Charter, Laboratory, and Virtual Schools

The McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law that applies to all local educational agencies (LEAs) in the United States. North Carolina defines all Charter, Laboratory, and Virtual Schools as LEAs. NCHEP works closely with Charters, Labs, and Virtual Schools to ensure that their homeless liaisons are equipped to support students experiencing homelessness.

Charter School Data Information

Collecting and submitting data on students experiencing homelessness is a requirement under the McKinney-Vento Act. The following chart demonstrates the number of students that have been identified as experiencing homelessness in North Carolina’s charter, lab, and virtual schools over the past 4 school years.

Charter School Student Identifiers
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Resources

2024-2025SY Charter School Calendar

Serving Homeless Children and Youth in Charter Schools

This brief from the National Center for Homeless Education focuses on how the McKinney-Vento Act should be applied in charter schools.

Toolkit: How Charter Schools Can Support Students Experiencing Homelessness

This toolkit from SchoolHouse Connection is intended as a charter school-focused resource that explains the basic legal requirements of the McKinney Vento Act while highlighting a few examples of best practices from the charter school community.

Charter Schools & Homeless Education

NCHEP provided our homeless liaisons with an Information Session to discuss what a charter school is and some differences their liaisons may face when working with students experiencing homelessness.

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Charter Tools

Charter Needs Assessment Checklist

This template should be used by LEAs that on average identify less than 10 students experiencing homelessness a school year.

Needs Assessment

While this template is used by our traditional school districts, Charters, Labs, and Virtual Schools are welcome to utilize it if they see fit.

Dispute Policy

NCHEP has provided Charter, Lab, and Virtual School liaisons with a template to help create their school’s McKinney-Vento Dispute Policy aligned with the North Carolina Dispute Policy.

Website Posting

Ensuring that parents, guardians, and unaccompanied homeless youth are informed of their rights under the McKinney-Vento Act and whom they should contact at their local school is an important responsibility of the homeless liaison. NCHEP has provided a template for LEA’s McKinney-Vento website posting to meet this requirement.

Appointing and Onboarding a Homeless Liaison

Follow the checklist NCHEP created when you are appointing and onboarding a new homeless liaison at your Charter, Lab, or Virtual School.