Admission of Homeless Students: JFABD

The District intends to remove barriers to the identification, enrollment, and retention of homeless children and youth in school in accordance with state and federal law.  The District shall take reasonable steps to ensure that students experiencing homelessness are not segregated or stigmatized and that decisions are made in the best interests of the student.

Definitions

Terms used in this policy, such as “homeless children and youth,” “unaccompanied youth,” “school of origin,” “enrollment,” and “attendance area school,” shall be as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and its implementing regulations as follows:

“Homeless children and youths” means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and includes:

• 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 adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;
   
• 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;
   
• Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
   
• Migratory children who are living in circumstances described above.

“Unaccompanied youth” includes a homeless child or youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.

“School of origin” means the school that a child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled, including a preschool.

The terms “enroll” and “enrollment” are defined as attending classes and participating fully in school activities.

“Attendance area school” is the public school designated for the address where a child or youth is staying.

Provision of education services

Each student experiencing homelessness shall have access to and shall be provided education services for which the student is eligible, comparable to services provided to other students in the school, including summer school, career and technical education programs, gifted education programs, and school nutrition programs.  Transportation services for students experiencing homelessness shall be provided by the application of law.  

Students experiencing homelessness shall be provided access to education and other services that they need to ensure that they have an opportunity to meet the same student performance standards to which all students are held.  All educational decisions shall be made in the best interest of the student.

The District shall coordinate with other districts and with local social services agencies and other agencies and programs providing services to students experiencing homelessness as needed.  

Local Liaison

The District has appointed a local liaison who is responsible for working to identify students experiencing homelessness and facilitating such students’ access to and success in school.

The primary functions of the local liaison shall be to mediate disputes concerning school enrollment, assist in making transportation arrangements, assist in requesting the student’s records, provide information and give referrals on services and opportunities, and assist any unaccompanied youth with enrollment, credit accrual, and college readiness decisions. 

Enrollment and school stability

Enrollment shall be immediate even if the student experiencing homelessness lacks records routinely required before enrollment or has missed application or enrollment deadlines. The District shall make arrangements to obtain any necessary records and to have the student receive any necessary immunizations. When feasible, the District shall seek immunization through no- or low-cost health care providers. If an expense is incurred, the District shall seek reimbursement through Medicaid if possible.

If a student experiencing homelessness becomes permanently housed outside the District during the school year, the student shall no longer be considered a homeless child or youth and may only continue enrollment in the District for the remainder of the school year.

Tuition

A student defined in state and federal law as a homeless child or youth shall be admitted without payment of tuition.

Enrollment determinations

In making enrollment determinations, the local liaison shall consider relevant factors, including but not limited to:

• the best interests of the student experiencing homelessness;
• to the extent feasible, keeping the student in the school of origin;
• the wishes of the student and the student’s parent/guardian;
• which school can best meet the student’s educational and other needs; and
• the student’s transportation needs related to the school options.

Dispute resolution

When a dispute arises over eligibility, school selection, or enrollment, the local liaison shall provide a written explanation of their decision and of the right to appeal, in a manner and form understandable to the student’s parent/guardian or an unaccompanied youth. The student experiencing homelessness shall be immediately enrolled in the school in which the parent/guardian or unaccompanied youth seeks to enroll, pending resolution of the dispute.

The local liaison shall attempt to resolve the dispute as expeditiously as possible. If the local liaison is unable to resolve the dispute, the District shall follow the Colorado Department of Education’s McKinney-Vento homeless education dispute resolution procedure.

Transportation

Subsequent to a determination that the student shall attend a school in the District, a request for transportation may be made by the student’s parent/guardian or by the unaccompanied youth.

If the student is located in the District and attending the attendance area school, the District shall provide or arrange for the student’s transportation to and from school in accordance with the District’s transportation policies.  

If the student is located outside of the District’s boundaries but a determination has been made that the student shall remain in the school of origin within the District, both the District and the school district where the student is located must either agree on a method to apportion cost and responsibility for the student’s transportation or share the cost and responsibility equally.

If a student becomes permanently housed during the school year, the District shall continue to provide transportation for the remainder of the academic year during which the student becomes permanently housed.

LEGAL REFS.:
20 U.S.C. 1232g (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) 
20 U.S.C. 6313 (c)(3) (reservation of Title I funding for homeless children and youths) 
42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq. (McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act – Education for Homeless Children and Youth) 
C.R.S. 22-1-102.5 (definition of homeless child) 
C.R.S. 22-32-109 (1)(dd) (duty to adopt/revise policies to remove barriers to access and success in schools for homeless children) 
C.R.S. 22-33-103.5 (attendance of homeless children) 
C.R.S. 26-5.7-101 et seq. (Homeless Youth Act)