SchoolHouse Connection

08/07/2026

For a child experiencing homelessness, a preschool classroom can be the one stable place left in their world. McKinney-Vento protects their right to stay there.

For many young children experiencing homelessness, preschool is the only access to early education they have. When families move due to homelessness, enrolling in a new local preschool is often impossible. Programs are full, waitlists are long, or no options exist nearby.

McKinney-Vento preschool rights exist precisely for this reason: to ensure children experiencing homelessness can maintain their access to education.

Not sure whether a specific preschool program qualifies? Use our interactive tool, or download it as a flowchart, to determine if a preschool meets the federal definition.

The page also covers FAQs we receive often, including:

→ Does McKinney-Vento cover Head Start programs?

→ Is transportation to preschool required under McKinney-Vento?

→ How long do McKinney-Vento preschool rights last?

→ Can a child be denied preschool enrollment for lacking immunization records?

→ What should a liaison do if a family with a preschool-age child is identified?

Explore the resource: https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/mckinney-vento-preschool-rights

08/06/2026

Home visiting doesn't just stabilize families in crisis. It builds the early childhood foundation that gets kids ready for kindergarten. This program director told Congress exactly how.

Shawn Longoria, Program Director for Parents as Teachers at Community Healthcore in Longview, Texas, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work & Welfare at the June hearing on the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program.

She shared the story of a mother her team enrolled who was living in one room of someone else's house with her two children. " She had no job, no car, and no driver's license. What she did have was resilience," Longoria shared about this mother biking her kids to daycare in a cart so she could continue to bike around and look for work.

Longoria's team learned the mother was a veteran, connected her to veteran services, and "armed with these, she moved forward in her goals."

"The mom knew what she wanted. She just needed support and direction. We served as her compass."

By the time she completed the program, she had a driver's license, a car, a stable job, her own apartment, and children who were kindergarten ready. "We build on family strengths to support their abilities to serve their own children and achieve their own goals."

MIECHV is authorized only through fiscal year 2027, and reauthorization is not guaranteed. SchoolHouse Connection submitted a written statement for the record to this same subcommittee, making the case for extending MIECHV's reach to more of the families who need it most.

Longoria said home visiting programs are "a game changer for families and children in East Texas," urging Congress to "keep this vital program going."

📄 Read our full statement:https://e1.nmcdn.io/assets/schoolhouse/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026-SHC-MIECHV-Statement-for-the-Record-July-2026.pdf

▶️ Watch the full hearing: https://www.youtube.com/live/INJjmGKakSg?si=gXP48Ug_073xjAcq&t=1604

08/04/2026

‼️ Breaking News: New Federal Guidance Allows Short-Term, Temporary Emergency Housing with EHCY Funds ‼️

On August 4, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a "Dear Colleague Letter" to Chief State School Officers clarifying that McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) funds may be used for short-term, temporary emergency housing — including motel and hotel stays — on a case-by-case basis, when reasonable and necessary to facilitate school attendance and as a last resort when other funding sources are not readily available.

📄 The letter:https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-update-regarding-permissibility-of-short-term-housing-august-4-2026-114354.pdf



Alongside the letter, ED updated and reissued the full EHCY non-regulatory guidance, incorporating this use of funds. This is the first update to that guidance since 2018.

✅ Updated guidance:https://www.ed.gov/media/document/non-regulatory-guidance-education-homeless-children-and-youths-program-august-4-2026-114353.pdf



During the pandemic, short-term emergency housing was one of the most impactful uses of funds reported by school district homeless liaisons — improving attendance, keeping schools connected to highly mobile students, and opening doors to housing programs that families and youth could not otherwise access. ED's guidance now extends this flexibility to the regular EHCY program.



SHC has long advocated for this change, both during the pandemic and most recently in Congressional report language adopted in the FY2026 final budget.

At the same time, we recognize that EHCY is funded far below the need. At the current level of $129 million, only 21% of local educational agencies (LEAs) receive EHCY funds at all.

Nonetheless, for EHCY-funded LEAs and the children and youth they serve, this new flexibility can help improve educational outcomes and stabilize families during times of crisis.



SHC will continue to advocate for increased EHCY funding to reach more school districts and for necessary reforms to housing and homelessness assistance.

A motel room is not a home — but it can help keep students safe, in school, and on track to graduate.

📣 NEW: SHC has prepared a resource hub to help state and local educational agencies make the most of the new guidance to improve school attendance, stability, and support.

The approaches and templates in our resource hub also may inform schools and agencies who wish to explore providing emergency housing to students with other funding sources.

🔗 Considerations for SEAs, LEAs, Sample Letters and Templates → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/short-term-emergency-housing-ehcy-resources

📌 COMING SOON: We'll be hosting a webinar soon featuring state and local leaders putting the new guidance to work; please stay tuned for details.

07/30/2026

Last month, eight SchoolHouse Connection scholars spent time in Washington, DC, reconnecting with one another and representing the voices of young people with lived experience of homelessness.

During our annual DC Summit, our scholars led a congressional briefing attended by more than 75 congressional staff, advocates, and partners. During the briefing, three congressional staff members shared that they also had experienced homelessness as young people, acknowledging the courage of each panelist and the impact that sharing their experiences would create among policymakers.

For many of our scholars, seeing people with lived experience of homelessness working on Capitol Hill was both validating and inspiring, reinforcing that their experiences do not limit their potential and that their voices belong in spaces where policy decisions are made.

Feedback from attendees described the session as incredibly impactful, noting that it brought visibility to a population whose experiences are too often overlooked and deepened their understanding of the barriers young people experiencing homelessness face.

Throughout the week, scholars also met with leaders at the U.S. Department of Education and participated in videography projects to help strengthen SchoolHouse Connection's advocacy efforts and practical assistance resources.

Beyond their advocacy work, scholars received professional headshots, explored Washington, DC's landmarks and museums, and spent time building connections as a cohort.

“The DC Summit was an amazing experience. I am so grateful to SchoolHouse for introducing me to advocacy work and grateful for my fellow scholars. They are truly amazing, remarkable people. The companionship and strength I felt during my time in DC will never be rivaled.” - Cesar

We are deeply grateful to our scholars for their willingness to share their expertise and lead alongside us. The opportunity to gather in person is invaluable, and their lived experience continues to shape stronger policies, more effective resources, and a brighter future for young people experiencing homelessness.

07/27/2026

It's halfway through 2026 and we're pulling together our top reads you may have missed, plus a roundup of homelessness news. 👇 Swipe for more on:
1️⃣ New FAFSA Verification System: What You Need to Know
🔗 Catch up → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/ive-been-selected-for-financial-aid-id-verification-what-do-i-do
2️⃣ A Scholar's Story: Living in a Coat Closet to Stay in College
🔗 Read Harper's story → https://youthtoday.org/2026/05/lived-coat-closet-stay-college/
3️⃣ "We Don't Have to Start From Scratch": New LEA Attendance Toolkit
🔗 Explore the toolkit →https://e1.nmcdn.io/assets/schoolhouse/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LEA-Toolkit-April-2026.pdf
4️⃣ Why We Use the Phrase "Experiencing Homelessness"
🔗 Read more → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/why-we-use-the-phrase-experiencing-homelessness
5️⃣ Field Q&A: Allowable Expenses, School Selection, Caps & Gowns
🔗 Read it again → https://prod.cdn.everyaction.com/emails/van/EA/EA016/1/96522/q65ib1UZpvs8Frgc7U8sOT31303-Lp3grauIxBtHvSA_archive
6️⃣ Missing the Point: HUD's Count Leaves Out Most Children, Youth, and Families
🔗 Read the analysis → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/hud-pit-count-misses-homeless-children-youth
7️⃣ 5 Ways to Hold Steady While Supporting Students
🔗 Get the strategies → https://prod.cdn.everyaction.com/emails/van/EA/EA016/1/96522/ZxXS5ZFsIvvfOcSx1GktVNcNMenB4vP3mEFfPugqGZD_archive
8️⃣ New Series: Practical Strategies for Our Youngest Children
🔗 Watch the recordings → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/webinar/small-children-big-impact-whats-working-for-young-children-experiencing-homelessness-series
9️⃣ New Report: College Student Homelessness Is Hidden and Harmful
🔗 Read the report → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/college-student-homelessness-policy-brief
🔟 More Than 1.5 Million Students Experienced Homelessness. Public Schools Identified and Supported Them.
🔗 Read the fact sheet → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/1-5m-homeless-students-2023-24
1️⃣1️⃣ Research Roundup: Our New Quarterly Series
🔗 Read the Q1 roundup → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/research-roundup-q1-2026
🔗 Read the Q2 roundup → https://schoolhouseconnection.org/article/the-research-roundup-q2-2026

07/22/2026

Dollars can't identify a student who's doubled up or living in a motel. Trained staff can. And California has made a $116 million investment to do exactly that.

As SchoolHouse Connection's Executive Director Barbara Duffield tells EdSource, identification is the foundation everything else depends on:

"Whether it's community school funding or other funding that California's providing for its students, if homeless students aren't identified, if they don't have regular transportation, a way to get to school, has somebody who's attending to all those other needs — they're not going to be able to benefit from those other investments."

She sees this funding as bigger than California alone, sharing that this investment will, "signal to other states that there's a way forward, but also that, within California, this is one-time funding that will help really show policymakers and educators that this needs to be the new normal in California. Because there's no indication that homelessness is going to be down significantly in the next couple years."

She points to the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth program, the federal Covid-era funding that showed what's possible when schools have dedicated resources to find and support students experiencing homelessness, as a guide for what comes next:

"I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned from ARP-HCY. How the funds go out, what they can be used for, how the actual disbursement is being tracked. All of that from the get-go."

Read the full EdSource piece on what this funding means for California's homeless liaisons and the students they serve: https://edsource.org/2026/california-schools-allocate-dedicated-funding-to-identify-homeless-students/762013

07/21/2026

Nearly 700,000 children under six are experiencing homelessness in the U.S. — most of them invisible to the systems meant to find them. Home visiting is one of the few things that reaches them anyway, because it doesn't wait for a family to have an address. It shows up wherever they are.

In June, we submitted a written statement for the record to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means GOP Subcommittee on Work & Welfare, urging Congress to give infants, toddlers, and families experiencing homelessness explicit focus in the upcoming reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program.

At the hearing, a Changent Nurse-Family Partnership parent named Shemya Wilson testified about experiencing homelessness as a child — and, years later, how her home visitor helped her through a traumatic pregnancy, a family tragedy, and a housing crisis as a working mother. That support helped her finish her master's degree and build a career as a therapist.

As she told the committee: "I am living proof that this investment works."

SchoolHouse Connection's statement, endorsed by
Housing Is and ZERO TO THREE, lays out six modest, bipartisan recommendations so MIECHV reaches more of the families who need it most:

1️⃣ Match MIECHV's definition of homelessness to Head Start, child care, and McKinney-Vento's.

2️⃣ Require states to factor homelessness into their needs assessments.

3️⃣ Name families experiencing homelessness as a MIECHV priority population — as Head Start and child care already do.

4️⃣ Fix MIECHV's data collection so it actually captures doubled-up and motel situations, not just shelters.

5️⃣ Credit home visitors for the housing referrals they're already making.

6️⃣ Give programs flexibility so serving highly mobile families isn't penalized.

Across the hearing's five witnesses, the same thread kept surfacing — from rural families going unreached, to a mother doubled-up with relatives, to housing conditions on tribal land, to the hundreds of families a single state would lose without continued funding.

📄 Read SchoolHouse Connection's written statement:https://schoolhouseconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026-SHC-MIECHV-Statement-for-the-Record-July-2026.pdf

▶️ Hear from advocates at the hearing: https://www.youtube.com/live/INJjmGKakSg?si=gXP48Ug_073xjAcq&t=1604

07/17/2026

"Our scholars." That's Roshanda's answer when asked about what keeps her going. It's what she sees in them every day: hope, even when the world around them is chaotic. Hope that they can get their education. Hope that they can build a stable future.

"They also see themselves as change agents," she says, not just as students working toward a degree, but as people who can be part of the solution for their peers, too.

For Roshanda, that's what fuels the work: showing up, fighting for scholars, and fighting alongside them.

🎤 Roshanda Pinson, LCSW, SchoolHouse Connection Senior Manager, Youth Leadership & Scholarships

07/15/2026

"13,692 Georgia infants and toddlers experienced homelessness in 2022–2023. Only 1 in 30 were enrolled in an early childhood program that could help." Data cited from our Infant & Toddler Homelessness Across 50 States report is doing exactly what it's meant to do: driving real policy action.

In a new SaportaReport guest column, Greg Barrett with Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) shares how they used this data to back HB 689 during Georgia's 2026 legislative session, and launch a Housing Security Committee within their Infant-Toddler Coalition. Plus, how they put support from the Thrive From the Start coalition to work on the ground.

📌 This spotlight is a strong reminder of what's possible when state and local partners have real data to build their advocacy on.

🔗 Read the full story

Read The Growing Number of Young Georgians Experiencing Homelessness Need our Support by GEEARS for SaportaReport here.

07/14/2026

McKinney-Vento was built for a world where public school enrollment was the default path. That default is no longer guaranteed. The reality: public school enrollment is falling in 40 states. Tell us in the comments: are you feeling this yet?

Falling enrollment, driven by declining birth rates and a fast-growing menu of options outside traditional public schools, including new tax credit scholarship programs, is putting new pressure on districts.

Shrinking budgets can mean fewer liaison positions. School closures can mean lost points of contact for identification.

A more fragmented system can mean a student who needs McKinney-Vento protections falls through a gap nobody's watching, because no single system has a clear view of where they landed.

👇 We want to hear from you in the comments:

❓ When a district you serve loses staff or closes a school, what happens to your homeless liaison capacity?

❓Are you seeing students experiencing homelessness move into charter, private, or home-based settings — and if so, is anyone tracking whether they're still getting identified and served?

❓ Where do you see room to get ahead of this, instead of just reacting to it?

💯 This is a conversation we want to keep having.