Ensuring Stability for Foster Care Students

The State Education Department (SED) and the Office of Children and Family Services (OCF) presented a live broadcast on new foster care requirements included in this year’s state budget to comply with the amendments to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). These changes seek to reduce confusion regarding the responsible party for providing services to foster care students, to clarify the services these students are entitled to and to increase the opportunity of keeping these students in the same school to avoid disruption of educational services.

Under ESSA, the “school of origin” is defined as the school in which a child is enrolled at the time of placement in foster care, unless a determination is made that it is not in the child’s best interest to attend that school. The 2018-19 state budget included a new definition of “school of origin” to match the federal definition.

The state budget also included updated language to comply with ESSA’s guaranteed transportation requirement for transporting foster care students to and from their school of origin. Transportation Aid is available for eligible costs incurred in transporting such students up to 50 miles. Any additional transportation costs will be split equally between local departments of social services (LDSS) and the designated school district of attendance.