Members of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee introduced two bills last month that would encourage academic stability for foster and homeless youth.
Co-sponsored by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a senior member of the committee, and Al Franken (D-Minn.), a junior member, the bills include various measures aimed at preventing foster and homeless children from having to change schools every time they change addresses.
The first bill, called the Educational Success for Children and Youth Without Homes Act of 2009, proposes amending the existing McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program by providing for transportation funding to keep homeless children at their original schools.
The second bill – the Fostering Success in Education Act – is designed to strengthen the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success Act, by involving state and local education agencies in the process of keeping foster children at their schools of origin unless it is deemed not in their best interest.
