What Are the Educational Rights of Homeless Youth?

The U.S. homeless population has increased in recent years - and the numbers are staggering. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, approximately 56,342 family households were identified as homeless in January 2018. In New York City, one in ten public school students do not have stable housing. From 2017 to 2018, the number of children and families experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles more than doubled. And it’s not just big cities that are struggling - across America, the cities with the largest percentage of homeless students are Jackson, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, and Syracuse, NY. In Seattle, one in sixteen students is homeless, and less than half of housing insecure children will graduate high school - a statistic which highlights just one of the many ways that homelessness impacts educational outcomes. 

Many homeless youth and their families are unaware of their rights when it comes to education, and typically do not receive proper services without the help of an advocate in their corner. With information and advocacy, however, homeless students can access their rights and fulfill their potential. Lawyers are essential to this process. But as an attorney interested in advocating for the educational rights of homeless youth, what do you need to know? 

First, it’s important to identify what rights homeless students have to obtaining an education. Lawline’s course Advocating for the Educational Rights of Homeless Children and Youth provides a helpful breakdown of the various statutes and regulations that govern the provision of services to homeless youth. 

Any lawyer looking to advocate for homeless youth must become familiar with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Passed originally in 1987, the Act was reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, and was again amended and reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. The Act governs the provision of services to homeless children and youth. It defines the rights of unaccompanied homeless youth, includes provisions on how to identify homeless students,  contains procedural safeguards for them, and more. Here are the main takeaways of the statute. The Act:

• Guarantees equal access to the same free, appropriate education as any other student;
• Requires state and local educational agencies to review any regulations or policies that might act as a barrier to the identification, enrollment, attendance, or success of any homeless child;
• Prohibits segregation of homeless students; and
• Provides opportunities to access educational services in order to meet state academic standards.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) has also identified the educational rights of homeless youth, which include the right to:

• Remain in their school of origin, even if they move;
• Enroll in any public school that other non-homeless students living in the same area are eligible to attend;
• Enroll in school even if the child has missed enrollment deadlines during his or her period of homelessness;
• Enroll in school without typically required records; and
• Receive transportation to and from school-related activities.

For more information on the rights of homeless youth, watch the full program or refer to the NLCHP’s many helpful resources. Want to head straight to the source? You can read the entire McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act here. 

This post was originally published on July 2018, and has been updated to reflect current statistics.