Advocates for homeless youth are calling for Pennsylvania to begin pouring state money into a federally funded program that helps K-12 students struggling with homelessness.

The request, made by several organizations as part of National Youth Homelessness Awareness Month, could be the first — but certainly not the last — budget request of the 2025-26 fiscal cycle.

The growing number of homeless students appearing in the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) reports that it “speaks to our housing crisis in Pennsylvania and across the nation” and “reflects both the increasing instability young people face and the limited resources available to support them,” said Rep. Gina Curry, D-Delaware County, during a press conference on Wednesday.

The funding request was coordinated by a group of more than 50 youth service agencies operating in Pennsylvania and focused around PDE Education for Homeless Children and Youth (ECYEH) program.. This program is designed to bring Pennsylvania into compliance with the federal McKinney-Vento Act, which requires states to provide continuing education for homeless students.

The state’s ECYEH program has historically been funded with about $5 million a year in federal funds (a $6.5 million federal transfer is in the latest state budget) that is then distributed to regional coordinators.

Many school district programs that use ECYEH funds have been supported in recent years by federal pandemic relief dollars, noted Joe Willard with HopePHL, a Philly-based human services agency.

But those funds are set to expire, and Willard’s agency and others are now calling for the program to be supplemented with $10 million in state money — a relatively small portion of Pennsylvania’s general fund budget, which currently stands at $47.6 billion. dollars, but which will have to compete with hundreds of other priorities in the coming fiscal cycle.

With approximately 46,000 homeless students in the latest PDE survey, the question is “is $217 worth it to ensure they get a high school diploma?” posted rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El, D-Lancaster County.

“It’s our duty to support them,” Smith-Wade-El said.

The PDE data reflect both the current problem of homelessness and the difficulty of measuring it. The school count of homeless students declined in the 2020-21 school year, likely due to a reporting problem as COVID-19 kept them physically away from schools where they could receive homeless assistance.

The numbers have rebounded, however, to 46,714 homeless students statewide in the 2022-23 school year, far more than the last pre-pandemic number of 37,930 for 2019-20.

Some of the biggest increases are found in counties that are home to the state’s mid-sized metros. Dauphin’s homeless student count increased from 1,557 in 2019-20 to 2,373 in 2022-23, and Berks’ increased from 1,849 to 2,961.

“This is an issue for every district. Somewhere in the district where you live, there are students experiencing homelessness,” said Doris Hagemann, Director of Student Services for the Cumberland Valley School District.

Cumberland Valley currently works with about 80 homeless students, Hagemann said, although that number varies seasonally; The last official PDE count had the district at 136.

The main goal of school districts and support agencies is to keep students attending the same school even if their living situation is changing. While some students live in shelters, most are in “couch surfing” situations, staying with friends or relatives for short periods.

Schools can use ECYEH funds for many purposes—helping homeless students get mental health support, phones to keep in touch with teachers and counselors, even to do their laundry.

“We’re trying to level the playing field so these kids have the same chance” as students with stable housing, Hagemann said.

Most importantly, the funds can help with transportation. The best way to ensure that homeless students will graduate is to keep them attending the same institution they were originally enrolled in, even if they move frequently, but that can be a logistical nightmare.

Homeless students often stay with friends or relatives outside the district or even in another county, Hagemann said, and districts coordinate with each other to help transport their transient student populations. Students entering the shelter system typically stay at shelters in Harrisburg, Carlisle or even Shippensburg and must be bused to Cumberland Valley.

“Transporting children is one of the biggest hurdles,” Hagemann said. “Once we have them in school, we can do magic.”

Wednesday was the last day of the 2024 session for both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the state Senate. The Legislature will return in January, and the governor. Josh Shapiro is expected to release its 2025-2026 budget proposal in February.