The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness recognizes the importance of ensuring access to education for children and youth experiencing homelessness. Best practice in the convening of 10-year planning partnerships and the development of jurisdictional 10-year plans will ensure early inclusion of state and local jurisdictional partners working to ensure the right to education access, the development of jurisdictional data on the population, and the design of partnerships and investments that prevent and end their homelessness.
Several helpful resources are available that can support intergovernmental partners at the federal, state, city, and county levels, as well as intercommunity partners engaged in State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year plans to end homelessness, in ensuring the education rights of homeless children and youth. It is critical that states, counties, and cities access these resources - and assist consumers in accessing them - to inform the development and implementation of the components of their 10-year plans that address the education rights of homeless children.
The Education for Homeless Children and Youth program of the McKinney-Vento Act addresses the problems that homeless children and youth face in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Report to the President and Congress on the Implementation of the Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
As described by the Department in its report, State Educational Agencies (SEAs) must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth. Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging state student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. States and districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth.
Under the McKinney-Vento Act, every school district must designate a local liaison for homeless children and youth. The duties of local liaisons in each of the nation's school districts include ensuring that homeless children and youth are identified, enroll in, and have a full opportunity to succeed in schools, and receive educational services for which they are eligible. Local liaisons must ensure that public notice of the educational rights of homeless children and youth is posted throughout the Local Education Agency (LEA) and the community, and that parents and guardians are informed of their children's educational rights. Local Liaisons are also required to coordinate and collaborate with community and school personnel for the provision of education and related services to homeless children and youth.
Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2001, the term "homeless children and youth" is defined by the statute to include individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement; children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and migratory children who qualify as homeless under the law.
Access to Education. Children and youth experiencing homelessness have the right to go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there; they must be given access to the same public education, including preschool education, provided to other children. The law provides for children to continue in the school they last attended before they became homeless or the school they last attended, if that is the parent's or youth's choice and is feasible. If a staff member of a school sends the child or youth to a school other than the one requested, the staff member must provide a written explanation and offer the right to appeal the decision. The law also provides for children to receive transportation to the school they attended before the family or youth became homeless or the school they last attended, if the parent or youth requests such transportation. By law, children can enroll in school without giving a permanent address; schools cannot require proof of residency that might prevent or delay school enrollment. Children can enroll and attend classes while the school arranges for the transfer of school and immunization records or any other documents required for enrollment. Children can also enroll and attend classes in the school of choice even while the school and parent or youth seek to resolve a dispute over the selected school. (The school district local liaison for homeless education will assist youths with the dispute process.) The law provides for children to receive the same special programs and services, if needed, as provided to all other children or youth served in these programs.
Ensuring Education Rights in Jurisdictional Planning. Several helpful resources are available that can support intergovernmental partners at the federal, state, city, and county levels, as well as intercommunity partners engaged in State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year plans to end homelessness, in ensuring the education rights of homeless children and youth.
State Interagency Councils on Homelessness and jurisdictional 10-year planning entities should ensure that appropriate State Educational Agency personnel and local liaisons, as well as other state and local government officials familiar with homeless education issues and resources, and consumers themselves, are active partners in state and local jurisdictional planning. State Interagency Councils and jurisdictional 10-year planners can play a vital role in ensuring the regular distribution of the consumer and provider oriented materials described below that explain these rights.
Helpful Resources:
Education Rights Poster for Parents. This poster explains who qualifies as homeless under the educational provisions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and lists the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness. This poster is available for download in English or Spanish and can be posted in schools, in homeless and other programs, and throughout the community.
Education Rights Poster for School-Age Children and Youth. This poster is targeted to school-age children and youth and explains who qualifies as homeless under the education provisions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The poster lists the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness. This poster is available for download in English and Spanish and can be posted in schools, in children's programs, in homeless and other programs, and throughout the community.
National Center for Homeless Education at SERVE is the Department of Education's national technical assistance provider. NCHE, at the SERVE center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, develops and disseminates information to parents, service providers, local schools, advocacy group, and State and Local education providers; operates a helpline; hosts a listserv; maintains a website to disseminate information about federal, state, and local resources; and provides onsite technical assistance and training, as well as web- based training on serving the needs of homeless students. NCHE's publications include a Best Practices in Homeless Education series which includes a publication specifically for service providers on the details of education rights.
Resources for Parents and Children (NCHE)
What Service Providers Should Know (NCHE)
State Education Contacts
Federal Agency Resources
Department of Education
Department of Agriculture
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of Labor
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
