Congress reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to help people experiencing homelessness in January of 2015 (the act was originally passed in 1987)
Mckinney-Vento Act & Liaison
This federal law includes the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program that entitles children who are homeless to a free, appropriate public education and requires schools to remove barriers to their enrollment, attendance, and success in school.
The term homeless children and youth means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act protects all students who do not have a fixed, regular, and adequate residence, such as students living in the following situations:
Doubled-up housing with other families or friends due to hardships
Runaway/homeless youth shelters (even if parents are in the youth home)
Hotels or motels
Shelters, including domestic violence shelters
Transitional housing shelters
Cars, bus, train stations, abandoned buildings, parks, the streets or other public spaces
Campgrounds or inadequate trailer homes
Abandoned in hospitals, fire stations, or other designated safe spaces
Every charter school and LEA must designate a homeless education liaison/coordinator to assist families and school personnel in ensuring that students who are homeless can enroll and succeed in school. If your child is homeless, please contact the school’s McKinney-Vento liaison, using the form below or by calling, for an explanation of his/her educational rights.
ND Gravy
Student Services Coordinator
(828)298-2173
Mckinney-Vento Liaison
McKinney-Vento State of NC Coordinator
Lisa Phillips