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The McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act:
An Overview
National Center for Homeless Education
Toll-free Helpline: 800-308-2145 or
[email protected]
Training Agenda
• After watching this presentation, call into
the conference call to participate in group
learning and networking activities.
• The conference call portion of the training
is critical to getting the most out of your
webinar experience.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Goals for Today
• Learn about services and resources from
NCHE
• Become familiar with the basic concepts of
the McKinney-Vento Act
• Learn good practices and implementation
strategies by networking with colleagues
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
About NCHE
• U.S. Department of Education’s homeless education
technical assistance and information center
• Website: www.serve.org/nche
• Helpline: 800-308-2145 or [email protected]
• Listserv: contact [email protected]
• NCHE products: www.serve.org/nche/products.php
• Local Liaison Toolkit: www.serve.org/nche/training.php
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
The McKinney-Vento Act
• Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act; reauthorized by Title X, Part C of
NCLB
• Main themes of the McKinney-Vento Act:
• School access
• School stability
• Support for academic success
• Child-centered, best interest decision making
• Critical role of the local homeless education
liaison
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Local Liaisons
• Every school district must designate a local
homeless education liaison.
• Local liaison responsibilities include:
• Identifying homeless children and youth
• Ensuring that homeless students enroll in and
have full and equal opportunity to succeed in
school
• Linking homeless students with educational
and other services, including preschool and
health services
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Local Liaisons (cont)
• Informing parents, guardians, or youth of
educational rights
• Ensuring the public posting of educational
rights
• NCHE Educational Rights Posters are available at
www.serve.org/nche/products.php.
• Ensuring that disputes are resolved promptly
• Collaborating with other district programs and
community agencies
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Who Qualifies?
• Children or youth who lack a fixed, regular,
and adequate nighttime residence, including:
• Sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing,
economic hardship, or similar reason (“doubling up”)
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping
grounds due to the lack of adequate alternative
accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Abandoned in hospitals
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Who Qualifies? (cont)
• Awaiting foster care placement
• Living in a public or private place not designed for
humans to live
• Living in cars, parks, abandoned buildings,
substandard housing, bus or train stations, or a
similar setting
• Migratory children living in the above circumstances
• Unaccompanied youth living in the above
circumstances
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Determining Eligibility
• Follow a process
• Step 1. Get the facts.
• Sample enrollment questionnaire at
www.serve.org/nche/downloads/toolkit/app_d.pdf
• Step 2. Analyze the facts.
• Does the living situation fit into one of the specific examples
of homelessness listed in the law?
• Does the living situation fit another type of situation that is not
fixed, regular, and adequate?
• Step 3. Get additional input.
• Determining Eligibility brief at www.serve.org/nche/briefs.php
• Remember the importance of making case-bycase determinations.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
School Selection
• Students experiencing homelessness
have the right to attend one of two
schools:
• Local Attendance Area School
• any public school that students living in the same
attendance area are eligible to attend
• School of Origin
• school attended when permanently housed or
• school in which last enrolled
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
School Stability
• When deciding which school the student will
attend, the best interest of the student is the top
priority.
• Best interest: keep homeless students in their
schools of origin, to the extent feasible, unless
this is against the parent’s or guardian’s wishes
• Local liaisons work together with
unaccompanied youth to determine which
school would be in the youth’s best interest to
attend.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
School Selection
• Students can continue attending their school of
origin the entire time they are homeless, and
until the end of any academic year in which they
move into permanent housing.
• If a student becomes homeless in between
academic years, he or she can continue
attending the school of origin for the following
academic year.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Feasibility
• U.S. Department of Education possible factors to
consider when determining feasibility (2004
Non-Regulatory Guidance, p.14):
• The age of the child or youth
• The distance of a commute and the impact it may
have on the student’s education
• Personal safety issues
• The student’s need for special instruction (e.g.,
special education and related services)
• The length of anticipated stay in a temporary shelter
or other temporary location
• The time remaining in the school year.
• The placement determination should be a
student-centered, individualized determination.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Transportation
• Districts must provide homeless students with
transportation to and from their school of origin,
at a parent’s or guardian’s request (or at the
liaison’s request for unaccompanied youth).
• If the student’s temporary residence and the
school of origin are in the same district, that
district must provide or arrange transportation.
• If the student is living outside of the district of
origin, the district where the student is living and
the district of origin must determine how to
divide the responsibility and cost, or they must
share the responsibility and cost equally.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Transportation (cont)
• Districts must provide students in homeless
situations with transportation services
comparable to those provided to other students.
• School districts must eliminate barriers to the
school enrollment and retention of students
experiencing homelessness (including
transportation barriers).
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Enrollment
• States and districts must develop, review,
and revise policies to remove barriers to
the school enrollment and retention of
homeless children and youth.
• The terms enroll and enrollment include
attending classes and participating fully in
school activities.
• The McKinney-Vento Act supersedes state
or local law or practice when there is a
conflict [U.S. Constitution, Article VI].
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Enrollment (cont.)
• Homeless children and youth have the right to enroll in
school immediately, even if they do not have
documentation normally required for enrollment.
• If a student does not have immunizations, or
immunization or medical records, the local liaison must
assist immediately in obtaining them, and the student
must be enrolled in the interim.
• Enrolling schools must obtain school records from the
previous school, and students must be enrolled in school
while records are obtained.
• Schools must make their records available when a
student transfers to a new school or district.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Dispute Resolution
• Whenever a dispute arises, the parent, guardian, or
youth must be provided with a written explanation of the
school’s decision, including the right to appeal.
• The school must refer the parent, guardian, or youth to
the local liaison to carry out the dispute resolution
process as expeditiously as possible, in accordance with
the State Plan.
• While a dispute is being resolved, the student must be
admitted immediately to the requested school and
provided with services.
• Documentation should be kept for all local liaison
interventions with parents, and not just formal disputes.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Unaccompanied Youth
• Unaccompanied youth: a youth not in the
physical custody of a parent or guardian
• To qualify for services, the student must also
meet the Act’s definition of homeless.
• States must make special efforts to identify and
serve homeless youth.
• School personnel must be made aware of the
specific needs of runaway and homeless youth.
• Local liaisons must help unaccompanied youth
choose and enroll in a school, after considering
the youth’s wishes, and inform the youth of his
or her appeal rights.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Preschool-Aged Children
• State plans must describe procedures that ensure that
homeless children have access to public preschool
programs.
• Local liaisons must ensure that families and children
have access to Head Start, Even Start, and other public
preschool programs administered by the school district.
• The reauthorized Head Start Act (Dec 2007) includes
many provisions to serve young children who are
homeless; additional information is available at
www.naehcy.org/dl/headstartsum1207.pdf.
• IDEA and McKinney-Vento staff must work together to
ensure that young homeless children who may need
special education services are identified, evaluated, and
served (IDEA’s Child Find provision).
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Access to Services
• Students experiencing homelessness must have
access to services for which they are eligible,
including special education, programs for
English learners, gifted and talented programs,
and vocational and technical education.
• Homeless students are automatically eligible to
receive free school meals; the USDA permits
local liaisons and shelter directors to qualify
homeless students for free meals by providing a
list of names with effective dates.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Access to Services (cont)
• IDEA includes provisions that ensure the
timely assessment, inclusion, and
continuity of services for homeless
children and youth with disabilities;
additional information is available at
www.serve.org/nche/ibt/sc_spec_ed.php.
• Undocumented students have the same
right to attend public school as U.S.
citizens (Plyler v. Doe) and are covered by
the McKinney-Vento Act to the same
extent as other eligible students.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Title I, Part A
• Homeless students are automatically eligible to
receive Title I, Part A services.
• School districts must set aside funds as are
necessary to provide Title IA services
comparable to those provided to children in Title
IA schools to serve homeless children who do
not attend Title IA schools; this may include
providing educational support services to
children in shelters and other locations where
homeless children may live.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Title I, Part A (cont)
• Services for homeless students in both
Title IA and non-Title IA schools should be
comparable to those provided to nonhomeless students in Title IA schools.
• School districts can choose to provide
services that are not ordinarily provided to
other Title IA students and that are not
available from other sources, according to
the need of the homeless student.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Segregation and
Stigmatization
• States are prohibited from segregating homeless
students in separate schools, separate
programs within schools, or separate settings
within schools.
• States and school districts must adopt policies
and practices to ensure that homeless children
and youth are not segregated or stigmatized on
the basis of their status as homeless.
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
For more information
NCHE website: www.serve.org/nche
NCHE helpline: 800-308-2145 or
[email protected]
NCHE National Partners:
National Association for the Education of
Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY):
www.naehcy.org
National Law Center on Homelessness and
Poverty (NLCHP): www.nlchp.org
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche
Conclusion
This concludes this introductory presentation
on the McKinney-Vento Act.
Please call into the webinar now at:
Dial (605) 990-0400
Enter code 628700#
NCHE • www.serve.org/nche