The Bulloch County Schools, through May 1 in the current school year, served 380 "homeless" students. In other words, around 3% of the school district's nearly 11,000 students were living in situations that met the definition of homelessness spelled out in a federal law that prescribes services the schools should provide to these students.

That fiscal year-to-date count of 380 included 279 homeless students currently enrolled as of May 1 in the 15-campus, county public school system. Those numbers were part of an update on the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act that Dawn Tysinger, Ph.D., the Bulloch Schools executive director of student wellness and support, presented during the local Board of Education's May 8 meeting.

The law is meant to ensure that homeless children have access to education and to related services needed for them to obtain that education.

"That definition says that these are individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence," Tysinger noted.  "Those are the three criteria, 'fixed,' 'regular' and 'adequate,' and along with that, the law states that (a student) lacking any one of the three is deemed eligible for McKinney Vento assistance in a school district."

Under that definition, students may be counted as "homeless" and therefore eligible for support services if they are completely unsheltered, live in an emergency or transitional shelter or in a hotel, motel or campground, or if they are found abandoned in a hospital or are temporarily living with another family because of economic hardship, living in a vehicle of any kind or staying in an abandoned building or other substandard housing. "Migratory" children — such as those whose families do migratory farm work — who are living in any of the previously mentioned circumstances also qualify for "homeless" student services.

"It's important here to recognize that this is the definition specifically from the federal law, but this definition of homelessness differs from what other community agencies and what other laws specify according to their definition of homelessness," said Tysinger.

The McKinney Vento Act specifies that youth experiencing homelessness must have "equal access to the same free, appropriate education as provided to other children and youth," she noted in one of the presentation slides. The law states or implies that residency requirements — such as requiring children to have an address in a school district to attend its schools — may not be a barrier to enrollment and that homelessness is not sufficient reason to separate students from the school environment.

There is no family income requirement or cutoff for students who qualify as homeless to receive support services from the school system. The school district's social workers screen students and families one-by-one to determine eligibility based on their housing status. Under the law, information about a homeless child's living situation becomes part of the student's educational record, and as such is confidential under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA is the same federal law that prohibits schools from releasing information such as a child's grades or test scores except under strictly defined circumstances related to an "educational need-to-know," as Tysinger put it.

Her report was for the school district's fiscal year 2025, which ends June 30, and Tysinger noted the difference between the 380 homeless students eligible, cumulatively, during the year and the 279 enrolled as of May 1.

"As you know, with many of our homeless families that's a transient population. They often move in and out of the district, in and out of the county and in and out of living situations that may or may not deem them to be homeless according to the definition," she said. "So … we were at 279 on May 1, but I think a month prior to that we were probably closer to 300, like at 293 or so."

Students' rights

Students identified as homeless have a number of specific rights under the McKinney Vento Act.

"First of all, they have a right to immediate enrollment, meaning that regardless of what type of documentation the family brings about the child we are to enroll them immediately in school," Tysinger said. "For example, many of our homeless families who've moved a number of times, many have lost a birth certificate along the way, or certainly if you are living in a car, it's difficult to provide a proof of residency."

Homeless students also have a special but limited right to school selection. If they have been attending one school in the Bulloch County district but move to another location in the county, they may choose to continue at their original school or go to one they now live nearer. Tysinger used the hypothetical example of a student who had attended Mattie Lively Elementary School going to live with an aunt in the Sallie Zetterower Elementary attendance zone and having the choice to go to either school.

The school system then has the responsibility of providing transportation to the chosen school "to the extent possible."

Homeless students' right to "comparable services" includes access to special education and Title I programs and other support programs.

Further, each school district is required to appoint a local liaison to work with homeless students and their families.

Funding for program

The federal government — so far though the U.S. Department of Education — allocates funds to the states for support services for school-age homeless children and youth. The state of Georgia then sub-grants the funds to individual school districts.

For fiscal year 2025, the Bulloch County Schools received a little over $47,000 funding in the McKinney Bento program. For FY 2026, the district is requesting $50,000, Tysinger reported. She didn't break it down this way, but based on the current year's 380-student count, that amounts to less than $132 per eligible student, on average.

The school system would use the money to buy supplies and provide some career development and academic enrichment programs, such as a "summer camp" for homeless students, to help fund the social workers in serving eligible students and their families, and to assist families with offsetting costs associated with enrolling students, such as replacing birth certificates or having physical exams done.

The grant would also include funds for the local liaison to attend a required state conference on serving students from homeless families and some money for students' bus transportation.

Homeless students are provided with hygiene kits, school supplies and a book bag, free breakfast and lunch, and the program covers required graduation fees for eligible high school seniors and assists unaccompanied students with the waiver for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. There are local teenagers in that category, applying for financial aid for college as independent students without any parental incomes to report, Tysinger said.

The schools give homeless students vouchers to obtain clothing from Fostering Bulloch, a local nonprofit.

Prohibited services

But schools are prohibited from using McKinney Vento Act funds to provide other kinds of services to homeless families. The school-based funding is prohibited from use for medicine, rent or rental deposits or other payments for housing, utility bills, or non-required graduation-related items, such as class rings.

"Of course, there are other community agencies we have here that will help families with some of those needs," said Tysinger. "Those are just not allowable under our funds."

In answer to questions from board member Donna Clifton, Tysinger said the homeless students "are pretty equally scattered across the district" from elementary schools to high schools. When board member Lisha Nevil asked, she confirmed that while "temporarily living with another family because of economic hardship" is an identifying condition for homeless students, students who live with non-immediate family for reasons not related to financial hardship are not considered homeless. 

Keith Wilkey, the district's director of school social work, said the grant helps pay social workers for evening and weekend work often required to contact families and conduct needs assessments. 

Sleeping in cars

The 380 students, he said, hail from about 191 families served during the year. Both Tysinger and Wilkey responded when board member Glennera Martin asked if any students currently live in automobiles.

"Yes ma'am, we do …," Tysinger said.

"We have about 20 students that live in automobiles," said Wilkey. "We can do direct certification in order to get them into the Union Mission Rapid Re-housing program, but that's really reserved for those students who are living in automobiles."

The 20 students, he said, come from as few as eight families, including some large families, who having been residing in vehicles this school year.