Special Programs

McKinney-Vento

McKinney-Vento Act

WIVA provides McKinney-Vento/homeless assistance and support for eligible families. The McKinney-Vento Act defines “homeless children and youth” as:

(A) Individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and

(B) Includes:

1. Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;

2. Children and youths who have a primary night-time residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

3. Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

4. Migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

Children and youth are considered homeless if they fit both part A and any one of the subparts of part B of the definition above.

McKinney-Vento Dispute Resolution

A homeless child or youth has the right to remain at his or her school of origin (the public school that the child or youth attended when permanently housed, or the public school in which the child or youth was last enrolled) or to attend any public school that other students who live in the attendance area are eligible to attend. If the student is eligible to attend more than one school, parents/caregivers or unaccompanied youth will have the option of choosing the school. A student is eligible to attend a school only if the student meets the requirements of the school program and there is a seat available at the student’s grade level.