and LGBTQ children are all more 
likely to experience homelessness and foster care than their 
peers. And the outcomes are clear. In 2018 the graduation rate 
for homeless students was 68 percent nationwide.86 percent for 
those with stable homes, and the pandemic has only made the 
problem worse. We all know how hard it has been for our 
constituents to keep their children on track with their 
education during the pandemic. Even children with stable homes 
have faced difficulty.
    For children who are homeless or in foster care, moving 
from place to place is difficult to some, even more severe. 
Research indicates from 1 to 3 million children have not 
attended school since the pandemic began, and principal among 
them are students experiencing homelessness or in foster care.
    This does not simply mean lost classroom time. The pandemic 
has jeopardized access to clothing, to adequate nutritious 
food, to healthcare and other critical aid schools provide. The 
consequences of this gap in the care of homeless children will 
be felt by all of us long after the pandemic is behind us.
    And this is the not to say Congress has been idle. The 
American Rescue Plan, which we passed in March, provides a 
combined 2 billion dollars to strengthen Head Start programs, 
which holistically help young children deal with the many 
challenges of experiencing homeless and foster care.
    This funding is designed not only to cover the increased 
costs of providing education during the pandemic, but also 
where possible to help children catch up on lost instruction 
time. Our American Rescue Plan includes 52.5 billion dollars 
for the Child Care and Development Block Grant with new 
flexibilities so families experiencing homelessness can access 
childcare.
    The American Rescue Plan brought 130 billion dollars to 
communities nationwide for K to 12 education and includes 800 
million specifically to help homeless children and secure the 
staff and resources for homeless children to remain connected 
to school.
    What challenges are school districts facing in identifying 
and serving students experiencing homelessness and children in 
foster care? How are school districts using COVID relief funds 
to ensure this unique population of students are connected to 
the services they need to be successful? What more can we do?
    And even what more should we do?
    Our witnesses today will help answer those questions and 
provide feedback on how the investment we make in the American 
Rescue Plan and other relief legislation are helping vulnerable 
students make it through the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those 
investments will help protect these children in the future from 
the trauma of experiencing homelessness, and in the foster care 
system.
    [The prepared statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]

      Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman, 
  Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Today's hearing is focused on our responsibility to support the 
education of children who are homeless or in foster care.
    Children without stable homes start at a disadvantage that can 
follow them for the rest of their lives, denying them the opportunity 
to achieve their full potential as human beings and Members of society.
    That is a tragedy for them and a loss for us all.
    This is not an insignificant problem.
    More than 1.3 million school-aged children lacked a stable and 
adequate place to sleep during the 2018-2019 school year, according to 
the U.S. Department of Education.
    More than 1.4 million children under the age of six experience 
homelessness.
    Recent research in Michigan suggests almost one in ten public 
school students will be homeless at some point before graduation from 
high school. One in ten.
    Prior to the pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services 
estimated that 430,000 children were in foster care.
    And, of course, youth homelessness reflects other persistent 
inequities in education and across our society.
    Black children, Native American children, students with 
disabilities, English language learners, and LGBTQ children are all 
more likely to experience homelessness and foster care than their 
peers.
    The outcomes are clear: In 2018, the graduation rate for homeless 
students was 68 percent nationwide and 86 percent for those with stable 
homes.
    And the pandemic has only made the problem worse.
    We all know how hard it has been for our constituents to keep their 
children on track with their education during the pandemic. Even 
children with stable homes have faced difficulty.
    For children who are homeless or in foster care, moving from place 
to place, those difficulties have been even more severe. Research 
indicates from 1 to 3 million children have not attended school, since 
the pandemic began, and principal among them are students experiencing 
homelessness or in foster care.
    This does not simply mean lost classroom time. The pandemic has 
jeopardized access to clothing; to adequate, nutritious food; to health 
care and other critical aid schools provide.
    The consequences of this gap in the services that homeless children 
have been able to access will be felt by all of us long after the 
pandemic is behind us.
    This is not to say Congress has been idle.
    The American Rescue Plan, which we passed in March, provides $1 
billion to strengthen Head Start programs, which holistically help 
young children deal with the many challenges of experiencing 
homelessness and foster care.
    This funding is designed not only to cover the increased costs of 
providing education during the pandemic, but also, where possible, to 
help children catch up on lost instruction time.
    Our American Rescue Plan includes $39 billion for the Child Care 
and Development Block Grant, which provides flexibilities so families 
experiencing homelessness can access childcare.
    The American Rescue Plan brought $130 billion to communities 
nationwide for K-12 education and includes
    $800 million, specifically, to help homeless children and secure 
the staff and resources homeless students need to remain connected to 
school.
    What challenges are school districts facing in identifying and 
serving students experiencing homelessness and children in foster care? 
How are school districts using COVID relief funds to ensure these 
unique populations of students are connected with the services they 
need to be successful?
    Our witnesses today will help answer those questions and provide 
feedback on how the investments we made in the American Rescue Plan and 
other relief legislation are helping vulnerable students make it 
through the COVID-19 pandemic and how those investments will help 
protect these children in the future from the trauma of experiencing 
homelessness and in the foster care system.
    I now turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Owens, for the purpose of 
making an opening statement.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. I will now turn to the Ranking Member Mr. 
Owens for the purpose of making an opening statement. Mr. Owens 
you're recognized.
    Mr. Owens. OK how's that?
    Chairman Sablan. There you are sir.
    Mr. Owns. OK one second, hold tight.
    Chairman Sablan. No problem.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For over a year 
students across our country have been negatively impacted by 
school closures. This has been an even greater impact on the 
foster, homeless and housing insecure youth. For these children 
school is so much more than a place to learn.
    It's a place that provides meals, structure, and safety 
they don't necessarily receive anywhere else. The most 
frustrating part of this situation is that the research 
demonstrates, and has demonstrated for months, that school age 
children are less likely to transmit the virus to others, 
including adults.
    Further reducing these risks, nearly 80 percent of teachers 
have received at least one dose of the vaccine by the beginning 
of April. There is absolutely no reason for schools to remain 
closed, and yet half of the school districts across this 
country are still not receiving full-time in-person 
instructions.
    To the children who have gone hungry, whose abuse have gone 
unnoticed, or who have had no recourse from the streets, I 
would like to explain what has kept our schools closed for so 
long, and it's not the science. The Biden administration has 
lagged too much on the desire of teachers unions causing 
unnecessary prolonged closures, that continue to inflict real 
harm on children lacking a home or a stable family life.
    We finally heard last week from the President of the 
American Federation of Teachers, the same union that lobbied 
the CDC to keep our schools closed, that schools should reopen 
in-person learning 5 days a week in the fall. I'm ecstatic that 
we're finally in agreement on this issue, but that's not good 
enough.
    Schools should have reopened full-time months ago. This 
wasted time has caused irreparable damage to millions of 
children and students nationwide. In fact we'll hear from one 
foster parent about how these closures left their children 
without the attention and instruction they needed to be 
successful in the classroom, and how countless other children 
facing abuse and neglect were denied the lifeline offered by 
in-person instructions.
    My democratic colleagues love to argue that throwing more 
money at this problem is a solution. We will spend this hearing 
today highlighting President Biden's America Rescue Plan 
release scheme, in which 20 percent of the funding of 
elementary and secondary school emergency relief fund must go 
toward addressing learning loss.
    They talk about money for homeless education. This is the 
third hearing on the impact of the pandemic, and each time they 
have highlighted their desire for more money, instead of our 
children's need to get back to classroom. The fact is no amount 
of money will fix the harm that's been done and continues to be 
done to these children and their families.
    What our children need is to get back to school in-person 
full-time. None of these so-called relief funding will go 
toward the reopening of schools this spring. What are the 
children who are homeless, housing insecure, or in foster care 
supposed to do until then? Democrats have no answers.
    Sadly, my friends across the aisle are willing to ignore 
the needs of vulnerable children pretending that the dollar 
signs and hearings are a significant response while our youth 
are falling further and further behind. They do not know where 
the next meal will come from, and they're desperate for 
structure and normality during a once in a century pandemic.
    House Republicans will not stop fighting to reopen schools 
across this country until every one of them has unlocked their 
doors. We know this is the best way to help our Nation's 
children. Thank you and I yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Owens follows:]

Statement of Hon. Burgess Owens, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Early 
             Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    For over a year, students across our country have been negatively 
impacted by school closures. This has had an even greater impact on 
foster, homeless, and housing insecure youth. For these children, 
school is so much more than a place to learn; it's a place that 
provides the meals, structure, and safety they don't necessarily 
receive anywhere else.
    The most frustrating part of this situation is that the research 
demonstrates--and has demonstrated for months now--that school-aged 
children are less likely to transmit the virus to others, including 
adults.
    Further reducing this risk . . . nearly 80 percent of teachers had 
received at least one dose of the vaccine by the beginning of April. 
There is absolutely no reason for our schools to remain closed and yet, 
half of school districts across the country are still not offering 
full-time in-person instruction.
    To the students who have gone hungry, whose abuse has gone 
unnoticed, or who have had no recourse from the streets--I would like 
to explain what has kept our schools closed for so long. It's not the 
science.
    The Biden administration has relied too much on the desire of the 
teachers unions, causing unnecessary, prolonged closures that continue 
to inflict real harm on children lacking a home or stable family life.
    We finally heard last week from the President of the American 
Federation of Teachers--the same union that lobbied the CDC to keep our 
schools closed--that schools should reopen for in-person learning 5 
days a week in the fall . . . I'm ecstatic that we are finally all in 
agreement on that issue, but it is not good enough. Schools should have 
reopened full time months ago. This wasted time is causing irreparable 
damage to millions of students nationwide.
    In fact, we'll hear from one foster parent about how these closures 
left her children without the attention and instruction they needed to 
be successful in the classroom. And how countless other children facing 
abuse and neglect were denied the life line offered by in-person 
instruction.
    My Democrat colleagues love to argue that throwing more money at 
this problem is the solution. They will spend this hearing today 
highlighting
    President Biden's American Rescue Plan ``relief'' scheme, in which 
20 percent of the funding for the Elementary and Secondary School 
Emergency Relief fund must go toward addressing learning loss. They'll 
talk about money for homeless education. This is the third hearing on 
the impact of the pandemic and each time they have highlighted their 
desire for more money, instead our children's need to get back in the 
classroom.
    The fact is that no amount of money will fix the harm that has been 
done and continues to be done to these children and their families.
    What our children need is to get back into school . . . In-person. 
Full-time. None of the so called ``relief'' funding will go toward 
reopening schools this spring. What are the children who are homeless, 
housing insecure, or in foster care supposed to do until then? 
Democrats have no good answer.
    Sadly, my friends across the aisle are willing to ignore the needs 
of vulnerable children, pretending that dollar signs and hearings are a 
sufficient response for our youth who are falling further and further 
behind. They do not know where their next meal will come from, and are 
desperate for structure and normalcy during a once-in-a-century 
pandemic.
    House Republicans will not stop fighting to reopen schools across 
this country until every one of them has unlocked their doors. We know 
that this is the best way to help the Nation's children.
    Thank you, I yield back.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, thank you very much Mr. Owens, 
Ranking Member Owens. Now without objection, all other Members 
who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so 
by submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in 
Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on June 2, 2021.
    I will now introduce our witnesses. Ms. Jennifer Erb-
Downward is a Senior Research Associate at Poverty Solutions at 
the University of Michigan where she oversees research projects 
and assists with the analysis and translation of research 
findings regarding family homelessness to inform local, State, 
and Federal policy.
    Ms. Erb-Downward has extensive experience in policy 
analysis, program implementation and best practice research 
around family homelessness, behavioral health, chronic illness, 
and the reduction of health disparities. She is passionate 
about addressing child homelessness in Michigan where she grew 
up.
    If I'm misstating your name, please forgive me. Ms. Erb-
Downward holds a master's degree in public health from New York 
University.
    Mrs. Michelle Linder-Coates serves as an Executive Director 
for the School District of Philadelphia's Office of Early 
Childhood, and is responsible for the implementation and 
oversight of Federal, State, and locally funded pre-
kindergarten and Head Start programs serving 8,000 children in 
more than 100 community-based early learning centers in 
Philadelphia.
    She's also a Member of Pennsylvania Early Learning Council 
which works to expand and improve early learning and 
development services for young children and their families 
across the State. Ms. Linder-Coates has been an educator for 
more than 25 years, and was a Head Start parent and student 
herself.
    She holds a master's degree in education and administration 
and serves on a number of advisory committees that are 
instrumental in shaping and elevating the importance of early 
childhood education in Pennsylvania.
    Ms. Gretchen Davis is a mother to three children, two of 
whom are biological, and one adopted through foster care. As a 
foster family in Arlington County for over 8 years, Ms. Davis 
often speaks in community forums for the Arlington County 
Department of Human Services, encouraging others to consider 
fostering.
    Prior to fostering Ms. Davis served as an elementary and 
middle school teacher for 15 years in both Tennessee and 
Washington, and as an assistant to the Deputy Undersecretary of 
Education during the Bush administration. In light of COVID 
related school closures, Ms. Davis began her involvement in 
Arlington Parents for Education, a local group advocating for 
the immediate return to an in-person education for all 
students.
    Ms. Davis holds an undergraduate degree and a master's in 
education from Vanderbilt University.
    Dr. James F. Lane, Doctor of Education, serves as an 
Executive Officer of the Virginia Department of Education which 
is the administrative agency for the Commonwealth public 
schools. In this role he oversees 132 divisions for the 
Commonwealth public schools, and also serves as the Secretary 
of the State Board of Education.
    Dr. Lane holds a Doctorate in education from the University 
of Virginia, a master's degree in social administration from 
North Carolina State University, and a master's and bachelor's 
degree in teaching from the University of North Carolina at 
Chapel Hill.
    We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and 
look forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witnesses 
that we have read your written statements and they will appear 
in full in the hearing record.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) and Committee practice, 
each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five 
minute summary of your written statement. Before you begin your 
testimony please remember to unmute your microphone. During 
your testimony staff will be keeping track of time and a light 
will blink when time is up.
    Please be attentive to the time. Wrap up when your time is 
over and remute your microphone. If any of you experience 
technical difficulties during your testimony or later in the 
hearing, please stay on the platform, make sure you are muted, 
and use your phone to immediately call the Committee's IT 
director whose number was provided to you in advance.
    We will let all the witnesses make their presentations 
before we move to Member questions. When answering a question 
please remember to unmute your microphone. The witnesses are 
aware of the responsibility to provide accurate information to 
the Subcommittee, and therefore we will proceed with their 
testimony.
    I will first recognize, I hope I'm getting your name right. 
Ms. Erb-Downward.

        STATEMENT OF JENNIFER ERB-DOWNWARD, MPH, SENIOR 
          RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, POVERTY SOLUTIONS AT THE
                     UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

    Ms. Erb-Downward. You're getting my name perfectly right 
thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. OK.
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Owens, 
and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 
the opportunity to testify at this important hearing. I come 
before you today to share my research and what we know about 
the educational implications of homelessness, housing 
instability and foster care among children in the United 
States.
    Data from my work in Michigan, New York City and nationally 
corroborates a growing body of evidence that shows housing 
instability to have negative educational, developmental, and 
health consequences for children. I'm also here today to share 
with you information on the impact the pandemic has had on 
homeless children and youth, and to talk about opportunities 
that funding through the American Rescue Plan brings to address 
these challenges.
    Before I begin, I want to be clear though, that when I talk 
about homelessness, I am referring to children who are homeless 
as defined by Federal education law under the McKinney-Vento 
Act. Pre-pandemic roughly 1 in 16 children under the age of 6 
years were estimated to be homeless.
    An additional 1.4 million homeless children were identified 
in K through 12 schools. The vast majority, 77 percent of these 
children, were staying doubled up in another person's house, 
and therefore were not eligible for HUD housing or shelter 
supports.
    Among children in foster care roughly 440,000 were in 
placements of most recent point in time count. These numbers 
are of concern to this Committee because homeless children face 
significantly worse educational outcomes than their peers, and 
these challenges persist even after stable housing is found.
    My analysis of both Michigan and New York City educational 
data shows this to be true across educational indicators. Third 
through eighth grade students who were formerly homeless had 
almost the same grade level proficiency rates in English and 
math as their currently homeless peers.
    And like their peers who experience homelessness during 
high school, one-quarter of students who experience 
homelessness in middle school dropped out. While housing is 
critical, housing alone does not close the educational gaps 
faced by students who've experienced homelessness.
    No national estimate for the number of children who 
experienced homelessness at any point during their K through 12 
education exists. But for perspective in Michigan 1 in every 10 
students will experience homelessness by the time they graduate 
or leave high school. This is roughly five times the annual 
rate.
    The risk is even greater for black and Hispanic students 
with roughly 1 in 7 experiencing homelessness at some point 
during their K through 12 education. While children in foster 
care face different structural challenges than their homeless 
peers, entering foster care is a form of instability, and 
children in foster care face educational set-backs similar to 
those of their homeless peers.
    Further, a strong intersection exists between homelessness 
and the risk of entering foster care. Children who were 
homeless the prior year had 14 times the risk of entering 
foster care compared to their peers who were not homeless 
during the same year.
    I want to be clear that we're not just talking about 
numbers today, we're talking about children. Brittney is a 
student from Michigan who was homeless when she was 10 years 
old. She was a straight A student, somehow managing her 
schoolwork while living in her family's car with her mother. 
Like so many other children who are unstably housed, just 
getting to school was a challenge.
    She was frequently late and missed more days than school 
attendance policy allowed. As a result, she was suspended for 
150 days. At that time there was no one to advocate for her. No 
one to help connect her to the school transportation supports 
she had a right to under McKinney-Vento law, and no one to work 
with her school to remove the suspension.
    This did not have to be the case for Brittney. She was not 
identified by her school as homeless, and therefore she did not 
receive the educational supports that she needed. The COVID 
pandemic has increased the number of homeless children facing 
challenges like those described by Brittney.
    Survey responses from school homelessness liaisons suggests 
that there has been a 28 percent decrease in the number of 
homeless students identified by schools prior to the pandemic. 
This equates for 420,000 fewer students who are homeless being 
identified and supported by their schools.
    The good news is that the American Rescue Plan recognized 
this problem and has provided 800 million dollars in targeted 
funds to meet the educational needs of homeless children. The 
pandemic has caused hundreds of thousands of children who are 
homeless to slip through the cracks. We now have the 
opportunity to find and support those children.
    Among the many other things these dollars can be used to 
support transportation solutions to help homeless children get 
to school, provide service and housing navigators to support 
early education and college transitions, and to increase 
homeless liaison capacity, particularly in 75 percent of local 
education agencies that currently do not hold a McKinney-Vento 
sub-grant.
    Thank you again for giving me the time to speak at this 
hearing, and I look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Erb-Downward follows:]

              Prepared statement of Jennifer Erb-Downward
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Chairman Sablan: Well, thank you Ms. Erb-Downward. And 
perfect timing I must say. Thank you. We will now hear from 
Mrs. Linder-Coates. Ms. Coates please unmute your microphone 
and you have five minutes.

STATEMENT OF MICHELLE LINDER-COATES, M.Ed., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 
                SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA

    Ms. Linder-Coates. Thank you. Greetings Chair Sablan, 
Ranking Member Owens, and other honorable Members of the 
Committee. Thank you for this opportunity for me to testify at 
the hearing today. My name is Michelle Linder-Coates, and I am 
the Executive Director of Pre-K Partnerships for the School 
District of Philadelphia, which provides Head Start programming 
to over 6,500 three and 4-year old's across the city of 
Philadelphia.
    As you know many of our students and their caregivers face 
great adversity. Our office works to combat this adversity and 
impact of poverty through a comprehensive support model that 
addresses the various conditions students and families face 
outside of the security of the Head Start classroom, 
particularly families experiencing housing challenges and 
children who receive foster care.
    I am honored to speak with you today about the work we have 
done these past 14 months to support Philadelphia's families in 
need. In our program servicing families protected under the 
McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act starts with 
identification and recruitment. Our recruitment and 
identification efforts have been successful through the 
establishment of strong partnerships with many of 
Philadelphia's social services agencies, including forming 
relationships directly with city shelters.
    Monthly we participate in early childhood workshops that 
focus on overseeing relationships and fostering relationships 
with city shelter staff and early childhood staff together, 
which enhances our collective ability to service our families.
    We also attend and host pre-K enrollment fairs at shelters 
which also allows our staff to inform parents about Head Start 
and inform them of all of the services that we offer, and also 
at the same time enroll their children.
    Through this close relationship with shelter staff we've 
also been able to co-complete a self-assessment tool to improve 
services. We like to hear from our families how we are doing 
and how we can better service them. Based on the results of the 
assessment we've changed our Head Start application, all of our 
marketing material, to be more inclusive and eliminating the 
word ``homeless'' as most McKinney-Vento eligible families do 
not identify as such.
    We know that utilizing more common phrases used by families 
such as temporarily living in housing with relatives or 
friends, or are new to the country and looking for housing is a 
softer indicator that families may be McKinney-Vento eligible, 
and it sits better with our families. Once identified, families 
are given top priority as we support families through an 
expedited transition process to school, and addressing 
immediate needs such as clothing, school supplies, temporary 
transportation, and those things that families identify as 
their immediate needs.
    During the pandemic, many families did not feel safe 
participating in face to face options that the district 
offered, and we were unable to participate in many cases in 
helping families understand why it is important for their 
children to attend school.
    So we partnered with our Department of Health, and we 
offered some town hall meetings to help educate families, 
specifically our families who were experiencing homelessness 
and who were in foster care, understand why it is important to 
come back to school, return to school, and understand all of 
the safety protocols that we've put in place in order to 
support them in face to face learning.
    To support our virtual learning, because many of our 
families chose to do digital learning, we ensured that we kept 
students connected by purchasing necessary technology and 
digital curriculums for the teachers, consumables, and non-
consumable learning materials for families to use at home, also 
using funds to train teachers on the use of technology, and 
helping them understand how to best support our youngest 
learners, and our most vulnerable learners in the virtual 
environment.
    For our foster families specifically, we expedite services, 
and also make sure that our social services team establish 
working relationships with and provide contact information for 
the family assigned case manager. Our social services team work 
with the case managers to make sure that they're making 
progress toward the set goals established by the foster 
agencies.
    We also partner with community agencies to provide 
resources to our children in foster care and in families 
experiencing homelessness with healthcare, food, clothing, and 
the like. We saw the impact of the pandemic, as families in our 
program, the homeless families were decreased. I'm sorry.
    I know that was my timer as well. Thank you. I was 
concluding and wrapping up with the idea that we are working 
diligently each day to make a positive impact to assure our 
neediest families have the opportunity for life-long success.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Linder-Coates follows:]

              Prepared statement of Michelle Linder-Coates
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Linder-Coates. That was the 
first time I've ever heard that tuba, thank you for your 
testimony. And next we will hear from Ms. Davis. Ms. Davis 
please unmute your microphone and you have five minutes.

         STATEMENT OF MS. GRETCHEN DAVIS, FOSTER PARENT

    Ms. Davis. Good afternoon Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member 
Owens, and Members of the Early Childhood, Elementary, 
Secondary Education Sub-Committee, Early Childhood. Thank you 
for the opportunity to speak to you today as you address the 
impact of COVID-19 on students experiencing homelessness and 
children in foster care.
    My husband and I have been foster parents for over 8 years 
in Arlington, Virginia. We have adopted one child through 
foster care who is now 7. We have had 22 other children ranging 
in age from 4 days to 14 years in our home. Being a foster 
family has been the most rewarding, and also the most difficult 
endeavor we have undertaken.
    In March 2020, a week after quarantine began, two girls 
ages 4 and 5 joined our family. We welcomed these scared and 
sad little ones into our home, and over the following days 
began to figure out school for five kids, our own three and two 
foster children. We set up a makeshift classroom and began 
using activities and iPad programs provided by the schools.
    The girls adjusted well in our home, but as often happens 
with kids who have experienced trauma, we saw they were very 
behind in school. Addressing the girls' educational needs was a 
top priority for me, and as I emailed with their teachers it 
was clear the schools were unable to provide the same supports 
these girls would have received if they were in person.
    Instead they were provided a few daily activities totaling 
30 minutes, and a Microsoft Teams call twice a week. From March 
to June the girls made some progress, but not without a lot of 
supplemental tutoring from me.
    I remember last spring what would keep me awake at night 
was not actually my own children's struggles during the 
pandemic, but the damage being done to vulnerable children, 
students who were homeless, in foster care, English language 
learners, families in crisis whose children would not, or could 
not log on, or interact with school through a device.
    Basic academic goals of reading, writing and problem 
solving for many came to a standstill. I had the resources and 
time to support the kids in my care, but what about those who 
did not. The girls returned home in November. Life is not easy, 
but their mother is resilient and has made great strides to 
keep her kids safe.
    The girls are in hybrid education, and they go to school 2 
days a week from 9 to 2:20. Their mother, who needs a job to 
keep her subsidized housing has had a difficult time finding 
work with this abbreviated school schedule, and no extended 
daycare provided. Currently I help her by picking the girls up 
from school, so she can work a full day. I'm glad to help her, 
but once again I lay awake at night thinking about those 
families who do not have that community support.
    Another devastating effect of COVID-19 is the absence of 
mandatory reporting. As a foster parent I'm a mandatory 
reporter. When I notice child abuse or neglect, I'm required by 
law to report it, so that the concern can be investigated. 
Mandatory reporters are a critical safety net.
    We have in the United States for vulnerable children 
teachers, administrators and staff are also mandatory 
reporters. When students are stuck at home and not allowed to 
be out in society, mandatory reporting cannot happen. How can a 
teacher see bruises on a student over a Microsoft Teams call?
    How comfortable will a student feel confiding in a trusted 
adult about sexual abuse over a Zoom call? As a foster parent 
and former teacher, it concerns me that one of the consequences 
of staying shut down for so long is under-reported child abuse 
and neglect.
    I would suggest to you as we look back on how we handle 
COVID-19, and how we handled it as a Nation, that best 
practices going forward ensure that just as grocery stores and 
hospitals need to be open, schools also offer critical 
lifelines for communities. All are staffed by essential 
employees.
    Just like hospitals care for sick people, schools care for 
children who are among the most vulnerable populations we have. 
Teachers have always been on the frontlines for children. I was 
a teacher for 15 years and never questioned that for a minute. 
Why now all of a sudden are many teachers hidden away, and not 
able to do what they do best, which is to care for and educate 
children.
    Many public-school systems have yanked stability and 
support from children and handed them iPads and free Wi-Fi. In 
my experience as a teacher, a mother, and a foster mother, I am 
convinced that a good education is a lifeline for all children. 
Schools have been closed way too long.
    What began as an important step to flatten the curve and 
protect people from an unknown virus became over a year of 
excuses and panic to make everything just right, and 100 
percent safe before reopening.
    Vulnerable children do not have the luxury of this time. 
Many local educational agencies, including my own, have not 
prioritized return to school for vulnerable children. The 
services they have provided during the past year have been 
insufficient. Our children deserve much better. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Davis follows:]

                  Prepared statement of Gretchen Davis
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Davis, for your 
testimony, and finally we'll hear from Dr. Lane. Dr. Lane 
please unmute your microphone and you have five minutes.

        STATEMENT OF DR. JAMES F. LANE, Ed.D., VIRGINIA 
        SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, VIRGINIA 
                    DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

    Mr. Lane. Thank you. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Owens, 
and Members of the House Educational and Labor Subcommittee I 
am pleased to have this opportunity to be here this morning to 
share how this pandemic has uniquely impacted our youth in 
foster care and students experiencing homelessness, and how we 
have responded.
    One of the most market insights to come from the COVID-19 
pandemic is just how critical a role our schools play in every 
aspect of our students and families' lives. Schools are more 
than the educational experiences they provide. They also serve 
as safe havens, reliable sources of food, connection, and 
stability.
    Over the last year our students without stable housing, 
reliable access to devices or broadband, or difficult home 
environments felt the effects of the pandemic most profoundly 
due to interruptions in their connection to these vital 
services and supports.
    For multiple reasons Virginia has worked hard to encourage 
or offer safe in-person learning to our students. Schools have 
risen to the challenge and consistently continued to expand in-
person learning opportunities, while prioritizing the needs of 
students most disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
    This has been made possible only with the financial support 
from the Federal Government to help schools cover all costs 
from all manner of health and safety, including educational 
technology and student support services.
    So I want to recognize the heroic efforts of teachers, 
support staff, school counselors, nurses, principals, and 
administrators and thank them all for their commitment and 
dedication to students. The pandemic has also strained the 
systems that support these students in unprecedented ways, and 
the strain on the system has been two-fold.
    First, we have seen increased demand for services. Families 
in Virginia have suffered from the economic repercussions of 
the pandemic. The same economic disruption, stress, trauma, and 
logistical considerations of the pandemic have disrupted 
existing foster families and created conditions that will 
likely increase the number of youth in need of foster 
placements.
    These factors are interrelated, and the compounding effects 
against spikes in both rates of student homelessness and 
housing instability, and unique strains on the foster care 
system.
    The second major strain on the system has been related to 
limitations on quickly identifying and serving families, remote 
learning, virtual family visitations, fewer home visits have 
disguised some of the telltale signs that students are 
struggling.
    But Virginia has a solid foundation upon which to build 
because of the previous State and Federal investment in the 
systems that support homeless and foster youth, including our 
highly regarded work with Project Hope, Virginia's program for 
the education of homeless children and youth.
    However, even before the pandemic resources were 
insufficient to meet the demand of families in need, so we've 
worked collaboratively to strategically leverage new Federal 
resources, to scale existing programs, and meet the needs in 
new ways.
    Our department sought to bring many partners into the 
conversation around supporting homeless students. This has 
included bi-weekly calls with local McKinney-Vento liaisons so 
they could receive updates, ask questions, and share challenges 
and success stories. That collaboration has informed new 
technical assistance, including videos for liaisons, social-
emotional learning quick guides, and new grants to scale work 
to meet the need.
    This collaboration is focused on sharing best practices, 
and planning for the strategic deployment of the remaining 
America Rescue Plan Homeless Children and Youth Funds when they 
are made available to states.
    Additionally, the joint agency team has continued to meet 
through the pandemic to provide guidance, policies to foster 
family connections, and communication across agencies and 
jurisdictions. Virginia and our localities have funded 
mechanisms such as virtual visitations, reimbursement for 
COVID-related testing or treatment, and virtual training and 
support for foster families.
    Even though we all want in-person learning, the virtual 
communications environment has its unique benefits for some 
foster youth. For instance, one student in foster care was able 
to visit a relative in another State for a week due to virtual 
learning helping support family connections that are crucial to 
the well-being of children in foster care. The local department 
that shared this story also stated that they have felt an even 
stronger relationship and more support with their local school 
divisions around children and youth in foster care during the 
pandemic.
    They specifically said they have seen a shift from, 
``That's not possible,'' responses to, ``How do we make this 
work,'' perspectives in their conversations.
    In conclusion, the response of our agency and local school 
divisions, COVID-19 has made possible through additional 
Federal funding intended for pandemic relief. As we begin to 
emerge from the pandemic, we know that the impacts will ripple 
through communities for years to come.
    As such, sustained and flexible resources will continue to 
be necessary to ensure that states can be responsive and can 
provide the services necessary for these students to succeed. 
On behalf of Virginia students and school leaders, thank you 
for the significant investments that have been made in our 
schools and our students.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Lane follows:]

                  Prepared statement of James F. Lane
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much Dr. Lane. All the 
witnesses are just almost perfect in their timing. I just would 
like to say that only if we could figure out a way to just 
eliminate homelessness and foster care for school children and 
it's possible even to just remove poverty from the Nation.
    Now we'll go to Member questions. I will ask staff to bring 
back the bell if necessary, but under Committee Rule 9(a) we 
will now question witnesses under the five-minute rule. I will 
be recognizing Subcommittee Members in seniority order.
    Again, to ensure that the Member's five-minute rule is 
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time and the timer 
will show a blinking light when the time has expired, and maybe 
bring back the bell if necessary. So please be attentive to the 
time, wrap up when your time is over and remute your 
microphone.
    Now I would like to begin recognizing Members questioning 
by recognizing a teacher, a National Teacher of the Year Mrs. 
Congresswoman Hayes. Jahana please unmute your microphone and 
you have five minutes.
    Mrs. Hayes. Thank you, Chairman, Sablan, and thank you for 
having this hearing. And thank you to all the witnesses. I have 
remarks prepared, but I just want to start by saying it is 
incredibly exhausting on this Committee when hearing after 
hearing we're having conversations as if we don't all recognize 
the importance of getting kids back to school.
    I think both democrats and republicans share that. We've 
tried to do that safely. We're handling a once in a generation 
pandemic that none of us asked for, that none of us can account 
for, and we've all just tried to do the best that we can to 
protect students, families, teachers, and I say this in every 
hearing, to hear over and over teachers' unions berated.
    I remind you of the irony in the fact that those unions are 
made up of teachers, the same people that you're saying your 
children need to go back to because they are the life blood, 
and they are the ones who invest in them, and nurture them and 
they are the ones who are the mandated reporters.
    Those same teachers are listening to these hearings and 
being demoralized over and over and over again as if they're 
lazy, and too demanding, and only thinking of themselves. And I 
can assure you having been in the classroom for 15 years, 
there's no teacher that wakes up and does that job every day 
that doesn't first think about their students and children.
    So it's just worth saying that we want kids to go back to 
school. We want every school to open. We want kids to grow and 
thrive and learn in those environments, but enough of this, 
Democrats don't want kids to go to school. That is just not 
true, and it is the reason why we voted overwhelming for 
funding and support and resources to assist with those 
openings.
    So my question for you Ms. Erb-Downward, we've heard about 
all of these students and I worked very closely with McKinney-
Vento in my school district, and we were a Title I school 
district with so many children who lived in poverty. My 
Connecticut State Department of Children and Families reports 
that most of the families that are struggling with homelessness 
also report poverty conditions, being disconnected from 
services, and these underlying things that are not abuse.
    So at a time when poverty could be the underlying factor, 
and not abuse, especially coming out of this pandemic. We're 
going to see so many families who are dealing with just 
different ripple effect issues. How can we be sure that those 
families are not subjected to unnecessary investigations, and 
rather are helped by safety net programs that can help them to 
stabilize their families and get out of poverty, even though it 
may present as you know what someone else might call neglect or 
abuse.
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Thank you so much for this question. I 
think it's a really, really great one, and it comes up 
frequently among both community organizations and among 
families. There is a great fear among families that if they 
acknowledge their homelessness that they will be at risk of 
losing their children.
    I think the statistics that I shared, that you know there's 
a 14 times greater risk of children who are homeless entering 
in the foster care in the next year than their peers who are 
housed, is really telling of you know that challenge.
    One critical piece there, so the first thing is I think 
that we need to understand that more, and we need to 
acknowledge that intersection. And I think we need to have more 
frank conversations about the fact that homelessness and 
poverty alone are not reasons that a child should be removed 
from their family. That is in the guidelines mandatory 
reporting guidelines. You know I recognize that as a mandated 
reporter, this can be a very challenging thing to disentangle.
    But homelessness of itself, by itself, is not abuse. So how 
many children could we potentially be preventing from removal 
if we were actually just addressing the underlying instability 
there?
    I think right now with the American Rescue Plan there are 
some resources that exist that can be used to help families and 
one of the great things about the 800 million dollars that's 
been allocated to serve homeless families, is we have an 
opportunity to reach those families and bridge some of those 
gaps.
    So for example, 77 percent of families are not eligible for 
HUD or shelter supports because they're living or staying 
doubled up temporarily with another family. You know this 
really cuts people out of services, but we have the opportunity 
because these dollars are flexible in their funding that we can 
bridge those gaps.
    So for example, a homelessness liaison could use dollars to 
temporarily put a family up in a hotel. Now this is not 
supposed to be the money supplanting other dollars for hotel 
stays or shelter, but if you take that money and help that 
family into a hotel for a few days, they can be eligible for 
HUD housing supports. That's giving them access without any 
student assists.
    Mrs. Hayes. I'm sorry my time has expired, but I so 
appreciate your comments because that is the exact intent of 
the legislation that we passed in the American Rescue Plan to 
hit those core poverty issues and lift our children out of 
those situations. Mr. Chair I'll submit the rest of my 
questions and with that I yield back. I'm sorry for going over.
    Chairman Sablan. OK. Now I understand that the Ranking 
Member of the full Committee Dr. Foxx please unmute, and you 
have five minutes.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you Mr. Chairman I appreciate it, and I 
appreciate our witnesses being here today. My questions are for 
Ms. Davis. Ms. Davis thank you for your testimony and thank you 
for your family's willingness to participate in the foster 
system and love these children.
    I truly hope there's a place in heaven for you all. I like 
when witnesses bring recommendations to our hearings, and 
you're the second parent to testify before the Subcommittee 
about the essential nature of schools. Many of us agree the 
initial closures last spring were reasonable given what was not 
known about the Coronavirus at the time.
    But you argue for treating schools like hospitals and 
grocery stores that never close. Could you explain that in more 
detail?
    Chairman Sablan. Ms. Davis, I think your microphone.
    Ms. Davis. I'm sorry. Thank you for that question. I just 
quite simply believe that schools are just as critical as 
hospitals. Learning is so critical for students and online is a 
poor substitute for in-person. It's important to have face 
time, and I'm not talking about the app. I'm talking about face 
time with teachers.
    It's important for schools to provide as we've said over 
and over again the many other supports to families. My precious 
family that we are still very close with even though the 
children are not in our home anymore, they struggle daily 
because school is not open, and mom is struggling to figure out 
how to work on abbreviated hours, and figure out how to manage 
when the supports that she relies on dropping her child off at 
8 a.m. and picking them up at 5 after daycare, has just been 
stripped away.
    And what baffles me is the disconnect in knowing what we 
need to do and seeing districts around the country that have 
done it, that have gone back in October and figured it out. Put 
on their masks, figure out social distance guidelines, and went 
to work. They figured out how to do it, yet there are so many 
communities like my own, in my own school district, Arlington 
Public Schools, that are just stuck and paralyzed.
    And it just baffles me, and it has frustrated parents in 
the communities when we see the solution. It's not rocket 
science. Teachers want to do the best job they can, and they 
know that it's in person. I have to be honest the teachers have 
made lemonade out of lemons in this situation, but they're not 
able to do what they need to do because they're not in-person.
    Ms. Foxx. I agree with you. I think most teachers want to 
be there and they have good hearts, they want to do it. And God 
bless you for continuing to work with the mother of the foster 
children. We've been critical of teachers unions that have 
resisted efforts to reopen schools. Again, there's a difference 
between the teachers unions and the teachers themselves.
    In response we've been assured their resistance is really 
based on the desire to protect the health and safety of 
children. But it sounds like you believe the opposite is true, 
that keeping schools closed has been harmful to kids. Do you 
believe long-term closure of schools was the best way to 
protect the health and safety of children?
    I think your answer to that is not, correct?
    Ms. Davis. Correct.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you. You also discussed in your testimony 
the role of teachers and other school personnel as mandatory 
reporters when abuse is suspected. You also talk about the 
problem of under-reporting of abuse during the pandemic because 
of virtual learning.
    From your experience as a foster parent, and a teacher, why 
is in-person interaction so important in identifying potential 
abuse, and what do you think will be the long-term implication 
of the reduced reporting?
    Ms. Davis. Quite simply you can't report what you don't 
see. And I know that teachers, I have heard lots of amazing 
stories of teachers who have caught abuse online and sent 
school officers over and CPS got involved and those families 
were helped. But that is only what they see at that moment in 
time. And the amazing thing about teachers is that they are 
very intuitive, and they rely on face time with students, 
watching students carefully, interacting with students 
personally to pick up on subtle issues and problems.
    Pediatricians have said there's going to be a huge mental 
health crisis. We've seen reports by even the CDC it's better 
for them to be in school. I mean it makes sense. And I do worry 
about raising a generation of children who have been scarred 
for 1five months by this pandemic when really things could have 
been back to normal back in October.
    Ms. Foxx. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. I now 
recognize Mr. Yarmuth. Mr. Yarmuth please unmute you have five 
minutes sir.
    Mr. Yarmuth. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman, and thanks 
also to all of the witnesses. This is a topic that I have a 
great personal interest in. My district is the founding place 
of National Safe Place. I was the author and principal sponsor 
of the Runaway Homeless Youth Act, so I've got a lot of 
background in the challenges that we face.
    And I also just want to mention because it's related, but 
not directly on point, that my district has one of the largest 
school systems in the country 100,000 kids, and like in most 
urban school districts we have over the course of a year 50 
percent of our students change school one or more times. And 
it's been an amazing experience talking to the teachers who are 
being held accountable year after year for teaching moving 
targets.
    And this is something again related because I think that 
there is some point the lessons we have learned through this 
pandemic, the ability to use technology might have some 
relevance to this question of mobility in the school systems as 
well. And I was going to ask the question that actually Ms. 
Erb-Downward addressed, the significance of the 800 million 
dollars through the American Rescue Plan in dealing with these 
issues.
    And I'm wanting to ask Mr. Lane about that if he can 
elaborate on Ms. Erb-Downward's answer, and also talk about the 
potential for technology to deal with some of these other 
issues, including mobility because most of those students who 
are mobile are essentially homeless. They're living with an 
aunt, they're living with a grandmother, they're shuffled off 
to different people and that's where they end up just 
disconnected from many at school.
    Mr. Lane. Thank you Representative Yarmuth. The 800 million 
dollars is absolutely essential to supporting our needs to 
recover from the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, Virginia 
struggled to secure sufficient funding to meet all of the 
requests from school divisions, especially when McKinney-Vento 
funds were awarded on a competitive basis.
    So in order to address the significant new needs as you 
said, the American Rescue Plan provided nearly 800 million 
dollars and in Virginia this means our award will go from 1.7 
million dollars a year, and increase by an additional 13 
million dollars. This will allow us to scale up programs, 
support more programs in localities through grants, reach many 
more families and communities in the Commonwealth, and continue 
to create endeavors for improving outreach.
    The funding from the ARP will not only allow us to mend the 
gap and provide services to programs and initiatives that have 
been under resourced but is also an opportunity for us to shift 
our thinking from being reactive to proactive because our 
funding at the level it was at really required a reactive 
approach. And so addressing that now alongside planning for 
ongoing implications.
    And of course as it relates to technology, many of our 
localities, many of our school divisions have taken that 
funding that we've been able to provide in grants and in other 
ways, and incredibly expanded technology opportunities.
    So technology has allowed us to identify students as 
homeless or youth in foster care to receive educational 
services and supports from their home school, and technology 
allowed us also to continue the education for students when we 
could not. This population of students can experience 
heightened levels of transiency, so technology has been an aid 
in ensuring stability for students as they move from place to 
place, so they can continue their education and stay put in 
their home school.
    Mr. Yarmuth. Great. Thank you for that response, and I just 
wanted to add you know unfortunately, there's been so much 
politicization of this issue about schools staying open or not 
open. I know in my State of Kentucky the Governor has been 
taking flak from a lot of people basically on the other side of 
the partisan aisle about keeping schools closed, but schools 
have actually been open in many parts of our State since last 
fall.
    I was talking to a school superintendent in eastern 
Kentucky, and they've been open since last September or 
October. The problem is that half the kids, the families refuse 
to send their kids to school even though they were open and 
available in the classroom.
    So this is not as cut and dry of an issue as it may seem as 
to whether we open or close schools, there's a lot of elements 
involved there, but my time is expired, and I yield back and 
thank you for your response.
    Chairman Sablan. All right. Thank you very much Mr. 
Yarmuth. I now would like to recognize the Ranking Member of 
the Subcommittee Mr. Owens. Sir you have five minutes. I think 
you need to unmute your microphone.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you once again Mr. Chair and all those who 
are testifying. I'd just like to say before I start my 
questioning, there's a difference in the teachers that love 
their profession, love the teaching, and those that are leading 
these unions that obviously have a different agenda. My dad 
taught as a professor for 40 years, my mom was a junior high 
teacher.
    I understand what it is to be in a home where education is 
paramount and is loved by those who are teaching. So kudos to 
those teachers out there trying to do their best, but at the 
end of the day we have the data now my friends. There's a 
difference in the way the blue states and red states have 
approached this, and many people in the blue states are leaving 
because they want their kids to go to school and have a normal 
life, and not be traumatized by this process.
    And until today we still have with all the data, we still 
have people they have districts, and do not have the good 
options for these children to go back to school. I just want to 
make that point. Ms. Davis you talked in your testimony about 
the academic struggles of foster children you care for during 
the pandemic.
    A parent colleague of yours testified before this 
Subcommittee a couple weeks ago, and one of his frustrations 
was a lack of planning within the school system to address the 
learning loss that has occurred. And then according to a press 
report just last week, Arlington County Public Schools sent a 
letter to parents saying that too few teachers are willing to 
teach summer schools.
    This leaves many elementary students not able to 
participate and to catch up. How frustrating is it for parents, 
and what do you think will be the long-term consequences to our 
children?
    Ms. Davis. Thank you. That is a great question. I was 
shocked when I heard that my public school system was only 
going to offer summer school to 38 percent of the children 
eligible and was going to send the rest of them to virtual 
Virginia. I know for my foster daughter who will be in need of 
serious summer school services, I pray she's one of those 38 
percent, because I went through summer school with her last 
year, and it was a disaster online.
    Young elementary school students do not learn well sitting 
in front of a screen. Elementary, as many of your know, 
teaching is you're moving, you're going to centers, you're 
around the classroom, you're trying things, you're hands on, 
you're doing all kinds of things to learn to read, write and 
problem solve that are kinesthetic and tactile, and to sit in a 
screen and to go to chat rooms and to be on computer programs 
just doesn't work.
    And I am worried about the achievement gap, the widening of 
the achievement gap in our country as a result of not choosing 
to be in-person, and not letting teachers do what they know 
they need to do to educate, especially elementary kids.
    I had three children in my home who were learning to read 
on a screen. And it actually has prompted me to go back to 
school to learn to teach reading because I was shocked at how 
ineffective the online education was. And these teachers were 
trying their hardest, but they know, and I know, that they need 
to be in school.
    I worry about kids not being able to catch up sir. I worry 
about the dropout rate, kids getting so frustrated, and when 
they can dropout they're gone. I worry about kids not being on 
grade level. And you know if my school district is any 
indication, and they're only able to educate 30 percent to play 
catch up in the summer, that's a real problem.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you. And I just want to say that we are 
talking about foster children, homeless children, and housing 
insecure children. We're not talking about the kids that you 
and I, all of this on this conference. Not your children, not 
your grandchildren, these are kids who are already starting off 
behind, and they're not allowed to go to school.
    This is a travesty my friends, and there's a difference. 
The data will show, and we'll look back on this year and see 
that there was a different way to approached this, and there's 
no excuse for us to put these kids at risk and have them go 
through the trauma they will be dealing with over the coming 
years.
    So I just wanted to make that point and thank you so much 
Ms. Davis truly for your efforts and everyone else here on this 
panel who is really trying to make this thing work and I yield 
back.
    Chairman Sablan. All right thank you Ranking Member Owens. 
Let me now recognize Mr. DeSaulnier. Sir, unmute and you have 
five minutes.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I really want 
to thank you and the Ranking Member for having this hearing and 
our Chairman and Ranking Member of the full Committee. And I 
want to thank all our panelists as well. Ms. Erb-Downward I 
spent a lot of time when I was in local government as a county 
supervisor in the Bay area on these issues, and the continuum 
of care for at-risk kids.
    A lot of those strategies that we did in partnership with 
this Committee actually, my predecessor who was the former 
Chair of this Committee, we worked with crisis as what we are 
talking about today, and these kids, but then continuum of care 
is family planning, prenatal care, reduction in teen 
pregnancies.
    In California we're very proud of the fact that we were 
able to do that significantly. The whole country has. But the 
dysfunctionality of the system was always painful. So you talk 
about stress and trauma, Federal statistics Ms. Erb-Downward, 
what I want to ask you is it shows that most kids are actually 
in the system for not a long period of time, like 50 percent of 
the time, but we know the struggle of having a CPS worker going 
out to a house in urban areas of California the retention rate 
for CPS workers is 50 percent.
    A young person goes in, gets a master's degree, knows what 
they're getting into and still leaves. Retention is a problem. 
So getting the system to work and the stress on those kids in 
the system again is a continuum of care issue.
    I wondered if you could give us, the Committee, what you've 
experienced in your research about fixing the system, but the 
short-term situations where kids are put in and out of the 
foster care system. And then second to that family unification 
which we all want isn't successful often times, so maybe you 
could tell us a little bit about the research on that and best 
practices to avoid that.
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Sure that's a great question. One thing 
that I would like to start off with though is that you know in 
the research that I shared in my testimony it shows that there 
are incredibly negative outcomes educationally for homeless 
children and for foster care students.
    But that does not have to be the case, and I think that is 
the point of this hearing today. You know what we see in the 
data is that it's the instability that causes negative 
outcomes. So for example, transferring schools mid-year, every 
time a student transfers school mid-year it's estimated that 
they are set back academically by up to 6 months.
    Currently you know both in foster care and under McKinney-
Vento law, children have a right to school stability, and that 
is really critically important. Yet in the homelessness data 
we've seen, 20 percent, 1 in 5 students transferring schools 
mid-year.
    So that means that the system is as you say not working. 
But if we can identify kids, if we can identify kids and if we 
can provide them that point of support and connection, somebody 
to help them along their way, those outcomes don't have to be 
negative.
    So there was a story of a young woman in Michigan. She was 
homeless prior to entering foster care. She entered foster care 
when her mother passed away. She transferred schools 18 times. 
She's attended 18 different schools prior to graduating. But 
the point is she did graduate, and the reason she graduated was 
because she had an educational mentor who was working with her 
and helping her through those transitions.
    In the end she did end up finishing high school through a 
virtual program. That doesn't mean that virtual programs are 
the answer to every situation, but it was the ability of that 
person working with her, that person who knew her transitions, 
who knew her continuously across those points in time that was 
able to help her overcome these huge obstacles, recover credits 
that she was losing in high school every single time she 
transferred schools.
    So I guess the bottom line in terms of your question is 
that what we need to address is we need to find kids before the 
experience the instability. We need to make sure that if you 
identify a child when they're homeless, when they're in foster 
care, if the school is engaged there, and you could prevent 
that child from transferring, that is going to reduce their 
risk of being chronically absent from school.
    Chronic absenteeism as everyone here knows, one of the 
biggest predictors of grade level proficiency and graduation 
rates. So we have to be active early, and that is what you know 
the funding here that Dr. Lane was talking about, really allows 
us to do. We have been in a reactive situation for years and 
years where, even prior to the pandemic, we were not close to 
identifying all of the children who are homeless. And now we 
have an opportunity to do that.
    Mr. DeSaulnier. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes. Now I'd like to recognize Mr. 
Grothman. Sir, you have five minutes.
    Mr. Grothman. Thank you. I will talk to Gretchen Davis 
again. First of all thank you for all you've done. It sounds 
like you touched a number of children's lives since you've 
embarked on this path. It's really incredible.
    I'd like to ask you, you know we've heard concerns about 
the changes in life that foster children have, you know 
bouncing from school to school, or parent to parent. You did 
mention that it's important, particularly important for these 
folks to be in school. I know in my district you hear 
complaints that for whatever reason some of the more rural 
school districts and the private schools managed to stay open, 
and some of the larger urban districts for whatever reason were 
not able to stay open.
    But I wondered if in general you could comment on the 
benefits of in-person schooling, but also what you think we can 
do to avoid the bouncing around that we just heard about, you 
know, going from school to school. And in particular, how that 
affects people in a foster setting, and perhaps maybe even 
elaborate a little bit beyond what we talked about here.
    Maybe the importance of somebody staying with you and their 
birth parent, that sort of thing.
    Ms. Davis. OK. Well I think stability is huge. And schools 
providing stability and a place for kids to go, and parents 
relying on that stability is huge. Foster parents and 
biological parents. And so when you have a school that's 
functioning as it should, and is open, especially for the most 
vulnerable kids, then those services and that stability can be 
utilized.
    When there's a disconnect between schools not being open, 
and the rest of the country trying to get back to normal, it 
makes it really hard for these families because the families 
have to go back to work, and foster parents have to go back to 
work, but yet the kids are still at home.
    And I've talked about you know for some reason we're not on 
school on Mondays. It's asynchronous learning day, and the 
reason for that is to provide special support for students. But 
I'm not sure I'm seeing the special supports for students on 
those Mondays.
    I think you know families rely on the stability that school 
brings, and our schools are amazing and the programs that are 
provided, and the safety nets that are provided we're just not 
utilizing them now. We know what helps kids. We know what 
reduces the dropout rate.
    We know what closes the achievement gap. We know how to 
teach reading well, and it starts with an excellent good-
quality teacher who is with their students in the classroom. 
And as far as foster parents and what you know their job has 
been made harder by not being in-person in a lot of ways.
    One of my jobs is to bridge the gap between families and 
issues that they have and to help families work together well, 
and it's hard when I cannot look the mom or the father in the 
eye and be in person with them. It's hard to do that on a 
screen. And so I'm just ready for people to go back to doing 
what we know works which is educating kids well and in-person.
    Mr. Grothman. OK. I'm sure you know a lot of other people 
in the same position as you. And like I said in my district for 
whatever reason, it seems to me the relatively rural schools 
were able to stay in session for all this. I think just about 
every private school was able to stay in session, but some of 
the larger school districts weren't.
    And I'm sure you as well have seen different school 
districts reach different results, and I guess that's the 
result of local control. But have you seen any reasons why it 
would be justified for some schools to kind of shut down or put 
children in a position in which they have to teach virtually as 
opposed to other schools that are able to provide a stable in-
person experience for the kids? It's going to be a big deal for 
summer school coming up if some schools still don't do in-
person summer school.
    I mean my goodness, the pandemic is almost over here, but 
can you see any justifications for it? Can you just comment on 
that in general?
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much for your good 
question, but maybe Ms. Davis can submit her answer in writing. 
Your time is up.
    Mr. Grothman. OK. Well thank you very much for giving me 
the five minutes.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, sir. Next up I'd like Mrs. 
McBath, Lucy you unmute your microphone and you have five 
minutes please.
    Mrs. McBath. Thank you, Chairman. And I just really want to 
thank all of our witnesses that are here this morning. Thank 
you so much for testifying in what is a very, very timely 
conversations that we're having. And Chairman Sablan thank you 
so much for prepping for this hearing.
    I think everyone here kind of agree that children are 
absolutely our future, and it's our responsibility as 
legislators of us that are here today to ensure that every 
child gets the quality education that they need and that they 
deserve. And I think you know we all know that COVID-19 has, 
you know, this pandemic has just exacerbated the inequities 
that we already knew existed in America.
    So you know today I'm grateful that we're bringing 
attention to the children who have been experiencing 
homelessness, or who currently are in foster care, and the 
children who have already struggled to get you know the support 
that they need to stay in school, so thank you for this today.
    I represent Georgia, and just within the past year Georgia 
had around 14,000 children in foster care. It's a huge number. 
And according to the 2018 Atlanta Youth County Study, over 
3,000 youth are currently experiencing homelessness in the 
Atlanta metropolitan area, and that grieves me greatly.
    This number has really remained virtually unchanged since 
the last study was conducted in 2015. And across the State of 
Georgia, you know that number is even higher in the total of 
nearly 40,000 children that are homeless. So as a mother, even 
though I physically don't have my child with me anymore, my 
heart really breaks for these children that are not only having 
to navigate you know the unusual obstacles of you know their 
school lessons, but also having access to food and to clothing, 
and specifically under the tragedy of the pandemic.
    Mrs. Linder-Coates, one of my questions is for you. You 
know we know that many students have lost great instructional 
time during this pandemic year. And although school closures 
have been just devastating for all our children, and that's 
what we've heard over and over again, the younger children in 
particular who have always had a harder time learning 
virtually.
    They've been hit particularly hard by the effects of COVID-
19. How does your program plan to address this issue in the 
coming months and beyond to support our young children, and 
particular those children experiencing homelessness and 
children in foster care?
    Ms. Linder-Coates. Thank you for that question. So 
specifically we will be using funds this summer to provide 
programing for students to ensure that they have the chance to 
catch up. And our youngest children who have participated, many 
who have participated in virtual programing, we're giving them 
the first opportunity with our homeless families, and our 
foster families giving first priority to take those seats.
    Just going back a little bit to understand why in some 
instances the summer program may only be able to be offered to 
a smaller number of children in great part with our community 
is you know we don't have as many teachers who are ready to 
move back into that space.
    So while we've been providing virtual pre-K as well as 
hybrid pre-K and full face to face pre-K during the entire 
pandemic, we did have families who chose to stay home with 
their children, whether it was by choice or by chance that had 
to stay home with their children, and specifically, for 
families who are experiencing homelessness, or children who are 
in foster care, we are providing the opportunity for those 
families to sign up for face to face programing during the 
summer in order to not only catch up on instructional time 
that's been lost, but also socialization that's been lost.
    But we do know that our youngest children, they learn best 
by engaging with other children. So as much as having the 
teacher in place to provide the constructs for learning, we 
know that children learn from one another, so we are planning a 
very robust summer program for in face, face to face learning 
for the number of children who we can serve.
    And right now we're starting off with you know 500. We're 
going to try to get 500 children into face to face programming. 
And as we see families are interested, we will continue to add 
to that number, so I'm so thankful you asked that question 
because we're really excited about it.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much Mrs. McBath. And I'd 
like to now call on Mr. Allen, Ranking Member of this 
Subcommittee of the last Congress, and a wonderful colleague. 
You have five minutes sir.
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and again I want to 
thank all of the witnesses. Ms. Davis you have an incredible 
story and legacy that would be good for all of America to hear 
based on what you sacrificed to try to help children.
    My mom and dad were both educators, and so I've been 
involved in this process for a long time. I will comment you 
know I got my colleagues calling this politicizing the issue. I 
call it getting the truth out. The truth is in the 12th 
District of Georgia what I asked our school systems to do is 
the taxpayers pay for the schools to be open.
    And for the students to be taught. And I said that if the 
taxpayers are going to foot the bill, we need to open the 
school whether one student shows up or every student shows up. 
And then the others we will do our best to do online learning 
or hybrids or whatever.
    And our district responded. The largest school system in 
the district has been open since August of last year. The 
teachers have returned. Of course Georgia has led the Nation in 
the recovery as far as COVID. In fact our economy in Georgia 
has returned to pre-COVID numbers, and of course the biggest 
problems we've got is this America Rescue Plan has got 
everybody on enhanced unemployment, we can't get folks to come 
back to work.
    And that's the biggest problem we've got with our economy 
right now. But bottom line is in Arlington I guess my question 
in Arlington, Virginia are the teacher's unions in Arlington 
running the school system?
    Ms. Davis. Not yet.
    Mr. Allen. Not yet OK. Why are the teachers not going back 
to class then?
    Ms. Davis. I think that the administration has not put 
systems in place for that to be possible.
    Mr. Allen. OK.
    Ms. Davis. I think yes you have some teachers that are 
concerned, but overall you have most of the teachers that are 
concerned about the students and not their own health.
    Mr. Allen. Right.
    Ms. Davis. And who are following the science and are 
reading what the American Academy of Pediatrics says, and the 
CDC says, and they say let's go. But you know it doesn't matter 
how much they say that if the administrators are dragging their 
feet. And I've seen an incredible lack of planning and 
creativity in how to get things done.
    And you know just like when you're parenting children, if 
you say mask up let's go, this is what we have to do, kids will 
do it. But if you say oh, I'm so sorry, this is so terrible, 
we've got to figure this out. There's just so many problems, 
then it delays and causes frustration that's not necessary.
    So I think we have amazingly talented teachers, and highly 
qualified teachers. It's just there are not systems in place 
for them to go back to school 5 days right now.
    Mr. Allen. Yes and frankly, like I said in the 12th 
District our teachers, if we had teachers that were compromised 
they did the online teaching, and those that had no pre-
existing conditions or were not compromised were in the 
classroom, so. And we had the funds to put in the enhanced air-
conditioning and filter systems as well.
    In fact, in checking with all of our school systems, all of 
our school systems are financially in great shape, and we have 
pretty much all new facilities in my district. But as far as 
the root of the problem, and I'm running out of time. I've got 
about a minute. But you know we've thrown a lot of money at 
poverty. We've thrown a lot of money at housing, affordable 
housing, and opportunity zones, you name it. And we can't seem 
to fix this problem. It seems to be getting worse.
    Obviously, there's a you know the family has been 
devastated in this country, and you know single parent homes 
seem to be the rule rather than the exception anymore. And you 
know if you get to the root of the problem, you know, obviously 
we keep throwing money at this, but I think we've got to fix 
the problem.
    And can you give me some idea of what you think the real 
root of the problem is in about 7 seconds?
    Ms. Davis. Well I think there needs to be an all-hands-on 
deck approach, and we have the systems in place, we just need 
to use them well. We have the staff, the teachers, we just need 
to use them well and let them do what they do best.
    Mr. Allen. All right thank you I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, thank you Mr. Allen. I now 
recognize Mr. Levin. Unmute your mic and you have five minutes 
sir.
    Mr. Levin. Thank you so much Chairman Sablan for 
recognizing me, and for putting together this really important 
hearing today on education for homeless and foster youth. 
According to research conducted by Poverty Solutions at the 
University of Michigan, research with which our witness Ms. 
Erb-Downward is involved, one of our every 12 Michigan fifth 
graders experiences homelessness at some point during 
elementary school, so troubling. And as with so many of the 
major crises we experience in the United States, students 
experience homelessness more frequently when they're part of 
underserved populations, including rural students, students of 
color, students with disabilities, English language learners, 
LGBTQ plus students, and pregnant, parenting or caregiving 
students.
    So Ms. Erb-Downward, would you elaborate on the 
intersections among students experiencing homelessness and 
these populations that I've mentioned?
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Definitely, and thank you for this 
question. So it is absolutely true that there are 
intersections, and that all of the groups that you've mentioned 
experience particularly disadvantages when it comes to 
homelessness.
    I already referenced that black and Hispanic students are 1 
in 7 are experiencing homelessness at some point before they 
graduate as compared to 1 in 10 homeless students in Michigan. 
You know nationally we see LGBTQ students experiencing 
significantly higher rates of homelessness, that's 2.9 times 
the rate of their non-LGBTQ peers.
    I think when we look at these intersections what we have to 
think about is what are the systems in place to actually serve 
these different populations, and are we actually making sure 
that the services are in place in a way that meets the needs? I 
think it's particularly true and you referenced that rural 
students face a disproportional rate of homelessness too, and I 
think that's a really important point as well because we tend 
to think homelessness is more of an urban issue. You know, 
historically that has been the story that's been told. If you 
were to look at the map of Michigan, you would see that some of 
the highest rates are actually in some of the more rural 
counties of the State. A lot of that has to do with the 
definition of homelessness.
    Families love their children. I think we can you know let's 
start with that. Families love their kids, and they want to 
protect them, and that means that in places which do not have 
shelters which are the majority of places in the United 
States--most places do not have shelters, families don't have 
any other options other than to double-up with another family.
    They do not have access to the services that exist, and we 
limit access to services in many ways because of these 
different definitions, and so going back to you know thinking 
about what opportunities exist now, again, we can bridge some 
of these gaps. For families that are living doubled-up, we have 
the opportunity to make them eligible for other funding streams 
through HUD, right now housing services, housing support 
services.
    Another thing that I you know think it's important to think 
about is the expansion of the child tax credit. I realize that 
this is outside of the Education Committee right now, but when 
we're talking about poverty, homelessness, foster care, housing 
instability is an issue of poverty, and very deep poverty and 
instability.
    Families are just living on the edge.
    Mr. Levin. Listen, I really agree with you. It's a super 
important point, and I also want to point out that the, you 
know, the Department of Education's guidance for the American 
Rescue Plan funds dedicated to serving homeless students 
encourages states to partner with community-based organizations 
that specialize in serving these historically underserved 
populations, so I really hope that we see a lot of great 
programs there.
    But in the little time I have left, I've been listening to 
all this talk on you know schools being open and not. My own 
daughter has been you know first they shut down her school, 
then she was in virtual, then she was in hybrid, then she was 
in virtual, you know, now she's fully back in school.
    But Dr. Lane can you tell us what's going on in Virginia to 
reopen schools because I think people are working very hard on 
this.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, actually you're out of time Mr. 
Levin. Could the answer be sent in, be written, and sent into 
Mr. Levin?
    Mr. Lane. Yes.
    Mr. Levin. All right thanks Dr. Lane and thank you Mr. 
Chairman I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Levin. I now would like to 
recognize Mr. Keller for five minutes, Mr. Keller.
    Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the topic 
of today's hearing, but I'm noticing a pattern of topics during 
the recent activity that seems to ignore the heart of the issue 
at hand. No matter which group of students we're talking about, 
schools remaining closed for in-person instruction hurts every 
single kid.
    Now that so many Americans have had access to vaccines it 
is essential that we do not waste another day before fully and 
safely reopening our schools. We're talking about families in 
poverty, and this subject is very near and dear to me. I grew 
up in a poor family and understand some of the challenges 
children and families in poverty face.
    Having been homeless at one point in time in my life, it's 
not fun. And it's hard. Between first and seventh grade I moved 
about four times. So what we really need to look at, and these 
challenges that are facing our children and families in 
poverty, we need to talk about education, instilling a work 
ethic and hard work, you know.
    Because of education and hard work, I was able to make sure 
that my kids were never homeless, and never had to go to bed 
hungry. So we need to be providing every tool possible to 
create opportunities and help children and families, and the 
best way to do so is through education and good-paying jobs. So 
Ms. Davis thank you for being here today, and for sharing with 
us the challenges of COVID-19 and what it has presented foster 
parents and families with.
    The idea of any child not having enough to eat, or a roof 
over their head is unconscionable. Thank you for the great work 
you have done in your community to provide homes for students 
who need them. Can you say more about what challenges will 
remain for foster families in the aftermath of the pandemic?
    Ms. Davis. Yes, thank you. I think we will be playing a lot 
of catch up. I think we will be trying to mitigate a lot of 
damage. Arlington has a wonderful human services department, 
and they are very hands on with their foster parents. But even 
they have had kind of their hands tied because everything's 
been closed.
    I think when things reopen, I loved hearing what Ms. 
Linder-Coates said about offering surveys and re-evaluating 
what's working, what's not working, and making changes. And I 
think that will have to happen.
    And I can tell you that foster families have always wanted 
to do the hard work, and now there's just going to be a lot 
more hard work to do just to get kids in a safe place. I think 
we have a mental health crisis that we're going to have to deal 
with in children. We haven't even talked about the dangerous 
screen time, and kids being left with devices you know, 
unattended, and the amount of time we have our children on 
screens as a result of this crisis.
    And the impact of that. You know social media can destroy 
children. And we have to as foster parents and as parents and 
as educators, have to mitigate that damage for sure. And so I 
think we've got a lot of fixing to do. I believe that we have 
great systems already in place to do that, we just need to do 
the hard work of helping children.
    Mr. Keller. What would be you advice to governments, school 
districts, local education authorities, school administrators, 
teachers, and others about how to ensure that schools remain 
open and ensure that we don't need to make up any additional 
lost time once schools are open fully and operational again? I 
think Mrs. Davis is still muted.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes, you are muted Ms. Davis.
    Ms. Davis. I'm sorry. I can't see you. Can you hear me?
    Mr. Keller. Yes.
    Ms. Davis. OK I apologize. Advice, well I think we can 
definitely look back and see what we have learned from this. I 
think we need to reopen much more quickly if this ever Lord 
willing does not happen again, but if it ever does, looking at 
the critical nature of face time, and again not the app, but 
one to one personal communication with children.
    The critical nature of giving families accurate 
information, not fear mongering, not being living in fear.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I 
gave you additional seconds Ms. Davis, I mean Mr. Keller. Thank 
you very much sir.
    Mr. Keller. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. All right. I'd now like to recognize Ms. 
Manning. Ms. Manning would you unmute, and you have five 
minutes please.
    Ms. Manning. Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. Thank you 
for holding a hearing on this very important issue. Certainly, 
children in foster care, and homeless children deal with 
terribly difficult issues during normal times, and it's 
devastating to hear how the pandemic has impacted these very 
vulnerable children.
    Ms. Erb-Downward Congress recently appropriated 800 million 
dollars dedicated to the identification enrollment and school 
participation of children and youth experiencing homelessness, 
including wrap around services. And the Department of Education 
recently released 200 million of these funds so that states and 
local districts can meet the urgent needs of homeless children 
and youth.
    Can you talk to us about how local education agencies can 
use these funds to better serve homeless students in the 
immediate future, and the rest of the funds in the coming 
months in the upcoming school year?
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Yes, thank you for the question. So I 
think the first thing is identification. We cannot help 
children if we don't know who they are, and what Ms. Linder-
Coates brought up about asking questions in a way that is 
sensitive to families is a critical thing for all schools and 
all districts to take away from this hearing today, and to move 
forward with.
    Families are scared to identify as homeless, and therefore 
the outreach needs to be sensitive, and it's best done in 
collaboration with community partnerships, with agencies that 
know those families, and know the children through other means. 
So I think that's step one. Really looking at what can be done 
in schools to reach out to families and to identify families.
    Other things that can be looked for at the school level are 
you know signs like chronic absenteeism, transferring schools, 
not showing up for remote learning, all these can be indicators 
that there's instability going on in the home.
    And so that can be a reason to reach out. Find out how we 
can help families. Connecting families to summer programs is a 
very important element, and then transportation is a huge need. 
Families are moving frequently like we've discussed. Children 
who are homeless have a right to maintain stable enrollment in 
their school of origin.
    When that does not happen, we see negative outcomes. If the 
smooth transition can be made that is you know much better, but 
if we can keep that child in the school of origin and provide 
transportation supports that is huge. The last thing I'll say, 
and then I will turn it back over, is making sure families are 
connected to other programs. For example, homeless families are 
at risk of not having ever to file their taxes.
    If they don't file their taxes, they are not going to be 
receiving the extended child tax credit. This child tax credit 
is estimated to reduce child poverty by 44 or 45 percent 
nationally. We are talking about issues of poverty. If we could 
reduce child poverty in this country by 45 percent, we would 
not be having the same conversation about homelessness and 
foster care.
    So really connecting families to those other supports is 
critical. Thank you.
    Ms. Manning. Thanks very much. Mrs. Linder-Coates Head 
Start's two generation approach is a uniquely strong model in 
the in the education system and understanding that children's 
success is dependent on their parents, Head Start invests in 
parents as well as kids to ensure the entire family is 
supported.
    Can you tell us how Head Start's two generation model 
supports these problems, and what role do family service 
workers play in your Head Start program?
    Ms. Linder-Coates. Sure. Thank you for that. So you know 
speaking of the two generational model. We initially had a 
requirement that families volunteer right, in the program, so 
that they can see the benefit of the program, and we have been 
encouraging families of course to obtain employment, become 
self-sufficient, specifically for families that are 
experiencing homelessness.
    One of our initial processes that we undertake with 
families when they come into our program and enroll in our 
program is establishing a family partnership agreement. And 
that family partnership agreement between our family service 
workers and our parents, is really to help families think 
through what supports they may need in order to be successful 
in terms of moving toward self-sufficiency.
    Sometimes that includes completing their high school 
diploma. Sometimes it includes going back to school and 
finishing a degree. Sometimes it's you know about obtaining new 
skills so that they can be more employable in a different 
marketplace. So for us that is the cornerstone, or the bedrock 
of our intake process is really figuring out how we can help 
them.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. 
Manning. Now I'd like to recognize, she's been here the whole 
time, very patient, Ms. Miller. Ms. Miller please unmute, you 
have five minutes.
    Ms. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank 
the witnesses and my colleagues for entering into this 
essential civil discourse on this important topic. I also want 
to address Mrs. Hayes' comment that the teacher's unions have 
been constantly berated by us.
    That is definitely not my intent, and I don't believe it is 
the intent of my colleagues, but I do want to say that the 
schools are the only essential workers that are not back to 
work. And so in light of that fact, yes, we have been critical, 
and I would tell my children when they were growing up if the 
shoe fits you need to wear it.
    On March 5 I joined 58 of my colleagues on a letter to the 
CDC Director Doctor Walensky to share concerns about the 
stringent school reopening guidelines that agency had issued 
that did not seem to follow the science. I was concerned that 
so many schools remained closed when we had so much evidence 
that shows schools could be safely reopened, and a lot of them 
did, including the school in my community.
    Well it turns out the CDC and Biden administration 
officials have been consulting with teacher unions about school 
reopening guidance. The same teacher unions that lobbied to 
keep our schools closed all year. On May 10 I joined a letter 
with Representative Bob Good, Ranking Member Virginia Foxx, and 
several other colleagues from this Committee asking for an 
investigation into whether the CDC's school reopening guidance 
was politically influenced by teacher unions.
    This is a very serious concern, and I'm eager to receive a 
response. What has gone on this year with school closures has 
been shameful, and it has disproportionately harmed the most 
vulnerable children in our society as we have heard from the 
witness. And I want to give Ms. Davis a chance to share with us 
a little bit more.
    I do also want to say that my sister is one of the noble 
people that have pursued a career in education. She's a special 
ed instructor with a specialty in reading. And she was so 
grieved about schools being open that she petitioned her urban 
school to allow her to return to school because she's a special 
ed instructor.
    She and several other special ed instructors were allowed 
to go back. They have had in school, in-person instruction all 
year. And but anyway, so my question for Ms. Davis. Can you 
share more with the Committee why you believe Arlington County 
resisted calls from parents to reopen schools, and to try to 
find a way especially to serve what I would call the extra 
vulnerable population.
    Ms. Davis. Yes, I will try. Thank you. I am baffled really 
by why we have not opened. I hear stories from friends who are 
teachers about for example, a high school student who is living 
with her father. She's a special needs student, and her father 
had to go back to work, and she has no transportation to 
school.
    And when Arlington began hybrid, they took away some of the 
days that they gave special education students who were the 
first ones to go back in January. So those special ed students 
went from 5 days to 3. I'm not sure how many. And this student 
begged her teachers, emailed them please let me come back to 
school.
    And the problem that the teachers were told was the problem 
was transportation. And I'm baffled when I hear things like oh, 
it's a logistical nightmare. Oh, it's too hard. We can't figure 
out how to make it work. I just think there's a lot of excuses, 
and a lack of creativity, and frankly, a lack of planning.
    Yes, Arlington is a complicated school district, but so are 
a lot of districts that are making it work. So I would say a 
lack of creativity and a lack of planning.
    Ms. Miller. Also I do want to add you brought it up. I've 
taught in public school, private school, and home school, and I 
agree that all day virtual education is a very poor substitute, 
and I cannot imagine how the schools think. I don't even know 
how they could claim that there's accountability that education 
is happening.
    What I've observed for you know I have 7 children, and a 
lot of grandchildren, and a lot of experience with children in 
educating them. This is extremely unrealistic. Children need 
relationships. They're unique individuals and they need people 
to know who they are and to respond to them. They need variety 
during their school day, and they need to be allowed to move.
    And I talked to educators, and they have communicated with 
me that there really is no way to keep the adults that are 
supposed to be accountable and responsible for the education to 
actually make sure this is happening.
    And I just think it is such a shame. I think anybody that 
is advocating for schools to stay closed should feel ashamed, 
and those that think that we are berating unions should be told 
that we are here to advocate for the students.
    Chairman Sablan. I'm sorry the time is up ma'am. Thank you 
very much Mrs. Miller. I'd now like to recognize Mr. Bowman sir 
please unmute and you have five minutes.
    Mr. Bowman. Yes, thank you so much. My first question is 
for Dr. Lane. Dr. Lane can you speak to how trauma and how 
necessary trauma informed schools are at this moment as to 
support not just our foster care population, but all of our 
students after we come out of this pandemic. Can you speak to 
the trauma informed approach to education?
    Mr. Lane. Yes sir. Obviously, as our students began 
returning back to school at the beginning of the school year, 
and as some are just returning now as parents were hesitant, or 
school divisions have been opening, our students are facing a 
lot of trauma. Many have seen family Members pass away in this 
pandemic.
    Many have, you know, seen significant illness in their 
homes. And it's important for our schools to understand the 
trauma that students are going through and have strategies in 
place to respond to that trauma to be able to successfully make 
sure that student is prepared to learn.
    We all know we talk about you know Maslow's research. 
Students have to feel like their safety and psychological needs 
are met before they can learn, and that's what trauma informed 
care is about. And so we work diligently in the Commonwealth 
through our agency to partner with school divisions and provide 
resources and support to make sure that our students have the 
wrap around supports necessary to make them successful in our 
schools.
    Mr. Bowman. Thank you so much. My next question is for Dr. 
Linder-Coates. Dr. Linder-Coates as a former educator I've seen 
first-hand just how difficult it is to nurture the growth of a 
child, especially when considering the roadblocks to success 
many foster youth face.
    Speaking with stakeholders in my district, such as the Good 
Shepherd Services, and other organizations that support foster 
youth, and those experiencing homelessness, the issue of 
special education became a reoccurring theme of conversation. 
In particular, I worry about the foster children with special 
education needs.
    In the absence of a parent solely concerned about the well-
being of their child, I worry that many foster children may 
fall through the cracks and fail to receive the specialized 
education they are legally entitled to. How can we make sure 
that every foster child receives the individualized education 
plan they have a right to?
    What can the Federal Government do to best support foster 
parents as they advocate to give their children the education 
they deserve?
    Ms. Linder-Coates. So, good question. So the first thing is 
just making sure that the foster agencies are clear about what 
the IEP's for children who have special needs entail. And a lot 
of times the information that is in the IEP's that will support 
children in making sure that they make progress, whether it's 
you know, during this pandemic, or any other time, making sure 
that all of the stakeholders are clear about what the goals 
are.
    That for us is one of our major challenges. And so the 
first response that we have is making sure that our special 
needs coordinators who we have on staff are sitting with 
teachers and family Members and in the case of children who are 
in foster care, and/or who are experiencing homelessness, 
making sure that everyone is clear about what those goals are.
    So for what I would recommend is to have funds that are 
earmarked specifically for the education of those, in our 
community we have large umbrella organizations that are 
responsible for coordinating the services, so making sure that 
there is enough funding to ensure that the children have, and 
the families have, access to those supports that are outside of 
the school.
    So for instance children may need wraparound service. They 
may need a person to sit with them in the school in order for 
them to be successful during the day, making sure that those 
supports are available, but also making sure that the 
stakeholders who are involved in ensuring that those supports 
are available are educated enough to know what they need to 
look for.
    A lot of times we don't know what we don't know, and I 
think if there are funds that are specific to that cause, 
making sure that there is enough services available, and also 
making sure that folks are educated about the services that are 
available, so that each individual teacher, parent and child 
and service coordinator can sit down and make sure that the 
progress is being made. That's what I would recommend.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much Mr. Bowman. I'd now 
like to recognize Ms. Steel. Please unmute and you have five 
minutes.
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you very much Chairman Sablan and Ranking 
Member Owens. Ms. Davis, I want to say thank you to all the 
witnesses coming out. Ms. Davis thank you for sharing your 
testimony with the Committee. Your family story is 
heartbreaking.
    Your sacrifice and dedication to the foster system is 
extraordinary. It is sad and unacceptable that school districts 
across this country turned their backs on our most vulnerable 
children. You brought up a major concern in your testimony. 
Many students and family Members did not, and still do not have 
access to community support.
    Many of these families are already facing significant 
obstacles. Why is having access to in-person learning worth the 
risk that exists?
    Ms. Davis. That's a great question. As I have said before 
face time is important interpersonal communication is critical. 
Knowing your students well, and I have to say that the teachers 
that I come in contact with really are trying hard, but you 
just cannot use what was supposed to be a stop gap measure, 
which is an iPad and some Wi-Fi as the normal way to now teach 
reading, or to teach high level math. It just doesn't work.
    And if students are able to come back to the classroom, 
then teachers can use all the tools in their toolbox and not be 
limited to just those on a screen. And one example Ms. Steel is 
when you are teaching reading, you are teaching phonemic 
awareness which involves you to look at a child's mouth, and to 
see that they are forming the sounds and you know the letter 
sounds correctly.
    And that's very hard to do on a screen. You also engage 
children in several hands on activities when you're teaching 
reading that go over phonics instruction, and phonemic 
awareness and fluency, and you cannot do that on a screen, and 
it works so much better when you're doing that in-person, and 
when you're in small groups and engaging in activities and 
learning centers.
    And teachers know that. And so it's I'm sure very 
frustrating, I know very frustrating for the teachers that I've 
talked to that they can't deliver their best instruction 
because administration, and those who are not in the classroom 
are dictating wait, see, let's wait until everything blows 
over, you know let's wait until next year.
    That is one of the most egregious to me is let's wait until 
next year. Because I have kids in my care, and my own children, 
and the others who need services today. They need to learn to 
read, write and problem solve today. And to be told oh, we're 
going to wait, and we'll be our best in August, that's just not 
OK.
    That's a lot of time and vulnerable children do not have 
that time.
    Mrs. Steel. And not just vulnerable children, but all the 
students because I saw the assessment test result came out, and 
what a difference between those schools being open since last 
September, and those schools being closed since last year. I 
mean they've already damaged enough children here, and I think 
it's time to open up.
    And we're going to make sure that kids are really looking 
at they are going into the classroom and they're going to 
learn. And they're not just learning knowledge, but they're 
learning social skills and others that you know more important 
than ever, and you know what I really want to do that.
    So do you feel many families lack the opportunity to tell 
their story and express their frustration about their children 
being left behind because since you are testifying today, but a 
lot of people don't have a chance to testify at exactly what's 
going on with their children? You are muted.
    Mrs. Davis. I'm sorry. Can you repeat that question I'm 
sorry?
    Mrs. Steel. Do you feel many families lack the opportunity 
to tell their story and express their frustrations about their 
children being left behind since you are one of the witnesses 
and you can express yourself with you, you know, about your 
children. But a lot of parents that totally agree with you, but 
they cannot express to anybody because it's kind of like you 
are not the wall, that nobody is really listening at this 
point.
    Ms. Davis. Yes ma'am. I think a lot of families are unable 
to, they've tried. You can submit emails and make comments to 
school boards, but there is not let's say active listening 
going on in a lot of those areas, and it is unfortunate. I mean 
parents are in crisis. Kids are really in crisis.
    Chairman Sablan. I hate to interrupt, but time is up.
    Mrs. Steel. Thank you, Ms. Davis, thank you Chairman. I 
yield the balance of my time.
    Chairman Sablan. I'd now like to recognize the most junior 
Member of the Subcommittee, but actually the Chairman of the 
full Committee, Chairman Scott will you please unmute you have 
five minutes.
    Mr. Scott. I thank you Mr. Chairman. Dr. Lane we've had a 
lot of back and forth on the opening of schools. There is no 
debate about the value of opening schools, and everybody knows 
it. The CDC has published guidelines on what it takes to safely 
open the schools: Ventilation, transportation, fewer students 
on buses, spread out the students, it might require smaller 
class sizes, PPE and disinfectant, and staff to disinfect 
because schools aren't going to disinfect themselves, maybe 
school nurses.
    We know what it takes. But all of that costs money, and now 
that you have the money under the Rescue Plan, is there any 
question that the schools will be opening in September?
    Mr. Lane. Chairman Scott thank you for the question. No 
there will be no questions there in Virginia. We passed 
legislation this year in a largely bipartisan manner, and it 
was signed by the Governor that will mandate a five-day week 
opening for all schools in the Commonwealth in the fall.
    In addition to that we've stayed in alignment with CDC 
guidance. We have put out joint VDH and VDOE guidance 
throughout the year. CDC released new guidance on Thursday, we 
had our guidance out in the State on Friday, but as this 
pandemic evolved the Governor came out in Virginia in February, 
and stated clearly that he wanted to see all school divisions 
opened by March 15.
    Mr. Scott. Well the question though is not whether or not 
you want the schools open, but whether you're going to do it 
safely. Some of us wanted the schools opened when it could be 
done safely, and we've provided you the funds and I thank you 
for using the funds to make sure that the schools would be 
opened.
    You mentioned the homeless funding that you've upscaled. 
Are you able to provide sufficient funding to appropriately 
serve all the homeless students in Virginia?
    Mr. Lane. Mr. Chairman. The funding that was available 
before the American Rescue Plan no. We certainly needed more 
funding. We were not able to meet all requests when it was 
competitive grant application, and so the funding in the 
American Rescue Plan goes a long way toward ensuring that we 
can meet all the needs in the Commonwealth.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. And Ms. Erb-Downward one of the 
problems that occurs when you have this kind of disruption is 
that people fall through the cracks. Are we finding that all of 
the homeless students are actually signing up for education, or 
are some of them just disappearing?
    Ms. Erb-Downward. So the latest research that we have on 
the homelessness liaison surveys that was done in the fall. And 
in those surveys, we found that there was a 28 percent decrease 
in the number of homeless students who were being identified by 
their schools that equates to about 420,000 students.
    So you know there are a lot of students who are slipping 
through the cracks. We have the opportunity and the obligation 
now to identify them and make sure that we're supporting them.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you. Dr. Lane the American Rescue Plan 
distributed money for K through 12 education essentially using 
the Title I formula, meaning it was disproportionately aimed at 
low income areas, and at least 20 percent must be used for 
learning loss. We should expect significant progress in 
eliminating achievement gaps.
    You got money for smaller class sizes, summer school and 
that kind of thing. What is your office going to do to make 
sure that this money is used to significantly reduce or 
eliminate achievement gaps?
    Mr. Lane. In Virginia we formed a work group of education 
stakeholders that we call Virginia Learns. You can see the 
information that came out of that on our website. But Virginia 
Learns released guidance about how to think about recovering 
from the pandemic.
    It provided everything from what are the most impactful and 
powerful standards that are necessary for making sure the 
students know them to be successful, to how to spend money, to 
how to think about mental health. But of course, we provided 
significant guidance to our school divisions on you know the 
requirements under the American Rescue Plan and of course, 
CARES II and before.
    In Virginia, this investment will absolutely be huge for 
us. The State set aside alone is nearly 210 million dollars of 
which about 10five million has to be used directly for learning 
loss. That is going to be a game changer. And just last week we 
announced 62.7 million dollars in Cares II grants to make sure 
that our students are being addressed with learning loss in the 
summer of this year.
    Mr. Scott. Well we're going to count on you to follow 
through on that, and if you could keep us posted on how you're 
doing we'd appreciate it.
    Mr. Lane. Thank you, sir.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much. I now would like to 
ask I think we tend to forget that nobody wanted this virus to 
come into our lives, and you know interrupt our life, but we 
tend to forget the exceptional outstanding ingenuity, the 
genius of science is that we're able to sequence the genome of 
this virus in such a short time.
    It took them less time to sequence the genome than they did 
in actually performing clinical tests, and that's some of the 
things we tend to forget, and we only look at the interruption 
in our lives. But let me go Ms. Erb-Downward school can be more 
than just a place for students to learn, for students 
experiencing homelessness, and students in foster care school 
can be a lifeline to meeting their basic needs, including food 
and clothing in addition to education.
    So what are some of the challenges that homeless students 
and students in foster care face during the pandemic, and how 
does the President's oath to reopen schools address both 
challenges?
    Ms. Erb-Downward. So I think when we think about the 
challenges that homeless students face if anyone has children 
you can think about the challenges you see your children facing 
and you can magnify that by 1,000. One you know in terms of 
opening school the first thing the President's plan does is 
focus on opening schools safely.
    We have to open schools. That is critical. They need to be 
open safely. Many parents are still scared to send their kids 
to school. So we have to figure out how do we provide parents 
the supports they need to feel comfortable getting their 
children to school.
    So you know I think the additional pieces there are really 
ensuring access to transportation, making sure that we are 
addressing food support needs, you know, in the interim, and at 
school. You know one thing that I you know have to go back to 
what Dr. Lane said that you know before the pandemic there was 
not enough funding to meet the needs of homeless students.
    You know I'd like to give the example of in Detroit where I 
work they have done incredible things to improve their 
identification system, but you know initially they had 
identified the school which serves you know 46,000 children, 
had identified 615 homeless students.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes.
    Ms. Erb-Downward. Just to give you perspective, 16 percent 
of students are estimated to be homeless there so.
    Chairman Sablan. OK. How does allowing schools to use funds 
for these purposes help students experiencing homelessness? 
Just as short an answer as you can.
    Ms. Erb-Downward. I think it provides flexibility for 
people to actually focus on meeting the needs of homeless 
students. People have different needs.
    Chairman Sablan. All right. So in the short time I have 
left Ms. Linder-Coates, Congress has appropriated a total of 2 
billion dollars in supplemental funding for Head Start programs 
during the pandemic, so can you please tell us how your program 
has taken advantage of these funds, and how have those funds, 
been used to support children experiencing homelessness, or 
children in foster care?
    Ms. Linder-Coates. Thank you. So as I discussed earlier, 
one of the primary ways we used was really to keep children 
connected, and also to provide PPE for those children who were 
face to face. We really did want to make sure that we had 
spaces available for families of children who wanted to 
continue face to face, and we had partnerships with our 
childcare agencies, so although our district was closed for 
programming, our childcare partners remained open with spaces 
that serve our families.
    And we also again, I just wanted to reiterate we also spent 
money to inform the teachers and help the teachers do the best 
that they can in the digital space for those families who chose 
to remain.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes. And I have two of my youngest are 
actually teachers. One of them is a special ed teacher, and I 
did watch some of the frustrations they had, and now both are 
very open to coming in and teaching summer school for their 
students that need to catch up, and you know of course that's 
their summer, but as you said their commitment is very 
important that their students catch up.
    So I want to thank you, thank you very much. My time is 
just about up, but I'd like to you know I want to remind my 
colleagues that pursuant to Committee practice materials for 
submission for the hearing record must be submitted to the 
Committee Clerk within 14 days following the last day of the 
hearing, so by close of business on June 2, 2021, preferably in 
Microsoft Word format.
    The materials submitted must address the subject matter of 
the hearing. Only a Member of the Subcommittee or an invited 
witness may submit materials for inclusion in the hearing 
record. Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents 
longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via 
an internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk 
within the required timeframe.
    But please recognize that in the future that link may no 
longer work. Now pursuant to House rules and regulations items 
for the record should be submitted to the Clerk electronically 
by emailing submissions to [email protected]. 
Again [email protected].
    Again I want to thank the witnesses for their participation 
today. Members of the Subcommittee may have some additional 
questions for you, and we ask the witnesses to please respond 
to those questions in writing. The hearing record will be held 
open for 14 days in order to receive those responses.
    I remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee practice 
witness questions for the hearing record must be submitted to 
the Majority Committee Staff or Committee Clerk within 7 days. 
The questions submitted must address the subject matter of the 
hearing.
    OK. I'd now like to recognize the Ranking Member Mr. Owens 
for his closing remarks.
    Mr. Owens. Thank you once again Mr. Chairman for this 
hearing. I wanted to also thank all the witnesses for offering 
their expertise today. It truly has been invaluable. I wanted 
to focus my closing on something I said earlier in the hearing.
    One of our colleagues on the other side of the House says 
she's tired of the criticism of those who refuse to follow the 
science and reopen the schools. She says yes it was unfair. Mr. 
Chairman do you know what's unfair? The mother we've heard 
about today who's trying to create stability for her and her 
two children who can't get a job because her two children are 
in school for just a few hours 2 days a week on different days.
    Do you know what's unfair or who's Tara, Ms. Davis who 
served her community for 8 years as a foster parent and has 
seen first-hand the horrifying potential permanent damage being 
done by keeping children out of school, who also is a teacher 
herself for 15 years and understands the challenges teachers 
face and who not so ever have spent the last 2 hours telling us 
that schools must be open.
    To add to that list Mr. Bush who testified at our last 
hearing about whose son ended up in a hospital because he was 
separated from school. And also added to that list is Ms. Dale 
who testified before this Subcommittee in late March about the 
harm being done to her daughter and kids like her daughter from 
this disruptive education.
    These stories represent millions of other families all 
around our country pulling out of work, worrying about what's 
happening to the children. It baffles me that the response from 
our friends on the other side of the aisle seem to be that 
we're being too mean or unfair to teachers unions.
    Mr. Chairman it's our job to point out when the education 
is failing our children, especially our most vulnerable 
children. Of course response from other side of the aisle is 
always more money. We've heard that today. They seem to think 
that we can just write a big check and that everything would be 
taken care of.
    But the Congressional Budget Office said almost none of 
this money will play any role in reopening schools. We know 
that Arlington County Public Schools have financial resources 
to offer teachers financial incentives to teach summer school, 
but still can't get more than one-third of the children back 
in-person.
    Mr. Chairman republicans tried to tie tens of billions of 
dollars of COVID aid to requirements to reopen schools. The 
democrats voted no five times. And that's five times no. Mr. 
Chairman thank you again for this hearing. Thank you for giving 
a mother a platform to speak on behalf of millions of other 
families who see firsthand the harm still being done to our 
children.
    But now Mr. Chairman let's actually listen to what those 
families are saying. Let's respect them enough to not just list 
their experiences. Let's worry more about them than the 
delicate accessibilities of our union leaders. I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Owens. I'm going 
to take the high road here and just thank you again. Thank our 
witnesses for being with us today. We now have a greater 
understanding of just how many children are homeless in 
America, how widespread the problem is, and it happens with or 
without the COVID, with or without the virus.
    And so I think the expert testimony gave this Subcommittee 
a sober assessment of the harmful consequences of this 
homelessness and of foster care, not only for the educational 
development of young people, but also for the long-term well-
being of our country.
    The research is clear. Students and children who do not 
have the stable housing situation, who are removed from their 
families must struggle to get the education they need to lead 
independent and fulfilling lives. And that the money that 
Congress has made available to help these students, these 
families with their needs to live independent and fulfilling 
lives, to grow and to be good Members of our society.
    Particularly, our black and brown children, children with 
disabilities and other historically underserved groups are 
affected because homelessness and reliance on foster care are 
manifestations of a larger web of systemic inequities. Congress 
has made significant investments over the last year to make 
sure all of America's children can continue their education, 
and as we confirmed today, these investments have particularly 
made the difference in the education and lives of children who 
are homeless, or in foster care, particularly this money we 
have made available will give us greater hope, and hopefully 
almost certainly make sure that we have schools that will open 
in September.
    I have to believe no matter our political affiliations, we 
can all agree these investments in America's children are worth 
taking. And I look forward to working with all my colleagues to 
build off today's discussions and ensure all our children have 
what they need to reach their full potential.
    If there is no further business without objection the 
Subcommittee stands adjourned. Thank you for all our witnesses 
again and thank you for our Members for today's insightful 
hearing. This hearing is adjourned.
    [Question submitted for the record and the response by 
Mr. Lane follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    [Whereupon, at 12:40 p.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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