Evicted Students Miss Class and Fall Behind. Tulsa Schools Want to Change That
Tulsa is one of several cities trying to combat the chronic absenteeism and poor grades of students facing eviction.
By Linda Jacobson | September 16, 2026This article was published with , a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics, policy and power.
Tulsa, Oklahoma
With her long, wavy hair pulled back in a ponytail, the young mom sat alone outside courtroom 6 at the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justic, checking her phone and anxiously waiting for a court official to call her name for an eviction hearing.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been through this,鈥� Courtney said in early May. Her two kids, ages 5 and 6, were staying with her mother out of town while she tried to catch up on rent or find another place to live. It was the best for the children, she said, but 鈥渢hey want to be with me.鈥�
Between losing one job and starting another, she feared she鈥檇 still come up short of the $1,004 she owed.
She didn鈥檛 have much time.
In Oklahoma, the eviction process moves faster than the ability of most renters to respond. State law gives tenants five days to pay their debt or move out. A tenant has to appear in court just three days after a summons arrives.
Tulsa has one of the worst eviction rates in the country 鈥� the as of a decade ago. Since then, the rate has grown from 8% to . Last school year, landlords filed evictions affecting more than 600 children in the state鈥檚 largest district, the Tulsa Public Schools.
Her kids鈥� schools, Courtney said, didn鈥檛 ask why she withdrew them with a month left in the school year.
That鈥檚 hardly surprising, experts say.
鈥淸Parents are] looking for, 鈥楬ow do I find a place where my kids are going to sleep?鈥� 鈥� said Eric Hallett, a staff attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma. 鈥淭hey’re not thinking 鈥榃hat can a lawyer do for me?’ or even 鈥榃hat can Tulsa Public Schools do for me?鈥� 鈥�
But in a state with one of the in the nation, that鈥檚 something the district is trying to change. Since 2020, leaders have worked with ImpactTulsa, a nonprofit, to prevent disruption in kids鈥� education and quickly direct parents under threat of eviction to resources like legal aid and rental assistance. When a student鈥檚 address appears in an eviction filing, the parent receives an email from the district offering help.
鈥淭here is a culture of defeat, if the eviction seems like a done deal, why would I reach out for help?鈥�
Ana Barros, ImpactTulsa
The alert is a promising example of schools being 鈥渇irst responders鈥� in a housing emergency, said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national advocacy organization focused on students experiencing homelessness. Tulsa鈥檚 system has caught the attention of organizations doing similar work from Dallas to Dayton, Ohio. But the resources available to families fall far short of the demand, and the threat of eviction itself can be so traumatic that parents are often too overwhelmed to respond.
鈥淭here is a culture of defeat,鈥� said Ana Barros, the director of collaboration and partnerships for ImpactTulsa. If the eviction seems like a 鈥渄one deal, why would I reach out for help?鈥�
Roughly nationally are caught up in evictions each year, with households headed by single Black mothers . Housing instability lands the heaviest on families with young from a Stanford University survey shows that nearly 30% of parents with children under 6 were worried about being evicted in the next month and 8% had already received an eviction notice. A federal program provides homeless students with educational and transportation services. But families who are evicted don鈥檛 immediately qualify for the same support, and the damage to students鈥� learning is clear.
“The gaps in children’s education are huge,” said Emily Turner, an attorney who is part of ImpactTulsa鈥檚 eviction prevention team. Missing days and weeks of school because of an eviction raises concerns about kids鈥� safety, she said, and the more they miss, the harder it is to come back. 鈥淭hey feel behind or they feel scared or they feel like this isn’t my space anymore.”
In the Oklahoma City schools, 65% of students whose families received were chronically absent, almost as many as those who were actually evicted, according to , part of Mental Health Association Oklahoma. On state assessments, students with an eviction notice or judgment had 25% lower proficiency rates in math compared to their peers. In reading, the academic impact was more than twice as much 鈥� 56% lower.
鈥淲e have slipped to the bottom in education rankings,鈥� said state Rep. Amanda Clinton, a Democrat who this year to give tenants facing eviction access to free mediation before a judge heard their case. The bill passed the House, but died in the Senate. She agrees with Republicans that the state should focus on turning around its dismal performance in . 鈥淏ut we cannot be serious about improving student outcomes unless we get serious about keeping kids in the classroom to start with.鈥�
At Kerr Elementary, on the east side of Tulsa, Principal Jennifer Thomas sees the academic impact of evictions every morning. Students with unstable housing are frequently absent, and when they do come to school, they often arrive at least an hour late and hungry.
鈥淲e have students who have been at four different schools within a month,鈥� she said. As with Courtney鈥檚 kids, Thomas said it鈥檚 not unusual for grandparents to provide backup, but that adds to the learning disruption. 鈥淕randma doesn’t know where the school is, or Grandma’s not used to having to get the kids up at 7:30.鈥�
Lawmakers took up the issue last year and worked to pass a bipartisan bill that would have given tenants a few more days to show up in court 鈥� a rare development in such a deep red state. But Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, . With a background in , including rental homes in Florida, he argued that the extension would be too 鈥渂urdensome鈥� for landlords. This year, a died in committee.
鈥淭his is a very, very landlord-friendly state,鈥� said Delia Kimbrel, the director of research and policy at ImpactTulsa. 鈥淭he scales are really stacked up against the family.鈥�
鈥楬uman realities鈥�
landlords are the most likely to evict, . Those include Vesta Realty, which owned Barcelona Apartments, the Spanish-style complex at a busy intersection in southeast Tulsa that filed the case against Courtney.
Hannah Remick, a former administrative assistant for the company, who herself from one of its 40 complexes, estimates that Vesta filed about 25 evictions a week. Whether tenants have kids doesn鈥檛 make landlords any less likely to force them out, she said.
鈥淭hey would just say 鈥榰nits.鈥� They wouldn’t think about who is living in that unit,鈥� she said. The process, she said, is 鈥渧ery separated from the human realities of what’s going on there.鈥�
When ImpactTulsa identified management companies evicting families with school-aged kids, some of the affected properties had and code violations that had gone for months. In 2024, one mom of a kindergartner told reporters she was to the media about a lack of hot water and cockroaches in her apartment.
Poor living conditions for renters are not unique to Tulsa. A showed that 13% of renters moved in the past two years because their home needed repairs. Five percent said they were either evicted or trying to avoid eviction.
Remick described as 鈥渙ne of the worst,鈥� with workers instructed to layer coats of Kilz primer over walls with mold. Courtney told 社区黑料 she had six work orders pending, including one for a leaky water heater, when she was evicted. Because an eviction can prevent a tenant from getting another lease and affect future employment, she asked 社区黑料 not to use her last name.
The company鈥檚 financial condition was likely one reason for the backlog of repairs. Vesta鈥檚 owner, Marc Kulick, is facing . In February, Fannie Mae, the mortgage lender, against the company, and in July, as a result of litigation, a , YSA Investments, took ownership of multiple Vesta properties, including Barcelona. Vesta was also among the Tulsa landlords that fell months behind on .
鈥淲e all got letters on our doors saying they were going to charge for water,鈥� Courtney said, even though that cost is supposed to be part of the rent.
According to a city official, the company caught up with water bills, and Vesta issued a statement saying that because of a pending 鈥渙wnership dispute,鈥� all questions about conditions, staffing or maintenance at Barcelona should go to the current operator.
YSA spokesman Parker Detweiler said his company is 鈥渄oing everything humanly possible within the law to get living conditions where they should be.鈥�
Sherri Daley, executive director of the Tulsa Apartment Association, said while it鈥檚 important to address the 鈥渦nderlying causes of housing instability,鈥� landlords have to worry about their bottom line.
鈥淧roperty owners and managers typically focus on the lease obligations, payment history, and compliance with the rental agreement rather than whether a household includes school-aged children,鈥� she said. One of the arguments against extending the eviction timeline was that it would hurt small, independent landlords. 鈥淓ven one missed payment can create a ripple effect, leading to deferred maintenance and other financial pressures for the owner.鈥�
Tenants falling behind on rent can sometimes avoid an eviction if they communicate with their landlords, said Amy Coldren, who launched Shelterwell in Oklahoma City in 2023. As part of its eviction prevention work, the organization provides nonprofits and schools with a free, tenant education program called . It covers topics like how to understand a lease and manage a budget.
Coldren said one of the first women she met after starting Shelterwell was facing eviction because her children, who had previously been in foster care, were considered unauthorized occupants.
鈥淚鈥檓 a former foster parent, so I know the work that she did to get her children back,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 simple solution would have been for her to have a conversation with her landlord and put her kids on the lease.鈥�
鈥楢 sensitive manner鈥�
ImpactTulsa鈥檚 work began with a disturbing realization.
Property owners are also concentrated in the same neighborhoods as schools with the highest . That鈥檚 what the organization found when it began scraping the eviction court docket six years ago for addresses that match those of district students.
Between 2020 and 2023, Kimbrel identified eviction filings affecting roughly 4,400 Tulsa students. The disruption wasn鈥檛 brief. A year after a district family鈥檚 eviction showed up on their radar, nearly three-fourths of those students were still chronically absent.
鈥淭hat just slapped everybody in the face,鈥� she said.
But even the most sophisticated of district data systems can鈥檛 stop families from being displaced. The district鈥檚 homeless education staff last school year emailed all 621 families identified through the alert system, said BreAnna Shine, director of student engagement. Less than 100 ultimately received support through the district. Most didn鈥檛 respond. They might have landed somewhere else, ignored the message or resolved the issue with their landlord.
The other half of the system is a resource hub in one of the district鈥檚 most heavily impacted clusters of schools, East Central. The schools on that side of town draw from apartments like Eastgate, which filed eviction notices during that 2020-23 period affecting 47 students at Cooper Elementary and 26 students at East Central High School, Kimbrel鈥檚 analysis showed.
The hub at East Central Middle is two offices near the front entrance where Angeles Gonzalez, a family 鈥渘avigator鈥� with Tulsa Responds, and Turner, an attorney for the YWCA, meet privately with parents to triage their immediate needs 鈥� items like rental assistance, a free hotspot or food stamps. But district staff initially wrestled with whether they even wanted to know which families had been evicted.
鈥淚t’s a sensitive matter,鈥� said Stephanie Andrews, executive director of student and family support services. It鈥檚 uncomfortable to contact a parent who might not want anyone to know they鈥檝e hit such a low point. 鈥淚t’s not been without some bumps.鈥�
The district can guide a family to a nonprofit offering short-term rental assistance or temporary housing, but that often means they end up on a waiting list for services. Restore Hope, a nonprofit, spends about $100,000 a month in rental assistance, but those funds only cover about 30% of the eviction cases, said Josh Geppelt, executive director. Plus, to qualify, applicants have to show they have 鈥渕eans to maintain the rent after we do the assist.鈥�
Living in limbo during that application process, while also bouncing from one living situation to the next, is draining, said Aspen Allen, a mother of three.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e waiting for them to call you, and if nobody answers, they move to the next person,鈥� she said.
She leaned on the district last fall for clothes and backpacks for her kids in between leaving a rental home with plumbing problems, spending time in a run by a local church and moving into Parkview Terrace on the west side of town, a public housing development known for . It鈥檚 the same complex where she鈥檚 currently waiting for a subsidized apartment.
鈥淚 haven’t been able to have my own spot for my kids to be happy, go to school, go on vacation and just have a good life,鈥� said Allen, who works as a DoorDasher and was waiting to hear back about a part-time FedEx position. 鈥淚’m trying to keep them in school, not missing any days, which is very difficult at times.鈥�
鈥楾hey grab what they can鈥�
Inspired by Tulsa鈥檚 example, nonprofit leaders in other cities nonetheless face the same obstacles in trying to serve families with scarce resources.
鈥淭here is no system,鈥� said Aqua Porter, executive director of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative in New York. 鈥淭here are just things that people have to navigate through, and they are not connected.鈥�
Most of those other nonprofits have something Oklahoma does not 鈥� a longer timeline between eviction notices and court appearances. In New York, for example, nonprofits have roughly 30 days from an eviction filing to help families find legal aid, point them toward sources of financial support and encourage them to attend their first court appearance.
Because Oklahoma鈥檚 system is designed to get renters with delinquent payments out as soon as possible, it鈥檚 often too late to prevent eviction. Those with nowhere to go may stay in the apartment after they鈥檙e evicted until they鈥檙e forced out by the sheriff鈥檚 department, said Melissa Vowell, a homeless education program specialist for the Tulsa Public Schools.
They usually have about an hour to collect belongings.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a sheriff鈥檚 eviction, they grab what they can in the time a sheriff will allow,鈥� she said.
Their next stop might be Vowell鈥檚 office, which connects to a storeroom packed with school uniforms, socks and underwear, and personal hygiene products.
She also maintains a detailed spreadsheet filled with organizations offering food, transportation and housing. One nonprofit on the list is , tucked into a serene, wooded area west of downtown. Out of a small white cottage, Executive Director Tina Massey runs an eviction diversion program that provides one-time payments of up to $1,000 for those who have fallen behind on rent. Massey estimates that the program reached close to 90 district families last school year. For those who lose their housing, a shelter on the same property offers fully furnished apartments for up to three months.
Brooklyn Cloud found Family Promise on Facebook last year while living in a Mazda SUV with two daughters, one in preschool and another in second grade. After an eviction from Harmony Glen, a 74-unit complex owned by a , they spent six months sleeping under the lights in Walmart and QuikTrip parking lots.
鈥淚 didn’t even know a 7-year-old could get depressed,鈥� Cloud said. 鈥淗er grades started to slip, lack of appetite. She wanted to sleep all the time.鈥�
While staying in one of the apartments, Cloud and her husband paid off the eviction and saved for a new home. Their oldest now 鈥渉as her own space.鈥�
鈥淪he’s more bubbly and her personality is back,鈥� she said. 鈥淪he’s not so down-in-the-dumps and snappy.鈥�
鈥楲egal first aid鈥�
Most parents in a crisis like Cloud鈥檚 don鈥檛 even show up to court.
鈥淭hey can鈥檛 get time off work or child care,鈥� said Hallett, the legal aid attorney.
That was clear the day Courtney鈥檚 case appeared on the docket. Of the 89 eviction filings before Judge Tammy Bruce, who hears about 13,000 eviction cases a year, less than half of the tenants showed up.
If they do appear, they鈥檙e unlikely to have . In nearly every case, Judge Bruce told them they could either meet with their landlord鈥檚 representative or see if they qualified for legal aid. Court documents show Courtney represented herself, while a Vesta employee appeared for the company.
Courtney was evicted two weeks later. Attempts to reach her by phone and text since then were unsuccessful.
Last year, Hallett began asking tenants if they have children in the Tulsa schools. It鈥檚 his contribution to the district鈥檚 effort to identify more families.
On the district side, about 40 teachers at East Central MIddle learned how to offer 鈥渓egal first aid,鈥� like helping parents construct timelines of the events that led up to eviction. Missed or partial payments, maintenance issues reported, and messages to landlords and property managers are important to document because when apartments change ownership, new managers don鈥檛 always honor previous attempts to pay.
Barros, with ImpactTulsa, expected some resistance from staff to the training. She鈥檚 a former social studies teacher at East Central Middle.
鈥淭eachers are like 鈥榃hoa, that’s not my job. You’re adding something else to my plate,鈥� 鈥� she said. But schools play a unique role in eviction prevention, she said. 鈥淜ids are legally required to be here. So let鈥檚 take advantage of that.鈥�
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