Detroit, MI- El número de niños de edad escolar sin hogar en Michigan está aumentando mientras las condiciones económicas siguen deteriorando. El Departamento de Educación de Michigan contó a más de siete mil quinientos niños de edad escolar sin hogar en el estado el otoño pasado, y algunos expertos dicen que ese número se puede duplicar para fines del año escolar.

Joe Tardella, director ejecutivo de la organización Southwest Counseling Solutions en Detroit, dice que varias veces los niños en refugios para desamparados cambian de una escuela a otra y terminan sin asistir, haciendo su condición aún más difícil. Para tratar esta situación dice que las escuelas se están esforzando para mantener a esos niños en las escuelas.

"La idea es que si podemos asegurar que estos niños sigan en su colegio original y si esto significa llevarlos y traerlos todos los días, esto es lo que nos va a asegurar de que puedan tener continuación con su educación."

Dice que la Ley del Estudiante Desamparado se asegura que los estudiantes sin donde vivir tengan transporte a la escuela. Si la familia tiene carro, entonces pueden obtener una tarjeta para gasolina y si no tienen carro, los distritos escolares pueden hacer arreglos de transporte para los estudiantes.

Tardella dice que la solución a largo plazo es la de crear viviendas económicas, reforzando que esto es necesario para poder tener a las familias y sus hijos en una situación de vida normal.

"Los servicios de emergencia que tenemos aquí para la gente que no tiene donde vivir son muy importantes pero la cosa es que cuando esa persona despierta en esos sitios de emergencia aún así siguen siendo personas sin donde vivir. Lo importante es que el gobierno tiene que encontrar recursos para encontrar más oportunidades de dar a la gente formas permanentes para mantener sus casas porque si no esa gente sigue viviendo en la calle."


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Special state funding for mental health staff at Michigan public schools during the pandemic is ending this year, leaving schools scrambling to find ways to keep the professionals in the building.

The $240-million grant started in 2021, as students coped with challenges, from virtual learning and canceled sports to losing a loved one to COVID. Now, districts are seeking alternatives.

Diane Golzynski, deputy superintendent of business, health and library services for the Michigan Department of Education, said the options include a program known as the School Mental Health Apprenticeship Program to encourage people to choose mental health careers by giving them financial support.

"To pay folks who need to do their supervised practice internships in order to go into this field; it's to give them a small wage, so they can actually do that," Golzynski explained.

She pointed out districts can also apply for Medicaid matching funds for all their eligible work is eligible and use those dollars to keep mental health providers in schools.

Golzynski stressed the goal is to build a comprehensive school mental health system.

"We don't want to just put professionals in the schools, we want to put professionals in the schools that the schools need, because there's different types of professionals," Golzynski noted. "It might be a psychologist, it might be a counselor, it might a social worker, it might be a school nurse."

She emphasized her department is also working with the districts on how to best use their mental health staffers.

Critics might counter it is parents' responsibility to take care of their children's mental health needs. But Golzynski countered it is often in school where these issues are flagged or acknowledged.

"It's the schools partnering with the families to help support this child, so that the child can be the best learner possible," Golzynski asserted.

Golzynski added another school mental health funding program on the table offers a per-pupil allocation to each district.


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School districts around Washington and elsewhere may have celebrated School Lunch Hero Day on Friday, a salute to cafeteria workers - but food service employees are asking for more than just a pat on the back. They're asking for a wage that keeps up with inflation.

Washington State has about 6,500 school food service workers who make the average full-time equivalent of just over $54,000 a year.

Paul Buse-Bing is kitchen manager at Pine Lake Middle School in Sammamish.

"All the positions in the school district are important, and everybody works hard. But students who don't have a proper meal aren't getting nutritious food, then they're not capable of participating to their fullest extent in their school day. And so what we do is very important," he said.

This year, lawmakers denied a request from Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdahl to give paraeducators a $7/hour pay raise; in his re-election campaign he has said he intends to seek a more broad-based increase for classified workers next year.

Buse-Bing said as the cost of living has gone up, the relatively low wages are making it hard to find enough staff.

"We go through the school year a lot of times understaffed, and we don't have substitutes or other people to fill in when people get sick or go on vacation, and a lot has to do with the pay wage. Especially with the inflation," he added.

Many school districts say they are strapped for funding and need more state resources in order to
recruit and retain qualified workers.


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It's Teacher Appreciation Week, and there's some mixed news when it comes to how well South Dakota is compensating its teachers.

According to the National Education Association's annual Rankings and Estimates report, the national average teacher salary increased about 4% to nearly $70,000 a year between the 2021 and 2022 school years.

But adjusted for inflation, teachers still make 5% less than they did a decade ago.

President of the South Dakota Education Association Loren Paul noted that teachers there saw one of the highest salary increases across the country this year - a more than 5% jump.

"And the last three years, we've seen more than what is required by the state," said Paul. "So, hopefully we can continue that trend."

Despite the increase, South Dakota didn't shake its national salary rank of 49th, at just over $53,000.

The last time the South Dakota Legislature enacted a law to increase teacher pay was in 2016, when it raised the state's sales tax by $0.005.

South Dakota's highest ranking in the report of 27th was for its starting salary, which averages $43,000. Paul said that helps bring in new educators, but doesn't do much to retain them.

"Overall salary increases are tied to retention," said Paul, "and if you're losing them off the top faster than you can bring them in the bottom, raising the average is what's important, not just the starting salary."

He said teacher retention and shortages remain nationwide issues. North Dakota and Wyoming, which both rank higher, use state revenue from the fossil fuel industry to help pay teachers.