The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Public Law 115-224) made several amendments to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 relating to homeless individuals.  These amendments include designating “homeless individuals” as a “special population” and adding a new requirement that state plan development include consultation with representatives of agencies serving homeless children and youth, including the State Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and Youths established or designated under section 722(d)(3) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

The purpose of the Education for Homeless Children and Youths program authorized by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is to help ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education available to other children.  Grant funds are awarded by formula to states to establish or designate an Office of Coordinator of Education of Homeless Children and Youth, develop and carry out a State plan for the education of homeless children and youth, and make subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to support the education of those children and youth.  LEAs may use subgrant funds for such activities as providing enriched supplemental instruction, transportation, professional development, referrals to health care, and other services to facilitate the enrollment, attendance, and success in school of homeless children, including preschool-aged children, and youth.  Congress appropriated $93.5 million for the Education for Homeless Children and Youths program for Fiscal Year 2019.

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which administers the Education for Homeless Children and Youths program in the U.S. Department of Education, also supports the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) to provide technical assistance to States and subgrantees .  NCHE staff are aware of the new provisions related to homeless individuals in Perkins V and are available to support you as you implement those provisions.  Visit NCHE’s website at https://nche.ed.gov.  NCHE also maintains a list of the State Coordinators  at https://nche.ed.gov/data.

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Provided by Sharon Lee Miller, February 21, 2019