Removing Barriers: The Struggle to Ensure Educational Rights for Students Experiencing Homelessness

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-10 - At the Crossroads of Policy and Poverty: A Critical Look at Homelessness and Youth in American Schools

Abstract

While the intent of the federal and state homeless education laws is clear, securing the educational rights of students without housing has been a long legal and political struggle in Chicago and Illinois. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to trace the history of and the current struggle for homeless educational rights in Chicago and Illinois, as well as discuss how these challenges are repeated and echoed throughout the American landscape. Both presenters are currently civil rights attorneys who specialize in the educational rights of homeless families and youth, and bring considerable experience in the courtroom to help bridge the divide between legal advocacy and educational advocacy that occurs in the classroom daily.

Education for students experiencing homelessness is a continuation of the civil rights struggle for equality in education and educational access. As the Supreme Court noted 60 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education, “In these days it is doubtful that any child may be expected to succeed in life if he [or she] is denied the opportunity of an education.” These words are even more relevant today. The struggle for educational access for students experiencing homelessness in Chicago began in the late 1980s. Advocates in Chicago (and nationally) worked for passage of the 1987 federal Stewart B. McKinney Act (“the McKinney Act” or “the Act”), the first comprehensive federal response to homelessness. Although that Act provided—for the first time—a basic framework of educational rights for students without housing, it was not sufficiently strong or specific enough to make a significant impact on the education of children. Later amendments and, most importantly, the 2001 reauthorization strengthened the law so that today it is a sound law with civil rights and anti-discrimination principles that offer strong and specific protections to homeless students in school.

Illinois has its own state law, the Illinois Education for Homeless Children Act (or “Charlie’s Law”) and a state policy that provides important educational rights. 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of Charlie’s Law. Despite strong law and policy, legal advocacy was crucial to ensuring that students in Chicago benefited from the rights contained within the law. Specifically, this paper will discuss the impact of Salazar v. Edwards (92 CH 5703, Circuit Court, Cook County, IL), a class action case, filed on behalf of homeless parents and students in Chicago in 1992. Since that time this case has been a tool to improve educational opportunities for Chicago’s students. Consequently, a long legal struggle has resulted in significantly improved compliance with the law but many challenges remain.

Authors

• Patricia Nix-Hodes, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

• Laurene Heybach, Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless