Transportation Talk Tuesdays

Transportation is one of the hardest parts of the McKinney-Vento Act to implement. For many students experiencing homelessness, it is also a major factor in attendance, engagement, and staying in school. In the first session of SchoolHouse Connection’s Transportation Talk Tuesdays series, Karen Rice, Senior Manager of Education Initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, walked through the McKinney-Vento Act’s foundational transportation requirements. She also shared practical strategies that districts across the country are using to meet them.

Karen covered school of origin transportation, comparable transportation, cost sharing between districts, extracurricular activities, and preschool. SchoolHouse Connection Scholars also shared how reliable transportation affected their ability to get to school, attend consistently, and stay connected to their school community.

Her central advice to liaisons: communicate with the other district before cost becomes a conflict, and think beyond the yellow school bus.

“My best piece of advice for you when it comes to this shared transportation is to reach out to the homeless liaison in that sharing district, rather than simply sending a bill.” — Karen Rice

• Families need to know their rights and get help using them. McKinney-Vento liaisons must make sure parents, guardians, and unaccompanied youth are told about transportation services, including transportation to and from the school of origin. Liaisons must also help them access that transportation. Rice encouraged arranging transportation before school starts so students experiencing homelessness are with their peers during the first days and weeks.

• Distance and time can’t decide school of origin. The law presumes that keeping a student in their school of origin is in the student’s best interest. That decision should rest on student-centered factors such as progress toward graduation, the student’s age, and safety concerns, not on a mileage or time limit. Rice gave two contrasting examples. For one young student, an hour-long cab ride each way made it hard to engage and learn. For a high school student close to graduating, a similar commute worked.

  “There’s really no hard and fast limit. The answer is, it depends on each individual student.” — Karen Rice

• Comparable transportation still leaves room for exceptions. When a student attends their school of residence, they receive the same transportation as housed students, whether that’s an existing bus route or a walk zone. There are exceptions. Rice described providing transportation to a student in a walk zone because of safety concerns. For walk zones, she highlighted three approaches:

  • Spokane Public Schools’ walking school bus, where background-checked volunteers walk groups of students to school
  • Cherry Creek School District, where high school students at its College and Career Readiness Center refurbish bikes for students experiencing homelessness
  • Arrangements for families to take turns walking students to school

• When districts share a student, talk before sending a bill. When transportation crosses district lines, including state lines, the two local educational agencies (LEAs) must agree on how to share the cost or split it equally. As a state coordinator, Rice said the most common complaint she heard from liaisons was bills arriving with no prior communication. Early conversations can turn up more efficient options, such as placing a student on the other district’s bus route. Other options include:

  • Transferring students between buses at district boundaries, with drivers supervising
  • Split routes, where each LEA provides one direction
  • Transportation consortia with neighboring districts

• The district chooses the mode, as long as it doesn’t create a barrier or stigma. The LEA decides how students are transported, as long as the method does not create barriers to attendance and full participation. If it does, the district needs to find a different option. Rice also urged care so that students aren’t stigmatized by how they get to school.

• Extracurricular access is part of the requirement. Rice noted that for many students, extracurricular activities are the reason they come to school. The requirement covers activities the LEA runs, such as sports, clubs, music, and theater. Some districts also add community programs like Boys and Girls Clubs as bus stops. Solutions don’t have to be a bus. For example, a region in Wisconsin gives coaches and club advisors $5 fuel-only gas cards to hand out. Districts can also use city bus passes, gas reimbursement, carpools, or other trusted adults.

  “It does not have to be a yellow school bus that comes at the end of the day, or at the end of practice, or the activity, but we can really think outside the box of what that transportation could look like.” — Karen Rice

• Preschool is included. Preschool is part of the definition of school of origin, so school of origin transportation rights apply to young children too. Rice named 4-year-old kindergarten, Head Start, and early intervention and special education services. She also described three community partnerships:

  • A region in Texas working with a local church
  • A Wisconsin district using Boys and Girls Club vehicles to bring young children to district-administered preschool programs
  • A university offering campus shuttles to students with young children to get them to child care

• Use every available funding source. Rice pointed liaisons to Title I, Part A homeless set-aside funds, McKinney-Vento subgrants, state or local funds, and community partnerships. Public transit partnerships that offer free rides with a school ID can help students get to jobs and extracurricular activities. She also encouraged providing transportation so families can attend family engagement events.

Attendees asked practical questions about applying McKinney-Vento transportation requirements, including:

• How long a student can spend in transportation and still have it be in their best interest
• Transportation for extracurricular activities held in the evenings or on weekends
• Whether transportation is required to community programs not run by the school district, such as Boys and Girls Clubs

• Antonia Johnson – Director, PreK–12 Education Programs, SchoolHouse Connection
• Anasofia Trelles – Senior Manager, K-12, SchoolHouse Connection
• Karen Rice – Senior Manager, Education Initiatives, SchoolHouse Connection

• Meeting the Transportation Needs of Students Experiencing Homelessness: SchoolHouse Connection’s guide to McKinney-Vento transportation strategies, including driver shortages, family reimbursement, and community partnerships.
• Q&A From the Field: McKinney-Vento (Transportation): Answers to common questions on transportation requirements, including walk zones, extracurricular activities, and funding.
• Join the SchoolHouse Connection Slack community to ask questions and share resources with SHC staff and peers across the country.
• Sign up for SchoolHouse Connection’s newsletter for news, resources, and upcoming webinars.

Most families with young children experiencing homelessness are living doubled up, sharing the housing of others because of loss of housing or economic hardship. That makes them hard to see and hard to connect to early childhood programs. In this session of SchoolHouse Connection’s Transportation Talk Tuesdays series, Jennifer Laque, Coordinator of McKinney-Vento Education for Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) in Maryland, explained how her district identifies, enrolls, and transports young children experiencing homelessness in its preK programs.

AACPS combined a part-time early childhood McKinney-Vento staff member, a streamlined enrollment process, a tiered transportation system, and policy language that explicitly covers PreK transportation. Laque also pointed to a statewide push to expand PreK 4 enrollment. Together, these helped the district grow enrollment of children birth to 5 from 24 students in the 2022–23 school year to 110 in 2025–26.

Her central advice to liaisons: learn how transportation works and speak its language.

“If I could give any piece of advice, it would be not to be afraid, and to learn your transportation processes, because it’s the best way to be able to advocate.” — Jennifer Laque

• Dedicated early childhood staffing makes a difference. AACPS uses McKinney-Vento subgrant funds for a part-time early childhood pupil personnel worker who focuses only on children birth to 5. Laque described the role as roughly $25,000 a year for 12 hours a week. She said early childhood enrollment increased “dramatically” after the role began, alongside Maryland’s statewide push to expand PreK 4.
• Enrollment works best when families don’t have to navigate it alone. The district’s electronic McKinney-Vento enrollment form automatically routes to the school meals office, the school registrar, and the early childhood office. The early childhood office completes the PreK 4 application on the parent’s behalf, then offers a placement the parent can accept. McKinney-Vento students are prioritized for placement, and staff do on-the-spot registrations at community events during the spring registration window.
• One sentence of policy language closed a gap. AACPS revised its regulation to cover transportation “including service to the School of Origin and an alternative PreK.” When a child’s home PreK is full, other families who accept a spot at another site must provide their own transportation. McKinney-Vento students receive transportation to that site.
• A tiered transportation system keeps options open. The school bus is the first choice. If no bus route works, a dedicated McKinney-Vento transportation specialist arranges another option: one of three 12-passenger vans purchased with American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, a vetted and background-checked contracted cab company, or parent reimbursement. Each family receives a route sheet and parent letter with the start date, pickup location, and who to contact.
  

  “Clear is kind, everybody wants to know, and clear is equitable.” — Jennifer Laque

• Blended funding covers different needs. Daily transportation to and from school is paid from transportation general funds, through a McKinney-Vento allocation Laque estimated at about $1.2 million. Her subgrant covers cabs, extracurricular transportation, and Uber for Business for one-off trips. Those trips include getting families to PreK conferences and to early intervention and special education meetings.
• State-level partnership strengthens local advocacy. Maryland’s state McKinney-Vento coordinator and state transportation director held a joint meeting with district liaisons and transportation directors. Laque said hearing the requirements from their own leadership helped transportation staff understand the legal obligation.
  

  “I know I’m asking you to do hard things. But, you know, it is the law, it needs to be done, and they know that, too, right?” — Jennifer Laque

• Review your policies. Karen Rice, Senior Manager of Education Initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, encouraged liaisons to make sure their transportation and preschool policies are aligned. She also encouraged those who aren’t policy writers to use this as an opening for those conversations, especially with their transportation departments.

Attendees asked practical questions about putting PreK transportation requirements into practice, including:

• When transportation is required for PreK students experiencing homelessness, including in districts that don’t otherwise transport PreK students
• How school of origin applies to children enrolling in PreK for the first time
• How school of origin works in districts with only one PreK site
• How to handle transportation when families choose a preferred PreK site
• Car seat and booster seat considerations for vans, cabs, and rideshares
• What AACPS’s route sheet for families looks like

• Erin Patterson – Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, SchoolHouse Connection
• Antonia Johnson – Director, PreK–12 Education Programs, SchoolHouse Connection
• Anasofia Trelles – Senior Manager, K-12, SchoolHouse Connection
• Karen Rice – Senior Manager, Education Initiatives, SchoolHouse Connection
• Sarah Vrabic – Senior Manager, Early Childhood, SchoolHouse Connection
• Jennifer Laque – Coordinator of McKinney-Vento Education, Anne Arundel County Public Schools

• Infant and Toddler Homelessness Across 50 States: SchoolHouse Connection’s annual report, with national findings, all 50 state profiles, and recommendations for action.
• McKinney-Vento Preschool Rights: What Families and Liaisons Need to Know: An interactive tool, also available as a downloadable flowchart, to help determine whether an early childhood program is a preschool under McKinney-Vento.
• Building Early Access, Care, and Opportunities Nationwide (BEACON) for Children Experiencing Homelessness: Three free tools available to pilot: a Housing Screening Checklist, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) template for formal partnerships between programs, and a conversation guide for talking with families about their living situation.
• Join the SchoolHouse Connection Slack community to ask questions and share resources with SHC staff and peers across the country.
• Sign up for SchoolHouse Connection’s newsletter for news, resources, and upcoming webinars.