Homeless Children & Youths (McKinney-Vento Act)

McKinney-Vento is the primary piece of federal legislation dealing with the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness in U.S. public schools. It was reauthorized as Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The McKinney-Vento program is designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, 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 should 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. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment. 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, children in homeless situations have the right to:

• Go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there;
• Attend either the local school or the school of origin (the school of origin is the school the child attended when he/she was permanently housed or the school in which the child was last enrolled), if this is in their best interest;
• Receive transportation to and from the school or origin;
• Enroll, attend classes and participate fully in all school activities while the school arranges for the transfer of records,;
• Have access to the same programs and services that are available to all other students including transportation and supplemental services; and
• Attend school with children not experiencing homelessness - segregation based on a student's status as homeless is prohibited.