FOSTER CARE

The “Foster Care Education Bill of Rights” requires public school districts and child-placing agencies to ensure youth in foster care do not fall through the cracks when it comes to receiving an education because of situations that they experience while in care. The Foster Care Education Bill of Rights requires school districts to designate a staff person as the educational liaison for foster children. The liaison (Point of Contact) shall do the following in an advisory capacity:

  • Ensure and facilitate the proper educational placement, enrollment in school and checkout from school of foster children;

  • Assist foster care pupils when transferring schools by ensuring proper transfer of credits, records and grades;

  • Request school records within two business days of a foster child in a school;

  • Submit records of a foster child within three business days of receiving a request for school records.

The “Foster Care Education Bill of Rights” :

  • Requires child-placing agencies to promote educational stability by considering the child’s school attendance when making placement decisions. The foster care pupil shall have the right to remain enrolled in and attend his or her school of origin pending resolution of school placement disputes (HB154) or return to a previously attended school in an adjacent district (SB291). 

  • Provides that each school district shall accept for full or partial credit course work satisfactorily completed by a pupil attending public school or nonsectarian school according to district policy.

  • Provides that if a pupil completes graduation requirements while under juvenile court jurisdiction the district shall issue the pupil a diploma from the school the pupil last attended.

  • Prohibits the school district from lowering the grade of a foster child if the child is absent from school due to a change in placement or due to a court appearance, (which would include PPRT and FST meetings). Grades and credits shall be calculated as of the date the pupil left school.

  • Gives school districts the authority to authorize access of a pupil’s school records to any child placing agency to fulfill educational case management requirements. Additional information can be found at this link: https://5il.co/o6my


Bunker R-III Foster Care Point of Contact:  Mrs. Jenna Barton, 573.689.2211