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Community Assistance

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act and Texas state law protect the rights of homeless children and youth to receive a free and appropriate public education. Nearly everyone in Texas who is between the ages of 5 and 21 on September 1 of the school year and has not been expelled has the right to attend school, even if they:

  • do not have a permanent address
  • have a previous address in another town
  • do not live with a parent or legal guardian
  • live with friend of family temporarily
  • sleep in a shelter
  • sleep in a campground, car, abandoned building, or facility not designated for, or ordinarily used for regular accommodations for, human beings
  • do not have school records

Fact sheets and online resources provided by the Texas Education for Homeless Children and Youth (TEHCY) have a great deal of information about implementing provisions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Improvements Act and Texas state law.

Download the Community Assistance Resource Guide