Overview of the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act

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Overview of the McKinney Vento Homeless
Assistance Act

• Diana Bowman
• National Center on Homeless Education
• Barbara Duffield
• National Association for the Education of
  Homeless
• Children and Youth
• Joy Moses
• National Law Center on Homelessness Poverty

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McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

• Reauthorized 2002 by NCLB
• School stability and continuity
• School access
• Support for academic success
• Child-centered, best interest decisionmaking

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Eligibility Who is covered?

• Children who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate
  nighttime residence
• Sharing the housing of others due to loss of
  housing, economic hardship, or similar reason
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping
  grounds due to lack of adequate alternative
  accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Abandoned in hospitals

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Who is covered? (cont.)

• Awaiting foster care placement
• Living in a public or private place not designed
  for sleeping
• Living in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, bus
  or train stations, etc.
• Migratory living in circumstances described above
• Children displaced by Hurricane Katrina

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Who ensures services are provided?

• Homeless Education Program in the US Department
  of Education
• State coordinators for homeless education
• Local homeless education liaisons in every school
  district

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Local Homeless Liaisons

• Ensure that students enroll in, and have full and
  equal opportunity to succeed in school
• Identify students
• Create awareness and post notice of rights
• Assist with arranging services (transportation,
  meals, academic support)
• Coordinate with programs and agencies
• Assist unaccompanied youth

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School stabilitywhy?

• It takes a child 4-6 months to recover
  academically after changing schools
• Students suffer psychologically, socially, and
  academically from mobility
• Mobility during high school greatly diminishes
  the likelihood of graduation
• School mobility impacts non-mobile students

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School stabilityKey provisions

• Children and youth experiencing homelessness can
  stay in their school of origin or enroll in any
  public school that students living in the same
  attendance area are eligible to attend, according
  to their best interest
• School of originschool attended when permanently
  housed or in which last enrolled
• Best interestkeep students who are homeless in
  their school of origin, to the extent feasible,
  unless against the parents or guardians wishes

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FeasibilityUS DE Sample Criteria

• Continuity of instruction
• Age of the child or youth
• Safety of the child or youth
• Length of stay at the shelter or temporary
  residence
• Area where the family will likely find permanent
  housing
• Impact of the commute on education
• School placement of siblings
• Time remaining in the school year

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School SelectionKey Provisions

• Students can stay in 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
• Whenever a dispute over enrollment arises, the
  parent or guardian must be provided a written
  explanation of the schools decision, including
  the right to appeal, and be referred to the
  liaison

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Dispute Resolution

• Every state has a dispute resolution process
• The student must be admitted to the school of
  choice while the dispute is being resolved
• The liaison will carry out the dispute resolution
  process as expeditiously as possible

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Transportation

• LEAs, or school districts, must provide
  transportation to the school of origin at a
  parents or guardians request (or at the
  liaisons request for an unaccompanied youth)
• In addition, LEAs must provide transportation
  services comparable to those provided to other
  students

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EnrollmentKey Provisions

• Children and youth have the right to enroll in
  school immediately, even if they do not have
  required documents, such as school records,
  medical records, proof of residency, or other
  documents
• Enrolling schools must obtain school records from
  the previous school, and students must be
  enrolled in while records are being obtained

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EnrollmentKey Provisions

• Schools must maintain records for students who
  are homeless so that they are available quickly
• Federal law supercedes state and local laws where
  there is a conflict
• SEAs and LEAs must develop, review, and revise
  policies to remove barriers to enrollment and
  retention of homeless children and youth

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How do these provisions apply to children
displaced by Katrina?

• Children must be enrolled immediately
• Use information obtained from children and
  parents for class and program placement
• Schools may contact SEAs in LA, AL, and MS to
  obtain records kept electronically
• Schools should contact their state health
  departments, who will contact LA, AL, and MS
  health departments for immunization records

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Segregation Prohibited

• Homeless students must not be segregated in
  separate schools, separate programs within
  schools, or separate settings within schools
• SEAs and LEAs must adopt policies and practices
  to ensure that homeless children and youth are
  not segregated on the basis of their homelessness
  or stigmatized

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Best PracticesIdentification

• School District Homeless Liaisons must ensure
  that homeless children and youth are identified.
  Identification strategies include
• Provide awareness activities for school staff
• Coordinate with government and community
  organizations (e.g., FEMA, Red Cross, other
  emergency services providers)
• Provide outreach materials and posters
• Solicit support from media outlets
• Ask about housing status in enrollment and
  withdrawal forms
• Avoid using the word homeless
• Work with truancy and attendance officers
• Ask school-age children about pre-school siblings

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Best PracticesProviding Needed Items/Services

• Work with community organizations, professional
  associations, and volunteers to provide
• School supplies (back packs, binders, folders,
  pens, pencils, etc.)
• Uniforms and other clothing
• Counseling Services
• A slush fund for items that cost families money
  (field trips, gym uniforms, yearbooks, SAT Prep
  classes, etc.)

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Best PracticesHelping Students Adjust

• All students go through an adjustment period when
  attending a new school. Schools can help by
• Pairing new students with current students to
  help facilitate friendships
• Assisting students with enrolling in classes, and
  participating in activities that are familiar to
  them
• Appointing a teacher or counselor to both be a
  go-to person for student concerns and monitor
  student adjustment.

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Students with Disabilities and IDEA

• Districts must promptly provide services
  comparable to those included in the previous IEP,
  in consultation with parents, until the previous
  IEP is adopted or a new IEP is developed.
• School districts are required to immediately
  request records (including evaluations and IEPs)
  from previous schools and for previous schools to
  immediately send those records.
• Affected states have some records available
  electronicallystate education websites and state
  coordinators have updated information
• If records can not be located, make temporary
  placements based on info. provided by parent(s)
  and expedite assessments

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Unaccompanied Youth

• An estimated 1.7 to 2.8 million youth are
  homeless each year
• Nearly half are throwaway youth
• Youth live in shelters, on the streets, with
  friends or family, in abandoned buildings, in
  cars, etc.
• 5,000 unaccompanied youth die each year from
  assault, illness, or suicide

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Unaccompanied YouthWhy They Are On Their Own

• Over 33 report sexual abuse in the home
• Approx. 50 report physical abuse
• Over 67 had at least one parent abusing drugs or
  alcohol
• Many are unwelcome at home due to such issues as
  economics, pregnancy, sexual orientation or
  identity, or other types of family contact
• Some have parents who are deceased or
  imprisonedthese youth sometimes do not have
  formalized custody arrangements.

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Unaccompanied YouthKey Provisions

• Liaisons must help unaccompanied youth choose and
  enroll in a school, after considering the youths
  wishes. They must also inform the youth of his
  or her appeal rights.
• School personnel must be made aware of the
  specific needs of runaway and homeless youth.

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Preschool-Aged Children

• Liaisons must ensure that families and children
  receive Head Start, Even Start, and other public
  preschool programs.
• State plans must describe procedures that ensure
  that children have access to preschool programs.

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Head Start Information

• U.S. HHS issued a memo in 1992 describing how
  Head Start grantees should collaborate and adjust
  their programs to serve homeless children.
• US HHS issued more recent guidance stating that
  children displaced by Hurricane Katrina should be
  considered as income eligible for Head Start. If
  a family does not have a childs birth
  certificate, programs should accept the familys
  information about the childs birth date. A note
  should be included in each such childs file that
  age and/or income eligibility was determined
  based on information provided by the childs
  family.
• Head Start Reauthorization changes pending

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Child Nutrition Act of 2004

• Homeless, runaway, and migrant students are
  automatically eligible for free school
  lunchesthey dont have to fill out the normally
  required paper form
• Homeless liaison or service provider can provide
  a list of students name and effective date to
  receive meals to child nutrition personnel
• Once found eligible, students are able to receive
  free lunches for the remainder of the school year
  and up to 30 days into the next school year
  without filling out a new application

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Title I and HomelessnessKey Provisions

• Homeless children are automatically eligible for
  Title I,
• Part A services.
• LEAs must reserve (or set aside) funds as are
  necessary for homeless students not attending
  Title I schools.
• Set-aside funds must be used to provide services
  that are comparable to those provided to students
  in Title I schools
• Services may include educationally related
  support services to children in shelters (or
  other locations where children may live) or other
  services that are typically not provided to other
  Title I students.

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Strategies for Determining the Title I Set-Aside
Amount

• Review needs and costs involved in serving
  homeless students in the current year and project
  for the following year.
• Multiply the number of homeless students by the
  Title I, Part A per pupil allocation.
• For districts with subgrants, reserve an amount
  greater than or equal to the MV funding request.
• Reserve a percentage based on the districts
  poverty level or total Title I, Part A
  allocation.

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Last Words

• Through it all, school is probably the only
  thing that has kept me going. I know that every
  day that I walk in those doors, I can stop
  thinking about my problems for the next six hours
  and concentrate on what is most important to me.
  Without the support of my school system, I would
  not be as well off as I am today. School keeps me
  motivated to move on, and encourages me to find a
  better life for myself.
• Carrie Arnold, LeTendre Scholar, 2002

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Resources

• National Law Center on Homelessness Poverty
  (NLCHP)
• 202-638-2535
• http//www.nlchp.org
• National Association for the Education of
  Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY)
• 202-364-7392
• http//www.naehcy.org
• National Center for Homeless Education
• 1-800-308-2145
• http//www.serve.org/nche
• National Network for Youth
• 202-783-7949
• http//www.nn4youth.org

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NAEHCY 17th Annual ConferenceKansas City,
MissouriOctober 22-25, 2005www.naehcy.org