The Stewart B. McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Assistance Act protects the rights of all homeless/highly mobile students. The act defines homeless children as youth between the ages of 2 and 18 years old who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence and may reside in the following:

• Hotel or motel

• Shelter/transitional housing program

• Sharing housing with another family due to loss of housing stemming from financial hardship

• Trailer park or campsite due to the lack of adequate living accommodations

• Abandoned building, parked car, or other facility not designed as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings

• Living with another person due to the death or incarceration of a parent

• Living as a youth on their own due to abandonment or runaway status

• More information about rights for parents and youth is available for download in English and Spanish.

Roosevelt’s McKinney-Vento program addresses the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school.

Under this program, state educational agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including public preschool education, as other children and youth. Homeless children and youth should have access to the educational and other services that they need to meet the same challenging state student academic achievement standards to which all students are held.

In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment. States and districts must review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth. For more information, visit the AZED website.

LEA Foster Care Point of Contact

Sara Mendoza
Community Service Liaison
602-243-4834
Sara.Mendoza@rsd66.org