Arizona Homeless Education Program

The mission of the Arizona Homeless Education Program is to ensure positive comparable academic outcomes for children and youth experiencing homelessness through implementation of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

Our Governing Statute

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015, serves as the primary federal legislation detailing the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires that children and youth experiencing homelessness have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youth. To ensure access to educational and other services necessary to meet the same challenging State academic standards to which all students are held, State educational agencies and local educational agencies are required to develop, review, and revise policies and procedures to remove barriers to the identification, enrollment, attendance, and academic success of children and youth experiencing homelessness (42 U.S.C. §§11431-11432).

The Arizona Homeless Education Program Overview Video provides more information on the Arizona Homeless Education Program and McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

Parents, Guardians, and Youth

For more information regarding eligibility, educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness, and contact information for your school district’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison, please visit the Parents, Guardians, and Youth webpage.

Potentially Qualifying Living Situations 

To qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, children and youth may be living in situations such as:  

• Sharing housing with other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason, 

• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations, 

• Living in emergency or transitional shelters,  

• Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings, or 

• Having 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.