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McKinney-Vento Students

It can be challenging to enroll and retain preschoolers experiencing homelessness because families in temporary housing may move frequently. State-administered prekindergarten programs offer a crucial opportunity for young children to develop their social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Unfortunately, they often face barriers to accessing these programs and participate at lower rates than their permanently housed peers.

To help address this, state-administered prekindergarten programs have certain responsibilities to identify and support children experiencing homelessness. School districts have to provide transportation for children who are homeless to attend a state-administered prekindergarten program that they enrolled in or registered for before they became homeless. For further information, please refer to theÌý2019 memo from the New York State Commissioner of Education.ÌýPursuant to McKinney-Vento, children experiencing homelessness must have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education. Pursuant to McKinney-Vento, districts mustÌýensure that such children receive educational services for which they are eligible, including preschool programs administered by the district. To this end, McKinney-Vento requires Districts to develop, review and revise policies to remove barriers to the enrollment and retention of students in temporary housing, including preschoolers. Moreover, each district is required to appoint a McKinney-Vento liaison to serve students in temporary housing. To learn more about McKinney-Vento liaisons, please visitÌý.

Children in temporary housing may find that Pre-K programs near them are full or have long waiting lists, especially if a child’s family moves mid-year. Because McKinney-Vento requires that districts eliminate barriers to the full participation and success in school for students in temporary housing, it is especially important that districts engage in proactive steps, such as those listed below, to ensure that children are able to access Pre-K programs.

• Districts are encouraged to explore funding sources, such as Title I3 or McKinney-Vento grants, to cover the cost of additional staff members to increase class sizes to 19 or 20 Pre-K students. In order to enroll 19 or 20 students in a Pre-K class, the class must have one teacher and two paraprofessionals.
• Submit a class-size variance to the Director of the Office of Early LearningÌýto increase the class size above 20 students if a child in temporary housing seeks to enroll in a class that has already reached its maximum capacity of 20 students per Commissioner's Regulations.

Please refer toÌýMcKinney-Vento Homeless EducationÌýand À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ’s homeless education technical assistance center,Ìý,Ìýfor more information and resources.ÌýBelow are additional resources:

• Identification using a Housing Questionnaire: All state-administered prekindergarten programs must identify and report data on the housing status of children enrolled in their program. TheÌýÌýis a template for this purpose.
• Supporting Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness: ThisÌý, provided by the,Ìýis intended for professionals in early childhood to help them learn how to identify families experiencing homelessness, conduct community outreach, and much more.
• Early Care and Education Services in New York State for Young Children Experiencing Homelessness:ÌýThisÌýÌýwill help early childhood educators identify the early care and education services in their communities and enable them to better connect parents who are homeless with the highest quality services for their young children.