School & Education

Worried about doing this on your own? You may be able to get free legal help.

Part of the equal education library, sponsored by Greenberg Traurig.

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A public school must enroll any school-aged child who lives in that school district, including homeless students and undocumented immigrants. A child’s residence refers to which school district they live in. Their residence is usually the same as their parent’s home. If the child lives with a qualified adult who is not their parent, then the home of the qualified adult is the child's residence. A child can’t have more than one residence at a time.

A qualified adult is someone who is:

• A legal parent,
• A legal guardian,
• A legal, short-term guardian,
• An adult relative who gets public aid for the student and who the student lives with, or
• An adult who has taken legal responsibility for the student and provides the student with a regular, fixed, nighttime home.

You don’t need a court order of guardianship to sign a child up for school, but you should try to give legal proof of your relationship with the child. Legal proof may come from a court document or a state document.

It is illegal for a school to tell you that they can’t enroll your child without a legal document stating you are the guardian. If you’re at least 18 years old and the child lives with you, the school must enroll them as long as they didn’t move in with you just to attend the school. Your child doesn’t have to live in a school district for any amount of days, weeks, or months to establish residency. There is also no "24/7" requirement, meaning that the child doesn't have to stay every night or eat every meal with you to be a resident.

Schools must allow a child experiencing housing instability to enroll. This must be done immediately without requiring any:

• Records,
• Transfer forms,
• Proof of immunizations or physicals, or
• Proof of the living arrangement.

Military personnel and foreign missionaries qualify as Illinois residents if they:

• Lived in Illinois immediately before entering the military,
• Return or plan to return to Illinois within 6 months after their service, or
• Can show that their home was Illinois throughout their service.

Military personnel may be able to enroll their dependent children in a school outside of their district. For this to happen, the family must:

• Currently live in temporary housing, and
• Move to the school district no later than 6 months after enrollment.

Once enrolled in the district, your child has the right to finish out the school year at the same school, even if you or your child moves to another district.

If you were born in Cook County and meet certain conditions, you can request a free birth certificate.