Title VII Subpart B
(p. 56) J. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
Summary: The Plan speaks primarily to what districts will do to make sure their employees are aware of the
MVHA, how they are to resolve logistical disputes (i.e. which school can they go to, who provides transportation,
can they be admitted w/o vaccination records etc.), and making sure an already identified homeless youth gets an
education. Most of these procedures have been in place for years.
Comment: What is not mentioned in the plan is DESE’s guidance to districts regarding the placement of students
under provisions of this Act or the hardship that over-interpretation of the MO statute codifying this federal law
has created on MO families. In a September 19, 2012 DESE presentation by Donna Cash “Homeless 101: A Primer
on the McKinney-Vento Act” attendees were told,
“You don’t have to tell the parents that they’re entered into your information systems as homeless… You can
tell the parents that they can refuse the services under McKinney Vento, but we still have to let the
federal government know. And one of the reasons that we do that… as you all know, that numbers are
tied into funding... Funding drives data. Data drives funding. So, if we are serving that many students in
Missouri, we want our piece of the McKinney Vento pie from the federal legislation.“
This shows a clear focus on obtaining money, not on doing what is in the best interest of the child. Such guidance
on the part of DESE demonstrates a disregard for parental rights.
To qualify to be offered services under MVHA district personnel are only required to make a determination if a
student’s housing is “fixed, regular and adequate.” These three terms are not well defined. They can be, and have
been, used to qualify students who are merely going through a rebellious period and staying with friends for an
extended time, a condition Cash referred to as “couch surfing.”
The impact of this type of definition manipulation can be devastating to a family. With no formal hearing or due
process, parental rights have been cut off, access to student records and graduation have been denied to at least
two families in Missouri that we know of. DESE has given the nod district personnel that this is acceptable
procedure.
Further, the act of the school, without due process, declaring a student “homeless,” places the child under the
conditions of RsMO 431.056.1 which says that a child of 16 or 17 years of age may then be “qualified and
competent to contract for housing, employment, purchase of an automobile, receipt of a student loan, admission
to high school or postsecondary school, obtaining medical care, establishing a bank account.” Tremendous
damage can come from such decisions made by an immature child, with the school acting only as quasi guardian
ad litem, without any true accountability for the child’s future. Credit can be ruined as well as both physical and
psychological health. This is unacceptable.
We would like to see added to this section a discussion of policies to address parental disputes of such a
designation by the school district with the requirement that a representative from Family Court be present for
any such mediation.
Conclusion:
In general, the state accountability plan is destined to result in the same failures under NCLB because nothing has
substantively changed in the paradigms used to identify and support failing schools; worse – the assessments
described for determining district performance are not validated for that purpose.
The state constitution says that “knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and
liberties of the people, the state will provide free education.” That is our directive, not the development of the
whole child into an adult of a particular character preloaded with skills to enable them to contribute to the state’s
economy. Such a goal requires tremendously more funding than the constitutionally required 25% of the state’s
overall spending and the erasure of parental rights to raise their children as they see fit.
It is not our job to educate kids for the future world. They will create that world with ideas that we cannot even
imagine today.