Homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths: housing questionnaire.

Existing federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides grants to states to carry out activities relating to the education of homeless children and youths, as defined, including, among others, providing services and activities to improve the identification of homeless children and youths and to enable them to enroll in, attend, and succeed in school. Existing law requires a local educational agency that receives certain funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to administer a housing questionnaire, as specified, by annually providing it to all parents or guardians of pupils and to all unaccompanied youths of the local educational agency for purposes of identifying homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths of the local educational agency, and by, commencing no later than the beginning of the 2021–22 school year, ensuring that the housing questionnaire is based on best practices developed by the State Department of Education. This bill instead would require a local educational agency, regardless of the receipt of those federal funds, to ensure, by the end of the 2021–22 school year, that the housing questionnaire is based on best practices developed by the department. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.