Student Services

Homeless Services

McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act

The McKinney-Vento Act is the federal law reauthorizing the Stewart B. McKinney Act that governs the education of children and youth in homeless situations.  This act was signed into law in January 2002, and was effective July 1, 2002.

Texas Education Code

In response to the federal legislation, Texas has its own state laws that, in conjunction with the McKinney Act, preserve the rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness and govern their admission to and attendance in school.

Subtitle B -Education for Homeless Children and Youths

The term 'homeless children and youths' -

  • means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and 

  • includes -

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

    • children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));

    • children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; andmigratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

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