IMMEDIATE ACTION

August 31, 2005

TO THE SUPERINTENDENT ADDRESSED:

Re: Enrollment and Services for Students from Hurricane Disaster Areas

This letter is to inform you of efforts the agency is making to assist school districts and charter schools in serving students who may have relocated from Louisiana and Mississippi to Texas following hurricane Katrina. Because of the extent of the damage in some parts of those states, a number of school-age children may be present in Texas for a significant period of time and seek to enroll in Texas public schools.

Most importantly, please remember that a child whose family has temporarily relocated to Texas because of the hurricane will generally meet the definition of “homeless” under the federal McKinney-Vento Act (see footnote). This federal law entitles them to enroll in the school district in which they are physically present without having to document residency in the district. Any students staying in shelters or with friends or relatives as a result of the hurricane should be presumed to qualify for enrollment in a Texas school district pending their return to their home state. Homeless students are also eligible under our state law for enrollment in pre-kindergarten programs.

We recognize that for some districts, an influx of students at this time will create hardships. The Texas Education Agency is committed to do all we can to support your efforts. At this time, the agency is taking the following steps to assist districts:

1. A district with a significant influx of students due to the hurricane may obtain a waiver of 22-to-1 student/teacher ratio requirements by notifying the agency of the need. There is no requirement to formally apply beyond that notice referencing this letter. Districts will be asked to maintain documentation of the need for a waiver and track when a waiver is no longer necessary.
2. A district with a significant influx of students due to the hurricane may update its enrollment for textbook ordering purposes.
3. A district with a significant influx of students due to the hurricane may increase its entitlement under the federal free and reduced-price lunch program automatically to the extent students qualify as homeless.
4. Districts will receive state funding for any student in attendance that is a resident of Texas, regardless of the length of residence. Normally, additional attendance would result in an increase in state aid paid on settle-up. However, districts with a significant influx of students (more than 50) due to the hurricane may notify the Office of State Funding of the enrollment increase and have state aid increased appropriately from the Foundation School Program before settle-up.

The Texas Department of State Health has informed us of its position regarding the immunization requirements. Normal immunization requirements for attending school or child-care facilities in Texas are being temporarily waived for children displaced by hurricane Katrina. Students who will be staying with family members, friends or others in Texas will be given a 30-day provisional enrollment. DSHS officials said the department could extend the provisional enrollment period depending on hurricane recovery progress in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. Normally, students moving to Texas from other states are required to show proof of required immunizations before they are allowed to attend school. A special form allowing the 30-day provisional enrollment will be available from the schools and child-care facilities.

We would recommend that you document those students who enroll in the next few weeks that have come from Louisiana or Mississippi as a result of the hurricane. In the coming weeks, we will work with our counterparts in those states as necessary to facilitate record transfers. We will also be better able to assist you in documenting appropriate leaver codes for students as they return to their home school districts.

We also recommend that your district keep track of expenditures made to serve students entering Texas public schools as a result of being rendered homeless by the hurricane. The Federal Emergency Management Agency may be authorized to reimburse some or all of those expenditures. We are working with the Governor’s Office to identify any avenues for recovering expenses.

Please remember that federal law prohibits segregating homeless students from the general population. Separate “shelter schools” can not be used to provide services to homeless students except in very limited circumstances. The McKinney-Vento Act does allow some services to be provided “for short periods of time” to deal with health and safety emergencies or to provide “temporary, special, and supplementary services to meet the unique needs of homeless children.” Such arrangements may be utilized for short-term services, but students expected to remain in the district for a significant period of time should be integrated into the general population.

Additional resources regarding the McKinney-Vento Act are available through the U.S. Department of Education and the agency websites .

Because this situation continues to develop, we will provide you with additional information and guidance as issues arise. I know you will all do what is best for these students who are guests in our state and whose education would otherwise be interrupted. We at the agency and service centers will continue to do all we can to help.

Shirley Neeley, EdD.
Commissioner of Education

Footnote

1. The current federal definition of “homeless” is:
Homeless children and youths” is defined at 42 USC Section 11434a(2):

(2) The term "homeless children and youths'--

(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 11302(a)(1) of this title); and

(B) includes--

(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;

(ii) children and youths who have 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 (within the meaning of section 11302(a)(2)(C) of this title);

(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

(iv) migratory children (as such term is defined in section 6399 of Title 20) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this part because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

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