States Struggling to Live Up to Law on Foster Students
October 2, 2019
“Under federal law, states are required to help maintain a stable educational environment for youth in foster care, even when the children’s personal lives are in tumult,” writes Rebecca Klein for Huffington Post. “But most places are struggling to follow the law, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.” ESSA requires foster students to be able to remain in the same school regardless of home placement, and it is up to districts, state officials, and child welfare agencies to figure out such children’s transportation (and how to pay for it) to and from school. Additionally, ESSA also “requires states to report graduation rates for students in foster care. However, a 2018 investigation by HuffPost and The Hechinger Report found that most states were falling short on this front, too. At that time, only four states could identify graduation rates for those children.”