                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PERSONS TO WHOM PUBLIC SCHOOLS SHALL BE FREE (§ 22.1-3)

A. The public schools in each school division shall be free to each person of
school age who resides within the school division. Every person of school age
shall be deemed to reside in a school division:

   1. When the person is living with a natural parent or a parent by legal
   adoption;

   2. When, in accordance with the provisions of &#xA7; 22.1-360, the person is
   living with a noncustodial parent or other person standing in loco parentis,
   not solely for school purposes, pursuant to a Special Power of Attorney
   executed under 10 U.S.C. &#xA7; 1044b by the custodial parent;

   3. When the parents of such person are dead and the person is living with a
   person in loco parentis who actually resides within the school division;

   4. When the parents of such person are unable to care for the person and the
   person is living, not solely for school purposes, with another person who
   resides in the school division and is (i) the court-appointed guardian, or has
   legal custody, of the person; (ii) acting in loco parentis pursuant to
   placement of the person for adoption by a person or entity authorized to do so
   under &#xA7; 63.2-1200; or (iii) an adult relative providing temporary kinship
   care as that term is defined in &#xA7; 63.2-100. Local school divisions may
   require one or both parents and the relative providing kinship care to submit
   signed, notarized affidavits (a) explaining why the parents are unable to care
   for the person, (b) detailing the kinship care arrangement, and (c) agreeing
   that the kinship care provider or the parent will notify the school within 30
   days of when the kinship care arrangement ends, as well as a power of attorney
   authorizing the adult relative to make educational decisions regarding the
   person. A school division may also require the parent or adult relative to
   obtain written verification from the local department of social services where
   the parent or parents live, or from both that department and the department of
   social services where the kinship provider lives, that the kinship arrangement
   serves a legitimate purpose that is in the best interest of the person other
   than school enrollment. With written consent from the parent or adult
   relative, for the purposes of expediting enrollment, a school division may
   obtain such written verification directly from the local department or
   departments of social services. The verification process shall be consistent
   with confidentiality provisions of Article 5 (&#xA7; 22.1-287 et seq.) of
   Chapter 14 of this title and Chapter 1 (&#xA7; 63.2-100 et seq.) of Title
   63.2. If the kinship care arrangement lasts more than one year or the person
   transitions to a new kinship care arrangement, a school division may require
   continued verification directly from one or both departments of social
   services as to why the parents are unable to care for the person and that the
   kinship care arrangement serves a legitimate purpose other than school
   enrollment. In the event that a person in a kinship care arrangement moves
   into a different school division during the school year as a result of (1)
   safely returning home, (2) being emancipated pursuant to &#xA7; 16.1-333, or
   (3) transitioning to a new kinship care arrangement, the provisions of this
   subdivision shall continue to apply through the end of such school year. A
   local school division may enroll a person living with a relative in a kinship
   care arrangement that has not been verified by a local department of social
   services;

   5. When the person is living in the school division not solely for school
   purposes, as an emancipated minor;

   6. When all or any portion of the building in which such person resides (i)
   with another person as set forth in subdivisions 1 through 4 or (ii) as an
   emancipated minor as set forth in subdivision 5 is taxable by the locality in
   which the school division is located; or

   7. When the person living in the school division is a homeless child or youth,
   as set forth in this subdivision, who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate
   nighttime residence. Such persons shall include (i) children and youths,
   including unaccompanied youths who are not in the physical custody of their
   parents, who (a) are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of
   housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels,
   trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate
   accommodations or in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in
   hospitals; (b) have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private
   place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping
   accommodation for human beings; or (c) are living in parked cars, parks,
   public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train
   stations, or similar settings; and (ii) migratory children, as defined in the
   federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, P.L. 89-10, as
   amended, who are deemed homeless as they are living in circumstances set forth
   in clause (i).
   				School divisions shall comply with the requirements of Subtitle VII-B of
   the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C.
   &#xA7; 11431 et seq.), to ensure that homeless children and youths shall
   receive the educational services comparable to those offered to other public
   school students.
   				School divisions serving the students identified in this subdivision shall
   coordinate the identification and provision of services to such students with
   relevant local social services agencies and other agencies and programs
   providing services to such students, and with other school divisions as may be
   necessary to resolve interdivisional issues.
   				The Department shall develop and make available to each school board a
   resource document containing guidance and best practices for providing the
   necessary supports and services to such students, including guidance and best
   practices relating to (i) decisions regarding whether and when such a student
   should remain enrolled in a school in a previous school division of residence,
   (ii) wrap-around supports and services for such students that include the
   parents when they are available and specific wrap-around supports and services
   for such students who may have experienced additional trauma prior to becoming
   homeless, and (iii) any other means by which such students can be best served
   and protected, particularly those homeless children and youths who are at risk
   of becoming victims of human trafficking.

B. In the interest of providing educational continuity to the children of
military personnel, no child of a person on active military duty:

   1. Who is attending a school free of charge in accordance with this section
   shall be charged tuition by that school division upon such child&#8217;s
   relocation to military housing located in another school division in the
   Commonwealth, pursuant to orders received by such child&#8217;s parent to
   relocate to base housing. Such children shall be allowed to continue attending
   school in the school division they attended immediately prior to the
   relocation and shall not be charged tuition for attending such school;

   2. Who is attending a school free of charge in accordance with this section
   shall be charged tuition by that school division upon such child&#8217;s
   relocation pursuant to orders received by such child&#8217;s parent to
   relocate to a new duty station or to be deployed. Such children shall be
   allowed to remain enrolled in the current school division free of tuition
   through the end of the school year; and

   3. Who is eligible to attend school free of charge in accordance with this
   section shall be charged tuition by a school division that will be the
   child&#8217;s school division of residence once his service member parent is
   relocated pursuant to orders received. Such a child shall be allowed to enroll
   in the school division of the child&#8217;s intended residence if
   documentation is provided, at the time of enrollment, of military orders of
   the service member parent or an official letter from the service
   member&#8217;s command indicating such relocation. Documentation indicating a
   permanent address within the school division shall be provided to the school
   division within 120 days of a child&#8217;s enrollment or tuition may be
   charged, including tuition for the days since the child&#8217;s enrollment in
   school. In the event that the child&#8217;s service member parent is ordered
   to relocate before the 120th day following the child&#8217;s enrollment, the
   school division shall not charge tuition. Students eligible to enroll in a
   school division pursuant to this subdivision may register, remotely or
   in-person, for courses and other academic programs and participate in the
   lottery process for charter schools and college partnership laboratory schools
   in the school division in which such student will reside at the same time and
   in the same manner as students who reside in the local school division. The
   assignment of the school such child will attend shall be determined by the
   local school division.
   				Such children as listed in subdivisions 1, 2, and 3 shall be counted in
   the average daily membership of the school division in which they are
   enrolled. Further, the school division in which such children are enrolled
   subsequent to their relocation to base housing shall not be responsible for
   providing for their transportation to and from school.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 22-218; 1954, c. 638; 1958, c. 628; 1968, c. 178; 1972,
c. 245; 1976, cc. 681, 713; 1978, c. 518; 1980, cc. 559, 576; 1981, cc. 341,
342; 1993, c. 903; 1997, c. 826; 1999, cc. 368, 988; 2000, cc. 209, 830; 2004,
cc. 500, 967; 2006, c. 188; 2012, cc. 29, 103, 476, 507; 2013, c. 779; 2016, c.
388; 2018, cc. 394, 594; 2019, cc. 62, 404, 586; 2024, cc. 303, 370.