E.   McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

42 U.S.C. § 11431 through 11435.
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act of 2001 is codified in Part C of Title X of NCLB.

42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2) (2002).
School districts must ensure that all children who are homeless have access to school. Homeless children and youth are “individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”

42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2).
The definition includes children who are awaiting foster care placement.

42 U.S.C. § 11431(1).
Homeless children should have the same free, appropriate, public education as other children.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(B) (2008).
Schools must keep a homeless child in the school of origin except where doing so is contrary to the wishes of the child’s parent or guardian.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(F)
The Act requires that the “choice regarding placement shall be made regardless of whether the child or youth lives with homeless parents or has been temporarily placed elsewhere.” 

Reference
Under this clause, a child who has been temporarily placed with relatives or in some other temporary situation still may be entitled to attend the school of origin.
42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1)(J).
If a homeless child still lives in the area served by the local educational agency (school district) in which the school of origin is located, the school district must provide the child’s transportation to and from the school of origin.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(C).
Sometimes the student will enroll at a new, more convenient school. Schools must immediately enroll homeless children, even if their medical, academic, and residency records are not available.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(E).
If there is a dispute about enrollment, the child “shall be immediately admitted to the school in which enrollment is sought, pending resolution of the dispute.”



Eric Tars, Separate & Unequal in the Same Classroom, p. 272, No. 3, Summer 2009, Loy. Pub. Int. L. Rep.
Also, students who were receiving special education services at their previous school must be immediately provided with comparable services in the new school.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)
Each school district must have a liaison or coordinator to help homeless children.

Reference
This person can be accessed through a school district’s central office.

42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(3)(B);
42 U.S.C. § 11434a(6).
The school must ensure that the homeless liaison helps to make placement and enrollment decisions for an unaccompanied youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.

Kathleen McNaught, Learning Curves:  Education Advocacy for Children in Foster Care  28 (ABA Center on Children and the Law 2004).
When dealing with a child who might fit the definition of homeless under this act, notify the McKinney-Vento liaison in the school district.