Transportation Guidance for Additional Special Populations
STUDENTS IN FOSTER CARE
Students in foster care may be at risk of not receiving their high school diploma or continuing their post-secondary education, based on national research. Many students in foster care do not have permanent residency which can make it difficult for those students to complete their education. The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) requires that school divisions and child welfare agencies collaborate to develop and implement clear written procedures governing how transportation will be provided, arranged, and funded to maintain children in foster care in their school of origin during the time students are in foster care when it is in their best interest. The clear written procedures must ensure students in foster care who need transportation to the school of origin promptly receive it in a cost-effective manner.
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), transportation procedures for students in foster care must:
- Ensure that students in foster care needing transportation to the school of origin will promptly receive transportation in a cost-effective manner and follow the child welfare agency’s authority to use child welfare funding for the school of origin transportation;
- Ensure that, if there are additional costs incurred in providing transportation to maintain students in foster care in their schools of origin, the division will provide transportation to the school of origin if:
- The local child welfare agency agrees to reimburse the LEA for the cost of such transportation;
- The division agrees to pay for the cost of such transportation, or
- The division and the local child welfare agency agree to share the cost of such transportation.
In California, foster youth have the right to continue to attend their school of origin through the end of the school year for youth in grades one through eight and have the right to complete high school for students already in high school when their case closes EDC Section 48853.
TAKE NOTE: ESSA transportation requirements apply even if an LEA does not otherwise provide transportation to students who are not in foster care; also note that the ESSA educational stability provisions apply to preschool-age children in foster care, in addition to older students. If an LEA offers a public preschool education, the requirements must be met for preschool-age foster youth as well. (ESEA) Section 1111(g)(1)€.
STUDENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS
Students that are experiencing homelessness may have barriers to their educational experience due to the mobility linked to homelessness. Students may lose educational continuity and possibly academic credits, as well as their school social network, including friends and teachers that know the student’s strengths and weaknesses the most. The McKinney-Vento Act 2015 attempts to help alleviate some of the issues that students experiencing homelessness face.
Here are some of the key provisions regarding transportation and the McKinney-Vento Act:
- Local liaisons must ensure that the parent or guardian of a homeless child or youth, and any unaccompanied youth, is fully informed of all transportation services, including transportation to and from the school of origin, and is assisted in accessing transportation to the school selected in accordance with the best interest determination 42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(6)(A)(viii).
- Local educational agencies (LEAs) must provide homeless students with transportation to and from the school of origin at the request of a parent or guardian (or in the case of an unaccompanied youth, the local liaison) 42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1) ( J)(iii).
- If the child’s or youth’s living arrangements in the area served by the LEA of origin terminate and the child or youth, though continuing the child’s or youth’s education in the school of origin, begins living in an area served by another LEA, the LEA of origin and the LEA in which the homeless child or youth is living shall agree upon a method to apportion the responsibility and costs for providing the child or youth with transportation to and from the school of origin. If the LEAs are unable to agree upon such a method, the responsibility and costs for transportation shall be shared equally 42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1)( J)(iii) (II).
- In addition to providing transportation to the school of origin, LEAs must provide students in homeless situations with transportation services comparable to those provided to other students in the school 42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(4)(A).
- LEAs should work in collaboration with parents in developing plans to transport students to and from the school of origin when determined appropriate. It is important that the mode of transportation does not identify the student’s situation or living arrangement.
- For example, if the student is currently residing at a homeless shelter, there should be consideration of where the picking up and dropping off of the student occurs. Transportation arrangements should also be made to ensure that students experiencing homelessness can participate in the entire school day.
EDUCATIONALLY PLACED IN A RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTER (RTC)
Given the unique "around-the-clock" nature of residential placements, transportation expenses may encompass parental and family visitations to the residential facility, in addition to sending the student on trips home. The California Education Code nor the federal regulations provide guidance to LEAs regarding the appropriate mode or frequency of student transportation to and from an educationally related residential placement. Rather, the responsibility for these decisions are left to the IEP team.
Please refer to EDCOE Charter SELPA NPS/RTC Guidelines for more information.