The new figures released today that document the growing numbers of homeless youth attending public schools in Oregon should shock all of us. We can be thankful that the Oregon Department of Education and local programs such as Portland Public School's Project Return work diligently to enroll and educate these students. But our local communities can and must do more. It is disheartening that Multnomah County, for example, does not support efforts to enroll homeless children in the public school system and instead relies on a privately operated program that does not offer the same educational opportunities as our public schools and where the students are not held to the same standards as public school students. Our overall goal should be to help lift people out of poverty and homelessness. No children should be homeless in Oregon.

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