Funding for programs that markedly help Washington’s homeless students may become collateral damage under state budget cuts and turmoil in the federal government, advocates say.
The state Legislature last year slashed funding for one of the state’s most effective housing programs for homeless students, and Gov. Bob Ferguson’s 2026 budget proposal would continue the cut. The cuts come as student homelessness in Washington’s public schools has worsened over the past decade.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education has faced multiple rounds of mass layoffs and the transfer of several of its key responsibilities to other agencies, adding to advocates’ concerns.
With state lawmakers grappling with a continued budget deficit this year and President Donald Trump’s call for eliminating the Department of Education, advocates also fear that funding for Washington’s homeless students could be caught in the middle.
“We’re heading into a perfect storm,” said Aaron Yared, the director of policy and advocacy at Building Changes, a nonprofit that combats homelessness in Washington.
Funding cut collides with more need
Despite being praised as one of few resources to help homeless students graduate, the Homeless Student Stability Program has always been small.
In 2023, the Washington Legislature doubled the program’s budget from $4.4 million to $9 million, with lawmakers pointing toward its effectiveness and potential for greater impact amid a higher need to reach more students.
Then, in 2025, lawmakers cut $3.8 million, saying it was a tight budget year and the program was a lower priority.
More than 48,200 Washington students between prekindergarten and 12th grade experienced homelessness during the 2024-25 school year, according to a recently released report from the state office of superintendent of public instruction.
The number represents about a 28% increase from a decade ago when about 37,600 students were homeless. The state education agency’s count last year reported a similar figure to this year’s tally: about 48,500 homeless students.
The program connects schools with local nonprofits that can help homeless students and their families find housing. Since being established in 2016, the program has served tens of thousands of students, Yared said.
“What’s really crucial is having a support system in the schools that can identify students who are experiencing homelessness, and connect them to the support they need to continue their education and to find stable housing,” Yared said.
If program funding were cut, Yared said it’d be more difficult to identify homeless students, inform them about the program and get them and their families housing.
Additionally, Yared said some school districts could lose staff members focused on helping those students specifically, a major requirement of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a 1987 law that requires public schools across the country to identify how many of their students are homeless and to support their education.
“But (the Homeless Student Stability Program) takes it a step further by actually linking students to housing support,” Yared said. “It kind of completes the process that McKinney-Vento set out to do.”
Ferguson’s proposed 2026 budget would restore $1.2 million from what was cut in 2025, but the program would still have lost nearly one-third of its overall budget.
Federal chaos adds worry
Meanwhile, McKinney-Vento’s future also remains murky due to various efforts by the Trump administration to shutter the Department of Education.
The administration in November announced plans to offload many of the Department of Education’s grant programs to other federal agencies, including McKinney-Vento.
It could become more difficult for the federal government to disburse these funds. Schools and state agencies may also have trouble getting federal guidance on how to fulfill McKinney-Vento requirements or help with resolving disputes when the exact rules are in question, experts say.
McKinney-Vento funding for the current school year has already been disbursed. More than 40 school districts in Washington received about $1.57 million in McKinney-Vento funding this fiscal year, said Katy Payne, spokesperson for the office of superintendent of public instruction.
But anxiety about the instability remains, said Barbara Duffield, the executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national nonprofit for homeless youth.
“There's been a lot of uncertainty at the federal level, which has caused uncertainty at the state level,” Duffield said.
Advocates opt for short-term solutions
This all comes as Washington’s student homelessness, alongside homelessness among the state’s general population, has worsened over the past decade.
The state education agency’s count of homeless students during the 2023-24 school year — of more than 48,000 — is the highest that the state has ever identified. More than 4% of all Washington public school students are homeless.
A decade ago, about 37,600 Washington students experienced homelessness, according to a state report. Nationally, more than 1.3 million students are homeless, according to a 2024 report from the National Center for Homeless Education.
Seattle Public Schools’ McKinney-Vento district liaison, Jeanea Proctor-Mills, works with her team to help the district’s approximately 2,300 homeless students.
“I’m not going to lie: 48,000 is definitely a shocking number of students that are homeless,” Proctor-Mills said. “But it really speaks to what we as a district, but also we as a state and we as a city, need to do to improve these efforts. If we don't put anything behind it, it's never going to get better, right?”
Advocates for homeless students are gearing up for the 2026 legislative session, which began Jan. 12.
Building Changes is lobbying for the Legislature to codify McKinney-Vento protections into state law. Yared, the group's director of policy and advocacy, said this would maintain McKinney-Vento’s educational requirements for homeless students in Washington, regardless of changes in federal policy.
The Seattle-based nonprofit also wants the Legislature to keep the amount for the state’s program in Ferguson’s 2026 budget proposal, Yared said, despite the proposed amount representing a decline from previous years.
Yared said he recognizes the Legislature is tackling “hard decisions” with a budget deficit and that the Homeless Student Stability Program isn’t the only program facing cuts.
“Even though it's at the reduced amount, at least the program gets to survive another year and we get to live to fight another day,” Yared said.
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