Yeah, you are reading the headline correctly. A study has determined that in the school year of 2012-2013, Kentucky has over 30,000 homeless students. That’s double the national average according to an article by journalist Beth Musgrave. These numbers are apparently double that of homeless counts just ten years ago, and state funding to deal with this rise in numbers isn’t even being increased to match the demands.
And even more fun trivia before I really delve into this topic? With all the news my state has made lately with the county clerks trying to never issue a marriage license to same-sex couples, can you guess what county has a whopping 25% homeless rate? Yes, you guessed it. Rowan County. According to the news article, it’s one of five eastern counties that has a 20% or higher homeless rate among students. Am I 
surprised, are any of us surprised? Of course not. Rowan county has 23k people, 96% of whom are white. I mean, the average median income is like $35k per year. See for yourself how Rowan stacks up in this census report.
Eastern has a steady track record of poverty, minimal education, high birthrates, and more. Homelessness is just another problem, and if we can’t get Kentucky to invest in its youth, the cycle will continue. How can politicians like Mitch McConnell or Rand Paul say they will bring back Kentucky’s reputation and bright futures for our children when for the last five years these same politicians won’t encourage our legislature to fund our children?
Kentucky, we have got to step up. Our legislature won’t do it for us. We are number one for all the wrong reasons, and even in the top ten for a lot of bad ones too. Like teen pregnancy rates, cancer rates, and for drug over dose death rates. We are not investing in our citizenry. How can we bring about new jobs when we are hobbled with such severe statistical numbers in social issues?
Excerpt of article (full article here)
Nearly 5 percent of Kentucky’s 685,167 students were classified as homeless in the 2012-13 school year, the latest year that homeless student totals are available for all 50 states. Kentucky’s rate of homeless students was more than double that of all surrounding states but West Virginia (2.94 percent) and Missouri (2.89 percent).
In five Eastern Kentucky counties, more than 1 in 5 students are considered homeless by school districts.
The number of homeless kids in Kentucky schools has nearly doubled in less than six years, reaching a high of more than 35,000 students in the 2011-12 school year. In 2013-14, the number dipped slightly to a little more than 31,000, but that’s still far more than the 17,716 homeless students recorded in 2006-07.
Under a definition by the U.S. Department of Education, children are considered homeless if they are living in a shelter, motel or campground, car, outside, or with another family member due to loss of housing or economic hardship.
The number of homeless students has ballooned, but funding has not. That has left school systems scrambling for donations, cobbling together private funds to help feed, clothe and educate students without permanent shelter.
Federal funding for homeless students in Kentucky has remained flat for the past five years at about $1 million, data from the state Department of Education shows. School systems apply for the funding — called a McKinney-Vento grant — through a competitive grant process.
Only seventeen of 172 Kentucky school systems receive the funding. But by law, school systems are required to provide services to homeless children, whether the districts receive the grant or not.
Although every district must designate a staff person as its homeless education coordinator, only four districts have full-time coordinators. Four other school districts are hiring full-time coordinators, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.
