Susan Agel: ESAs Would Help Homeless Students Succeed, Let Program Flourish
For ESA legislation: Oklahoma children living in poverty would benefit from bill
By Susan Agel
(Counterpoint: “Oklahoma lawmakers should look to protect interests of all students”)
There is much conversation in Oklahoma about proposed legislation to allow Education Savings Accounts and the impact they would have on public schools in the state. As the president of a private school, specifically for homeless children, I am much more concerned about how ESAs would impact individual children — primarily the ones living in deep poverty.
Positive Tomorrows charges no tuition, and we are grateful for the generous people of Oklahoma who contribute to provide individualized education, out-of-school enrichment activities, and wraparound services to the families of the children we serve. However, we take only 58 children at a time due to resource limitations, and we are forced to turn away children constantly. If our parents had ESA funding available to them, we could take more.
Contrary to popular belief, the homeless parents we work with want to be involved in their child’s education. They just don’t know how. We have found parents in poverty must be taught how to advocate for their children.
Our parents are exhausted with the daily search for food and shelter. Those lucky enough to find room in a local homeless shelter know that after-school parent-teacher conferences mean their family will miss dinner. Transportation, child care and shift work are other barriers. But when we help families deal with these issues, we see strong participation by parents. In conferences held earlier this month, 96 percent of our students’ parents participated. Not many schools can beat that example.