The McKinney-Vento Act and Children and Youth ... - State of Michigan

they will be better able to manage the demands of foster care and to behave
appropriately in the home environment. This can include efforts by educators
to provide specific supports to the foster care families and caretakers who are
supporting the youth at home.
The McKinney-Vento Act gives students who are awaiting foster placement
the right to remain in their school of origin, despite placement changes, if
in their best interest. The Act further requires school districts to provide
transportation to the school of origin. This transportation is absolutely
essential to ensure school stability and promote the educational success of all
homeless children and youth. However, it entails a significant expense and
logistical challenge for school districts. Shortages of buses, drivers, and taxis
as well as severe budget crises threaten the ability to provide transportation.
Cooperation between
education and child welfare
agencies is essential to
ensure that the expense
and logistical challenges of
transportation do not pose a
barrier to services and that
transportation is provided
quickly and efficiently for all
students.
Some of the states and localities interviewed for this publication have
developed strategies to confront the financial and logistical challenges of
transportation. Many have secured supplemental funding for transportation.
Such funding has been obtained through appropriations from the state
legislature as well as through outside grants. Obtaining increased funding for
transportation has been absolutely critical, as there simply are not enough
resources to provide transportation to all eligible students at the current
McKinney-Vento funding level.
STRATEGY
The state bears the
cost of school-of-origin
transportation.
WHERE PRACTICED
Delaware
The child welfare agency
pays for commutes that
are particularly long,
complex, or costly, on a
case-by-case basis. In
Virginia, to increase the
agency’s capacity to bear
this cost, in 2007 the
state legislature allocated
$150,000 for school-oforigin
transportation for
youth in out-of-home care.
Ann Arbor, MI
Fairfax County, VA
Strategies for Improving Educational Outcomes through School Stability 35