II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1639 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to assure 

educational stability for children in foster care, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2015 

Mr. FRANKEN (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. HATCH) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to assure educational stability for children in 

foster care, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education Stability 

5 for Foster Youth Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EDUCATIONAL STABILITY FOR FOSTER CHILDREN. 

7 (a) STATE PLANS.—Section 1111(b) of the Elemen8 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

9 6311) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(11) ENSURING COLLABORATION FOR CHIL2 DREN IN FOSTER CARE.—Each State plan shall de3 scribe the steps a State educational agency will take 

4 to ensure collaboration with the State agency re5 sponsible for administering the State plans under 

6 parts B and E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

7 (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq., 670 et seq.) to ensure the 

8 educational stability of children in foster care, in9 cluding assurances that— 

10 ‘‘(A) any such child is enrolled or remains 

11 in such child’s school of origin unless a deter12 mination is made that it is not in such child’s 

13 best interest to attend the school of origin, 

14 which decision shall be based on all factors re15 lating to the best interest of the child, including 

16 consideration of the appropriateness of the cur17 rent educational setting and the proximity to 

18 the school in which the child is enrolled at the 

19 time of placement; 

20 ‘‘(B) when a determination is made that it 

21 is not in the best interest of such child to re22 main in the school of origin, such child is imme23 diately enrolled in a new school, even if such 

24 child is unable to produce records normally re25 quired for enrollment; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the enrolling school shall immediately 

2 contact the school last attended by any such 

3 child to obtain relevant academic and other 

4 records; and 

5 ‘‘(D) the State educational agency will des6 ignate an employee to serve as a point of con7 tact for child welfare agencies and to oversee 

8 implementation of the State agency responsibil9 ities required under this subparagraph, and 

10 such point of contact shall not be the State’s 

11 Coordinator for Education of Homeless Chil12 dren and Youths under section 722(d)(3) of the 

13 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

14 U.S.C. 11432(d)(3)).’’. 

15 (b) LOCAL PLANS.—Section 1112(c)(1) of the Ele16 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

17 6311(c)(1)) is amended— 

18 (1) in subparagraph (N), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

19 after the semicolon; 

20 (2) in subparagraph (O), by striking the period 

21 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

22 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(P)(i) collaborate with the State or local 

24 child welfare agency and, by not later than 1 

25 year after the date of enactment of the EduVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:00 Jun 23, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1639.IS S1639

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1 cation Stability for Foster Youth Act, develop 

2 and implement clear written procedures gov3 erning how transportation to maintain children 

4 in foster care in their school of origin when in 

5 their best interest will be provided, arranged, 

6 and funded for the duration of the time in fos7 ter care, which procedures shall— 

8 ‘‘(I) acknowledge that children in fos9 ter care needing transportation to the 

10 school of origin will promptly receive trans11 portation in a cost-effective manner and in 

12 accordance with section 475(1)(G) of the 

13 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 675(1)(G)); 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(II) ensure that, if there are addi16 tional costs incurred in providing transpor17 tation to maintain children in foster care 

18 in their schools of origin, the local edu19 cational agency will provide transportation 

20 to the school of origin if— 

21 ‘‘(aa) the local child welfare 

22 agency agrees to reimburse the local 

23 educational agency for the cost of 

24 such transportation; 


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1 ‘‘(bb) the local educational agen2 cy agrees to pay for the cost of such 

3 transportation; or 

4 ‘‘(cc) the local educational agency 

5 and the local child welfare agency 

6 agree to share the cost of such trans7 portation; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) designate a point of contact if the 

9 corresponding child welfare agency notifies the 

10 local educational agency, in writing, that the 

11 agency has designated an employee to serve as 

12 a point of contact for the local educational 

13 agency.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF EDUCATIONAL 

15 STABILITY OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE. 

16 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

17 of this Act, the Secretary of Education and the Secretary 

18 of Health and Human Services shall submit to the appro19 priate committees of Congress a report on the implemen20 tation of sections 1111(b)(11) and 1112(c)(1)(P) of the 

21 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

22 U.S.C. 6311(b)(11) and 6312(c)(1)(P)), including the 

23 progress made and the remaining barriers. 


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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF HOMELESS CHILD OR YOUTH. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 725(2)(B)(i) of the 

3 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 11434a(2)(B)(i)) is amended— 

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘or’’ before ‘‘are abandoned’’; 

6 and 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘or are awaiting foster care 

8 placement;’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

12 (c) APPLICATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 

14 (b), for a covered State, the amendment made by 

15 subsection (a) shall apply on the date that is 2 years 

16 after such date of enactment. 

17 (2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

18 ‘‘covered State’’ means a State that has a statutory 

19 law that defines or describes the phrase ‘‘awaiting 

20 foster care placement’’, for purposes of a program 

21 under subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney-Vento 

22 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.). 

Æ 


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