Compliance Review Overview
All Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must be in compliance with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, including LEAs who do not receive any subgrant from DPI.
The DPI Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program is required by the United States Department of Education (USDE), as authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act, Title IX, Part A – Homeless Children and Youths, Sec.722 (f)(5), to monitor all local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure compliance with federal education regulations for children and youth experiencing homelessness.
USDE requires the DPI to include the following elements in the monitoring process:
- Technical assistance
- Review protocol, including interview questions
- Document the review with a written report of whether requirements were met or corrective actions are required
- A process for resolving required corrective actions and possible follow-up if LEAs need assistance with compliance
Each fall, DPI notifies approximately 25 Wisconsin LEAs to be scheduled for a compliance review under the McKinney-Vento Act. Every LEA must be able to produce documentation that adequately demonstrates compliance. Because McKinney-Vento is a federal mandate, EHCY staff will ensure all LEAs are fully in compliance prior to issuing a report.
Resource: McKinney-Vento Act Summary, SchoolHouse Connection
Key Elements of McKinney-Vento Compliance Monitoring
The following topics must be addressed locally in order to remain in compliance under McKinney-Vento:
- Staff Awareness: LEAs must designate a homeless liaison who will be responsible for ensuring compliance under McKinney-Vento. The homeless liaison must provide the educational rights of students experiencing homelessness to all school personnel on an annual basis.
- Community Coordination: LEAs must provide public notice of the educational rights of students experiencing homelessness in an understandable format in areas of the community where families and/or students may be likely to see them.
- Identification, Enrollment, and Referrals: LEAs must immediately enroll students experiencing homelessness, even if they lack the proper records or have missed enrollment deadlines. LEAs must identify all qualifying students and ensure students have an equal opportunity as their peers to succeed in school. LEAs are responsible for assisting students and families experiencing homelessness with obtaining records needed for enrollment, and referrals to appropriate wrap-around services.
- Policy and Procedure Review; Dispute Resolution: All LEAs are required to review and revise policies to remove barriers to the identification, enrollment, retention, attendance, full participation in academic and extracurricular activities, and academic success of homeless children and youth.LEAs must also remove barriers that prevent students from receiving appropriate credit for full or partial coursework satisfactorily completed while attending a prior school. Appropriate staff members and school boards should review and propose revisions to any policies or procedures that act as barriers.
LEAs must also have specific, written procedures for the resolution of disputes over eligibility and enrollment/school selection. The dispute/appeal process must include at least 2 levels of appeal within the LEA prior to submitting a formal dispute to the DPI State Superintendent. - School Stability and Transportation: Students have the right to attend their school of origin or their school of residence. In most cases, it is in the best interest of the student to attend their school of origin. LEAs must provide transportation to and from the school of origin, including a preschool, until the end of the academic year, even if the student obtains permanent housing. Please note the term “school of origin” includes preschools and the designated receiving school at the next grade level for all feeder schools. LEAs must have policies and procedures in place to ensure transportation is not a barrier to students.
- Privacy: LEAs must treat information about a homeless child’s or youth’s living situation as a student education record, subject to all the protections of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Student record policies and procedures must be updated accordingly and this practice must be communicated to all appropriate staff members. More on data privacy is available on the Resources for Student Data Privacy page.
Compliance Review Requirements and Guiding Questions
DPI has produced McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Compliance Review Guidance and Requirements. This guidance is intended to provide technical assistance to LEAs by outlining the compliance review protocol, including legal citations for requirements under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and providing guiding questions to assist LEAs when submitting documentation for the compliance review.
Map of LEAs Monitored Under McKinney-Vento
This map shows which Wisconsin LEAs have been monitored for compliance under the McKinney-Vento Act since the 2006-07 school year.