Burley Garcia|Schools receive third — and potentially final — round of federal funding for homeless students

From the start of the 2023-24 school year to its conclusion,Burley Garcia the number of students experiencing homelessness in Kalispell’s public school system jumped from 293 to 365. Assistant Superintendent Sara Cole said the increase reflects a growing trend in her district, one driven primarily by the soaring cost of living in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The valley during COVID and post-COVID became unaffordable,” Cole said. “The homes that were $200,000 are now $500,000, $600,000. And so even families who were affording to live here pre-COVID are just getting priced out and are unable to make ends meet.”

The rising number of families experiencing homelessness is hardly isolated to the Flathead Valley. According to data from Montana’s Office of Public Instruction, the number of students statewide who meet the federal definition of homeless has skyrocketed in the past decade and a half, from roughly 1,200 in 2010-11 to more than 4,700 a year ago. The upticks haven’t discriminated between urban and rural districts. Just south of Flathead Lake, the Ronan Public Schools reported 184 homeless students in OPI’s latest count, up from 21 less than 15 years ago.

Last month, OPI announced the latest round of federal funding aimed at bolstering local support for this growing population of students. All told, the agency allocated $425,000 to 12 districts, including Kalispell, Ronan, Bozeman, Townsend and Vaughn. The money represents a last-ditch effort by the state to spend pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked for homeless children and youth ahead of a September expiration date.

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Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act — the historical source for long-term homeless student funding — homelessness is defined as lacking a “fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence” or living in temporary housing or spaces such as cars or campgrounds not designed as regular sleeping accommodations.

OPI had already distributed more than $1.8 million to 42 districts statewide through two previous rounds of grants from the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) program. And even with last month’s announcement, OPI spokesperson Brian O’Leary said the agency may have another shot at deploying any remaining funds later this summer. He added that OPI is also planning to ask the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver that would preserve access to the funds through March 2026.

A Montana Free Press review of district applications from the latest round of awards revealed the diverse ways in which local districts have put the funding to use. The Ronan school district for example, which received $79,000 from the program, primarily directed the grants toward direct financial support for families experiencing homelessness — for example, purchasing and distributing gas cards that enable parents to transport their children to school. The Glendive Public Schools, which secured $88,800 in June alone and an additional $10,000 before that, reported to OPI that it intended to direct a portion of the funding toward the salary of its staff liaison to homeless students, as well as to hotel vouchers for families needing temporary housing and settlement of outstanding school lunch debts accrued by students.

OPI data indicates that Glendive has not reported any homeless students in its schools since the 2015-16 school year. But in its application for supplemental ARP-HCY funds this summer, the district told OPI the money would help support an additional 50 children and their families. Superintendent Stephen Schreibeis told MTFP via email this week the funds have also enabled his district to provide staff with additional student support training.

“The ARP-HCY funding has been tremendously helpful in addressing the significant needs of our homeless students in Glendive,” Schreibeis said. “It has allowed us to provide essential resources and support, significantly improving the well-being and stability of these students and their families.”

O’Leary noted that OPI gave districts the flexibility to self-budget the funds based on criteria set by the U.S. Department of Education, a decision he said was made in consultation with the federal government and the National Center for Homeless Education in order to allocate remaining dollars as quickly as possible.

In Kalispell, the public school district was granted an additional $98,000 in ARP-HCY funding last month, on top of more than $100,000 it already received in two earlier rounds of grants. Cole said the grants have gone toward a variety of material supports for families, including food, gas cards, and transportation to doctor’s appointments. The district has also used some of the funds to supplement pay for counselors, teachers and paraeducators willing to work beyond their contract hours as school-based liaisons for students in need.

“That’s really helped spread feet on the ground in each school to make sure we’re not letting any kids fall through the cracks,” Cole said.

Kalispell also proposed directing a portion of its latest round of funding toward a part-time position designed to provide instruction and support services for English language learners. Cole said there’s an unmet need in the district for such assistance to help newly arrived families who speak or read little English.

All of the pandemic-fueled stimulus has helped to address what Cole characterized as historically inadequate funding for Montana youth facing insecurity in their daily lives. Prior to ARP-HCY, she said, the amount of funding Kalispell received through McKinney-Vento supported only about half the salary of the district’s homeless-student liaison. Kalispell has managed to capitalize on community fundraising and other federal revenue streams, among them a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that enabled the hiring of a case manager for the district’s Heart Program. The initiative, which also serves students in the nearby Evergreen School District, acts as a clearinghouse for basic family needs, from clothes and gas cards to drop-in social services for teens.

With the ARP-HCY funding expiring soon, however, Schreibeis said it will be challenging for Glendive’s school district to maintain the same level of student support moving forward. Cole concurred, saying her district will have to lean more heavily on grants and community contributions to continue meeting the growing demand for services. The forecast is “not ideal,” Cole added, and she said she hopes districts around the state can come together in the 2025 Legislature to advocate for additional aid.

“The thing with grants is that they’re time-bound and they go away, so it’s not sustainable for districts to continue to scramble and try to find these opportunities,” Cole said. “At the legislative session, I know there’s talk of (education) funding mechanisms being looked at and potentially changed. I would hope that happens, and I would hope that it reflects actual needs in schools.”

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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.