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Empowering Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento Act Overview

Learn about providing transportation services for homeless students. Explore the McKinney-Vento Act provisions and student data in this informative session.

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Empowering Homeless Students: McKinney-Vento Act Overview

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  1. Florida Pupil Transportation Services Directors’ Meeting February 13, 2015 Tallahassee, Florida Transporting Homeless Students

  2. Today’s Session • McKinney-Vento Act - Overview of LEA’s Transportation Requirements • Homeless Student Data • Transporting Homeless Students • Transportation Provisions • Charter Schools and Transportation • Resources 2

  3. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Protects the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness • Federal law • First enacted in 1987 • Reauthorized in 2001 as a part of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. 3

  4. Who is covered under McKinney-Vento? 4

  5. Who is covered under McKinney-Vento? All students who lack a nighttime residence that is: 5

  6. Examples of Temporary Housing in the McKinney-Vento Act • Sharing the housing of others due to loss of housing, economic hardship or other similar reason; doubled up • Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping grounds • Living in emergency or transitional shelters • Abandoned in hospitals • Awaiting foster care placement • Living a in 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 (M-V Section 725) 6

  7. How many Florida students were identified as homeless in our schools during 2013-2014? Approximately 71,446 Florida students were identified as homeless in our schools Source: 2013-2014 Final Survey 5 Homeless Counts as of 12/18/14, FDOE

  8. 2013-2014 Florida DOE Preliminary Data 71,446 homeless students were identified in Florida public schools. (2% increase from 2012-2013) 7,573 (11%)of those identified were “Unaccompanied Youth.” (14% increase from 2012-2013) 53,625 (75%) were reported as sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar reason; doubled-up. (2% increase from 2012-2013) All (67) school districts reported homeless students in their schools. Source: 2013-2014 Final Survey 5 Homeless Counts as of 12/18/14, FDOE

  9. What Rights Does McKinney-Vento Provide? 9

  10. IMMEDIATE ENROLLMENT Homeless Liaison’s Duties • Ensure identification of homeless students by school personnel and through coordination activities with other agencies • Ensure homeless students are enrolled and have full and equal opportunity to succeed in school • Inform parents, guardians, or youth of transportation services, including to and from the school of origin, and assist in accessing transportation Section 722(g)(6), PL 107-110

  11. IMMEDIATE ENROLLMENT • LEAs must eliminate barriers to the school enrollment and retention of students experiencing homelessness (including transportation barriers). • The terms ‘enroll and enrollment' include attendingclasses and participating fully in school activities. • Is your district looking at its transportation policies, procedures, and practices to ensure homeless students are attending classes immediately? • How is your district eliminating transportation barriers to homeless students attending classes immediately?

  12. How does your district ensure timely transportation for homeless students? • District has alternative transportation in place for period between student becoming homeless and bus route being created to ensure timely transportation to school of origin. • Homeless liaison calls, e-mails, or faxes a request to designated transportation staff; staff immediately works on request. • One or more transportation specialists are designated to determine the best transportation method for each student once request is received from liaison. • Transportation staff looks at existing routes that can be used to transport the student.

  13. How does your district ensure timely transportation for homeless students? • District has automated the request system and requests are reviewed immediately. • District uses school buses (including special education, magnet school, and other buses). • Transportation staff re-route, extend, and create transfer points on current bus routes to ensure timely transportation to school of origin. • District has inter-district transportation agreements with border school districts to ensure timely transportation.

  14. School Stability and School Selection “School selection” means choosing a school district and choosing a school building. Options include: • School attended when the student was last permanently housed. • School where the student last attended. • School located in the attendance zone where the student is temporarily residing or any other school that permanently housed students who live in the same attendance zone may attend. (M-V Section 722(g)(3)(A)) 14

  15. School Stability and School Selection Who Decides Where a Student Goes to School? Decision Makers: • Parent • Legal Guardian • Youth, together with the homeless liaison, if the youth is unaccompanied Liaisons should encourage parents to keep their children in the school of origin ONLY if it is in their best interest. 15

  16. School Stability and School Selection • Best interest—keep homeless students in their schools of origin, to the extent “feasible”, unless this is against the parents’ or guardians’ wishes.

  17. Feasibility—USDE Sample Criteria A child-centered, individualized determination Time remaining in the school year Continuity of instruction Impact of commute on education Age of the child or youth Student’s need for special instructional programs Safety of the child or youth School placement of siblings Likely length of stay in temporary housing Likely area where family will find permanent housing

  18. Transportation—Key Provision #1School of Origin LEAs must provide transportation to and from homeless students’ school of origin at a parent’s or guardian’s request (or at the liaison’s request for unaccompanied youth) If crossing district lines, districts must determine how to divide the responsibility and share the cost, or they must share the cost equally. NAEHCY • www.naehcy.org 18

  19. LEAs also must provide students in homeless situations with transportation services comparable to those provided to other students. Transportation—Key Provision #2Comparable Services

  20. Title I-Part A & Title X-Part C Funding

  21. Fy 2014 consolidated appropriations act • Signed into Law on January 17, 2014 – Applied to the FY 2014 Title I, Part A funding (Basic Grants, Concentration Grants, and Targeted Grants) that became available to States on July 1, 2014. • Included a significant policy change regarding the use of Title I, Part A funds to support homeless children and youth. • Allows the use of Title I, Part A dollars to “…provide homeless children and youths with services not ordinarily provided to other students under those sections, including • supporting the liaison designated pursuant to section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and • providing transportation pursuant to section 722(g)(1)(J)(iii) of such Act.” • School districts must continue to provide comparable services to homeless children and youth with the Title I set-aside, whether or not they use Title IA funds for the liaison or transportation.

  22. H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Appropriations Act, FY 2015 • On December 13, 2014, Congress passed H.R. 83, the Consolidated and Further Appropriations Act, 2015, which is the final funding legislation for FY 2015. • The FY 2015 funding bill maintains the policy enacted last year allowing Title I Part A funds to be used • support the liaison designated pursuant to section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and • provide transportation pursuant to section 722(g)(1)(J)(iii) of such Act.” • Therefore, school districts will have this flexibility again for the next school year (2015-2016). • School districts must continue to provide comparable services to homeless children and youth with the Title I set-aside, whether or not they use Title IA funds for the liaison or transportation.

  23. Transportation of Homeless StudentsCharter Schools

  24. Transportation of Homeless Students Charter Schools • Ultimately LEA’s Responsibility, if charter schools are public schools within the LEA. • Whether the LEA does or does not transport non-homeless students to a charter school is not a factor in the LEA’s requirements under McKinney-Vento to transport homeless students if it is their school of origin [Section 722(g)(1) (J)(iii)(I)]. • However, charter schools are entitled to their proportionate share of transportation funds for eligible students.  Therefore, the charter school and the school district should cooperate in making arrangements so that transportation is not a barrier to equal access for homeless students. 

  25. Transportation of Homeless Students Charter Schools • Office of Independent Education and Parental Choice’s Technical Assistance Paper on Transportation of Homeless Students • http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/information/Charter_schools/files/Homeless_Student_Transportation_TAP.pdf

  26. Discussion If a student in a charter school becomes homeless, the charter school should cooperate with the school district in making arrangements so that transportation is not a barrier to equal access for homeless students residing within a reasonable distance of the charter school as determined in its charter. The Department of Education encourages new charter school founders and school district representatives to discuss this situation when negotiating a charter contract. Please consider how this situation relates to transportation funding, district school board policies, and general transportation provisions in the charter contract. The Department recommends specifically addressing procedures for providing transportation to homeless students in the charter contract. 26

  27. OTHER RESOURCES

  28. Sample Inter-District Transportation Agreement

  29. National Center for Homeless Education Transporting Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Brief (Updated Winter 2014) http://center.serve.org/nche/downloads/briefs/transportation.pdf

  30. Transportation Resources Inter-District Agreements District-Parent Agreements School District Transportation Brochures for Parents

  31. “I may be Homeless, but I am not Hopeless.” --Florida Le Tendre Scholarship Recipient

  32. Lorraine Husum Allen, Director Phone: (850) 245-0668 Lorraine.Allen@fldoe.org Skip Forsyth, Program Specialist Phone: (850) 245-0089 Skip.Forsyth@fldoe.org Homeless Education Program Contact Information Bureau of Federal Educational Programs http://www.fldoe.org/schools/family-community/activities-programs/homeless-edu-program.stml

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