Suit alleges Hawaiʻi fails homeless kids

The state has failed so badly at helping homeless children get to and from public schools that federal courts should intervene in the situation, according to a class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and two other parties.

Attorney General Mark Bennett said he has already begun meeting with state personnel “to see if the complaint has legal and factual merit.”

The state “certainly takes the education of homeless children and all children very seriously,” Bennett said. “We have an obligation to educate homeless children in the same manner in which we educate non-homeless children.”