McKinney Vento Eligibility for displaced families due to loss of housing or economic hardship, including natural disasters

Have you been displaced from your permanent home due to eviction, foreclosure, or economic/financial hardship?  Please read on....you may be eligible for resources under the McKinney Vento Act.

National Center for Homeless Education

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If you feel you may be eligible under the McKinney Vento Act, please contact the

district's McKinney-Vento liaison, Brenda Callaghan at (609) 625-0028

or bcallaghan@gehrhsd.net

 

MCKINNEY-VENTO DEFINITION OF HOMELESS 42 U.S.C. § 11434a(2) 

The term “homeless children and youth”— 

A. means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence…; and

 B. includes — 

i. 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;

 ii. 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…;

iii. children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

 iv. migratory children…who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

 

Information regarding registration:

Under McKinney-Vento and N.J.A.C. 6A:17-1.1, et seq., students experiencing homelessness are not required to present residency affidavits to enroll in school. Therefore, the typical documents normally needed for school enrollment are waived for homeless students. Although districts are not precluded from verifying a student’s homelessness status and residence in the district, the student shall remain enrolled pending resolution of any dispute pursuant to N.J.A.C. 6A:17-2.7(c).

Federal and state laws prohibit denying the enrollment of students into public schools on the basis of immigration status. In Plyer v. Doe, 457 US 202 (1982), the United States Supreme Court held that undocumented children living in the United States could not be excluded from public elementary and secondary schools based upon their immigration status. Accordingly, school districts are prohibited from requiring students to disclose or document their immigration status, making inquiries of students or parents that may expose their undocumented status or engaging in any practices that “chill” or hinder the right of access to public schools.

New Jersey Administrative Code (N.J.A.C. 6A:22-3.3) also prohibits the barring of any student from public elementary and secondary schools on the basis of immigration/visa status, except for students on F-1 visas.  Districts should continue to enroll all students who are between the ages of 5 and 20 who are domiciled in the district or who are otherwise entitled to attend pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A:38.1, and the implementing regulations, N.J.A.C. 6A22-3.2, et. seq.

Please complete registration and residency paperwork with the school registrar, and the information above relates to the required documentation you must provide.