[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E191-E192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   INTRODUCTION OF THE McKINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS EDUCATION ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JUDY BIGGERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 14, 2001

  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``McKinney-
Vento Homeless Education Act of 2001.'' This legislation builds upon 
legislation I introduced during the last Congress, numbered H.R. 2888, 
to improve educational opportunities for homeless children.
  As my colleagues will recall, a majority of H.R. 2888 was 
incorporated into H.R. 2, the Students Results Act, which 
overwhelmingly passed the House in October of 1999. 1 am hopeful that 
this year's version of the legislation will garner the same kind of 
bipartisan support as did the last bill and ultimately will find its 
way into law.
  Mr. Speaker, I think you would agree that being homeless should not 
mean foregoing an education. Yet, that is what homelessness means for 
far too many of America's children and youth today.
  Even with our healthy economy, estimates are that one million kids 
will experience homelessness this year. Due to red tape, lack of 
information, and bureaucratic delays, some homeless children are 
missing school or are being turned away at the schoolhouse door and, as 
a result, losing out on the chance for a better life.
  Studies show that as a result of these problems, some 45 percent of 
homeless children do not attend school on a regular basis. In addition, 
homeless children are twice as likely to repeat a grade and have four 
times the rate of delayed development.
  Congress recognized the importance of school to homeless children by 
establishing the Stewart B. McKinney Education of Homeless Children and 
Youth program. This program is designed to remove barriers that prevent 
or make it hard for homeless youth to enroll, attend and succeed in 
school. And, for many homeless children, it may make the difference 
between success in the classroom and failure in life.
  Yet today, more than a decade after the passage of that important 
program, inadequacies in the federal law inadvertently are acting as 
barriers to the education of homeless children. We must act to 
strengthen these weak areas, and we must act now.
  This Congress has the rare chance to review, redefine, and improve 
our federal education policies. Not since 1994, when programs under the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) were last authorized, has 
Congress had a similar opportunity to examine K through 12 education in 
total.
  I believe it is incumbent for Members from both sides of the aisle 
and in both chambers to take advantage of this unique opportunity to 
renew our commitment to homeless children. As the 107th Congress rushes 
forward to reauthorize our federal K-12 education programs, we must 
pause long enough to ensure that all homeless children are guaranteed 
access to a public education, so that they acquire the skills needed to 
escape poverty and lead productive lives. In doing so, we will be 
meeting America's commitment to, as President Bush has clearly stated, 
leaving no child behind.
  Mr. Speaker, the following is what the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Education Act does. The bill:
  One: ensures that homeless children are immediately enrolled in 
school. This means that no homeless child will be prevented for days or 
weeks from walking through the school doors because of delayed 
paperwork or other bureaucracy;
  Two: limits the disruption of education by requiring schools to make 
every effort to keep homeless children in the school they attended 
before becoming homeless, unless it is against their parents wishes. 
This provision ensures that homeless children are not unwillingly 
ripped away from their friends and environments where they are 
comfortable learning;
  Three: keeps homeless students in school while disputes are being 
resolved. Homeless children often spend weeks or even months out of 
school while enrollment disputes remain unresolved. This legislation 
address this serious problem by creating a mechanism to quickly and 
fairly resolve such disputes, ensuring that the enrollment process 
burdens neither the school nor the child's education;
  Four: requires local school districts to select a contact person to 
identify, enroll and provide resource information and resolve disputes 
relating to homeless students. Because many schools don't currently 
have a point of contact for homeless students, these children 
frequently go unseen and unserved;
  Five: strengthens the quality and collection of data on homeless 
students at the federal level. This is particularly crucial, as the 
lack of a uniform method of data collection has resulted in unreliable 
information and the likely underreporting of the numbers of homeless 
students;
  Six: prohibits federal funding from being used to segregate homeless 
students. Despite McKinney Act requirements to remove enrollment 
barriers and to integrate homeless students into the mainstream school 
environment, some school districts continue to segregate these children 
into separate schools or
  Seven: increases accountability by providing States with greater 
flexibility to use authorized funds to provide technical support to 
local school districts in order to bring them into compliance with the 
Act;
  Eight And finally: assists overlooked and underserved homeless 
children and youth by raising the program's authorized funding level to 
$90 million in FY2002 and reauthorizing the program for another five 
years.
  Mr. Speaker, a majority of these provisions are derived from the 
Illinois Education for Homeless Children State Act, which many consider 
to be a model for the rest of the Nation. These provisions also are a 
reflection of the best ideas of some of America's most dedicated 
people--homeless advocates, educators, and experts at the US Department 
of Education.
  Like many of my colleagues here in the House, I am a strong supporter 
of local control of education. I believe the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Education Act of 2001 meets this principle while making the best use of 
limited federal resources.
  Regrettably, homelessness is and will likely be for the immediate 
future a part of our society. However, being homeless should not limit 
a homeless child's opportunity to receive what every child in America 
is entitled--a free and quality public education. I urge my colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle to support this much-needed and timely bill.
  In closing, let me take a moment to thank Illinois State 
Representative Mary Lou Cowlishaw, as well Sister Rose Marie

[[Page E192]]

Lorentzen and Diane Nilan with the Hesed House in Aurora, Illinois for 
bringing this issue to my attention and for their years of tireless, 
and often unrecognized, work on behalf of the homeless.
  I also want to thank Barbara Duffield with the National Coalition for 
the Homeless for her help in putting together this bill and my 
colleagues Representative Doug Ose of California and Chaka Fattah of 
Pennsylvania for being original cosponsors.

                          ____________________