Homeless Students and School Who is considered homeless? What must schools do? Which school will a child attend? Transportation Making a grievance An example of a good school policy

• may be covered by the McKinney Act (see below) and state regulations, and
• her problem enrolling or transferring cannot be resolved.

Finding Legal Help. Also, see the Maryland State Department of Education's booklet, "Homeless Education."

Who is considered Homeless?
School age children who are homeless (or become homeless) have legal rights under a federal  law called "The McKinney Act."  The word homeless does not mean only someone who literally lives on the street. In the words of the law a homeless student includes:

• "an individual who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence; and 

• an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is: 

  • a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations; 

  • an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or 

  • a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings."

42 U.S.C. Section 11302

A "homeless" student is any child who is living in a motel, in a shelter, with family members or friends, in a car,  in a park, or in a any other public place because her family has lost their housing or have no housing

What must schools do?
The Maryland State Department of Education and local school boards have certain obligations to help homeless students. 

Each local school system is required to have "policies to eliminate barriers to enrollment, retention and success in school of homeless children."  Each school system must have a plan to address: 

• transportation issues; 
• delay in enrollment due to residency rules; 
• lack of documents such as birth certificates, school records, immunization records, or other documentation; and 
• guardianship issues.

Each school system also must have a "homeless education coordinator" who is responsible for helping children who are covered by these rules.

• Finding the Law (regulations )- The Maryland State Department of Education has passed regulations that set out those obligations.  It can be found at COMAR 13A.05.09.01 to .07. Go to the Table of contents of the Department of Education's regulations and scroll down until you see "13A.05.09 Programs for Homeless Children." When you click that title, you will see a list of regulations with short summaries.  You can click on the number of each section to read it.
• The purpose of the regulations is to establish "minimum requirements for providing educational programs to homeless students in Maryland public schools in a manner which ensures that homeless children and youth have equal access to educational programs and are protected from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness."

Which school will a child attend?
School systems must consider "the best interest of the child" when they enroll homeless children in a school. Generally, the school system must allow the child to continue attending or enroll in the parent's choice of 

(1) the school of origin for the remainder of the academic year or,

(2) if the student becomes homeless between academic years, the school of origin for the following academic year; or  

(3) the school in which non-homeless students (who live in the same area) are eligible to attend. (This refers to the school "attendance" area in which the homeless student is currently living.)

A school cannot delay enrollment because the student is unable to produce school, medical, or residency records. And the school must help obtain any records from a previous school.

Transportation - The school also must provide the student with transportation from wherever she is living to the school.

Filing a grievance - Each school system must have a grievance procedure to resolve problems within five days. The parent can appeal to the superintendent of the school system, to the local school board, and to the State School Board. Until the grievance is resolved the student must be allowed to attend either

• the school she was in before or,
• the school nearest the place she lives.

An example of good school policy
The Prince George's County school system has an exemplary procedure for solving the problems of homeless students. The written policy of this school system can be read or downloaded as an Adobe PDF file. There are also some related PDF documents which include forms to apply for services and transportation.

Date of last legal review: 01/15/08 (PLL/M.A.J.)