A victory in Federal Court today for the parents of five homeless children.

They sued the State, seeking equal access to education.

Judge Hellen Gillmor granted a class certification and temporary injunction.

That requires the State to better identify and provide transportation for thousands of homeless children currently not served or struggling to get to school.

Alice Greenwood and her 7 year old son recently moved off of the beach into the Waianae Civic Center shelter.

She describes getting him to Nanakuli Elementary now as "a hardship."

"She spends 6-61/2 hours with him on bus transporting her child to and from school" says her attorney Paul Alston of Alston Hunt Floyd and Ing law firm.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on behalf of parents like Greenwood and Olive Kaleuati, seeking continuity for their kids' schooling.

"We're still going through some hardships yet, but the real reason I'm here is just to let our children go to school" says Kaleuati.

Federal law says States must provide comparable school bus transportation to allow homeless kids to keep attending their current school even if they move.

Kaleuati says that wasn't the case with her sons. "Because we moved where we did, they had to switch schools."

The Department of Education says it's not feasible to provide contract buses, and that it's services are "appropriate" under federal law.

The DOE currently provides a city bus pass to 40 homeless kids.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the State falls short of its obligations.

"This year they know they're serving only 300 homeless kids and only 20 out of 18-thousand hidden homeless kids. It's just a disaster and they're simply not doing what the federal law requires" says Alston.

In her ruling, Judge Gillmor called for schools to be proactive during enrollment to identify homeless children.

She'll issue a written order outlining what the State must do to comply.