Homeless students balloon after Harvey

Texas, feds offer options for displaced families

HOUSTON — Michael Evan Hilburn says he can’t wait to start kindergarten this week at a school about 20 miles from the Houston shelter where he and his father have been living since Harvey devastated the city.

The 5-year-old is a beneficiary of state and federal laws that seek to make it easier for homeless kids to go to school — a blessing, his father said, as they try to overcome the chaos of a catastrophic disaster that has disrupted life in the nation’s fourth-largest city.

“The sooner he’s in school, the sooner I can start work,” Michael Howard Hilburn said. “I want him to be happy, make lots of friends. He needs consistency.”

The Texas Homeless Education Office estimates that about 35,000 to 40,000 students have been affected by Hurricane Harvey. On top of that, more than 200 school districts and charter schools statewide canceled or delayed classes, some indefinitely.

Jeanne Stamp, the office’s director, said some families have relocated to Dallas and San Antonio but Houston is sure to see their already large number of homeless children balloon.

Federal protections require schools to immediately enroll children who have lost their regular homes, including those affected by a natural disaster.

That federal law allows homeless children to either stay in the school they were attending or enroll in the school in the neighborhood where they are currently staying, with transportation costs divided equally between the two districts if there’s a funding dispute.

The Texas “Third Choice” law goes even further, allowing homeless students the choice to enroll in any school district in the state, regardless of their school of origin or the location of the place where they are staying.

Tori Texada, 25, said she wanted to get her kids back to their neighborhood school even while they are living in the Houston shelter, but that she hadn’t reached Houston district officials.

The single-mother of five, including three who are school-aged, said she was unaware of any federal and state protections for displaced families, and didn’t know that there was a school liaison to help her navigate them.

“I don’t want them missing days of school,” Texada said. “If we have to transfer so we can be closer, I hope they don’t give me problems.”

Brian Melley The Associated Press Tori Texada, 25, and her children Chloe, 7, right, Maddison, 6, and Paisley, 1, outside a shelter in Houston. The single mother of five is concerned about getting her kids back to her neighborhood so they won’t miss any days of...