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