The Maine Department of Education and Maine schools follow the provisions of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which aims to minimize the educational disruptions experienced by homeless students.

McKinney-Vento protections apply to all public school students, pre-K through grade 12 who "lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence", including children and youth:

• Sharing housing due to loss of housing or economic hardship living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate housing.
• Living in emergency or transitional housing
  • Abandoned in hospitals
  • Having a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, regular sleeping accommodations
  • Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations
  • Migratory students meeting the descriptions above