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Tuttle Public Schools

McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Program

School Enrollment and Support When Housing Is Unstable

If your family has lost its housing, your child can enroll in school today — without a lease, a utility bill, a birth certificate, school records or shot records. This is federal law, it applies at every Tuttle school, and it applies to a teenager living on their own.

Does This Apply to Us?

Federal law calls this "lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence." In practice it covers a lot more families than people expect. It applies if your child is:

  • Staying with someone else — family, friends, anyone — because you lost housing, because of money, or for a similar reason. This is the most common situation and the one families most often assume does not count. It does.
  • Living in a motel, hotel, trailer park or campground because there is nowhere else adequate to go.
  • Living in an emergency or transitional shelter.
  • Living in substandard housing — no running water, no heat, unsafe structure.
  • Living in a car, park, public space, abandoned building, or bus or train station.
  • Sleeping somewhere not meant for people to sleep.
  • Abandoned in a hospital.
  • A migratory child living in any of the situations above.
  • A young person living apart from a parent or guardian in any of these situations — see below.

This list is not exhaustive, and you do not have to decide whether you qualify. If your housing situation is unstable, tell your child's school or call the district liaison below and let us work it out. It costs you nothing to ask.

What to Do Right Now

1

Go to the school and say you need to enroll

Any Tuttle school, or the Administration Building at 515 E. Main St. Tell them your family's housing situation. You do not need to explain more than that.

2

Your child starts school — that day, or the next

Enrollment cannot be delayed because you do not have the usual paperwork, and it cannot be delayed because you missed an enrollment deadline while you were losing your housing. The school contacts your child's previous school for records. It is the school's job to chase the paperwork, not yours.

3

Ask about staying at the same school

In some situations, students may stay at their school of origin; however, districts must work together to determine the best placement, transportation needs, and circumstances. Contact your liason to determine if this is possible.

4

Call the district liaison

Angela Flanary at the District Administration Office, (405) 381-2605 for questions regarding eligibility and resources.

About Oklahoma's residency and immunization rules

Oklahoma's general school residency law asks families for proof of residence, or for a sworn affidavit from a non-parent adult. If your family is in one of the housing situations on this page, those requirements do not apply to you — federal law lets your child enroll immediately without them. Immunizations work differently: your child enrolls and attends right away, and the district liaison helps you get the shots or the records or complete a immunizations waiver.

Students Living on Their Own

A young person who is not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian is called an "unaccompanied youth," and has these rights directly. You do not need an adult to do any of this for you.

  • You can enroll yourself. You do not need a parent, a guardian, or a guardianship document.
  • You can request transportation to the school you already attend, through the district liaison.
  • You can dispute a decision yourself, and stay enrolled while it is being decided.
  • You count as an independent student for federal financial aid. That usually means your FAFSA does not require a parent's income. The high school counselors office can give you the written verification of your status that the FAFSA asks for. Seniors: start this conversation early, not in April.
  • Oklahoma will issue you a free state ID. The Homeless Youth Identification Program provides a free state identification card to qualifying youth up to age 21, and a school liaison can provide the notarized eligibility letter. See Service Oklahoma.

Who Finds Out (Privacy)

Information about a student's living situation is a student education record under federal law. It is not directory information, and it is not released like directory information is. Teachers and classmates are not told. The district may ask you for information to help coordinate support and services that you may be eligible.

If You Disagree With a Decision

  • Say so — to the school or to the liaison. Disputes can be about whether your family qualifies, which school your child attends, or enrollment itself.
  • Your child stays enrolled while it is decided. In the school you asked for, attending class, through every level of appeal. This is not discretionary.
  • You get the decision in writing. Including the reasons and how to appeal, in a form you can understand.
  • The liaison carries out the dispute process. As quickly as possible after being told about it.
  • You can take it to the state. If you disagree with the district's final decision, the Oklahoma State Department of Education's Office of Title Services can be contacted at (405) 521-6850 or Federal.Programs@sde.ok.gov.
  • View our school board policy.

More Information