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what happens if you enroll your child in another town's school district using a relative's address?

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70K views 111 replies 33 participants last post by  IdentityCrisisMama 
#1 ·
i actually know someone doing this, and they seem to be "getting away with it" for several years now. is this advisable?? it is an adult child, living elsewhere, enrolling their child in another town's school district using their parent's address. (so, the non-custodial grandparent of the child attending public school there.)

* do some school districts check in to this? (obviously, not all of them do.)

* what are the consequences if they do check, and you are caught?

* is it unethical to do this?

* are there social problems for the student who doesn't live in the town, when all the kid's friends at school do live there?

* what are any other concerns for doing this?
 
#2 ·
I know that in my area, where it is smaller, the schools do check, plus it is one of those areas in which 'everyone knows everyone' so it would be tough to get away with here. I'm sure this varies widely but I have heard of parents being billed for the value of the tuition if the child had been tuitioned in to that school. I don't know how these cases have turned out though. It seems like if it was o.k. and there were NO consequences, more people would be doing it, as their own form of 'school choice.'
 
#3 ·
I knew someone (as the kid) who had been doing this in high school. I believe they were billed out of resident tuition and she left the school (to attend the one she was supposed to be in).

Usually IF you do want to attend a school outside of your district lines, there are ways to allow it along the proper channels. Usually waiting past resident enrollment and paying an out-of-district tuition of some kind. Otherwise you're kindof setting yourself up to get found out and kicked out of the school at any time.
 
#4 ·
where i am the state just does not have funds to do this.

however in some parts of the state which really good school systems like san francisco i know they come down hard on parents doing it.

the ones who are choosing to do it this way instead of the official way is coz going the official way their child would stand no chance getting into that school. but as a resident they could.
 
#5 ·
Well, on the extreme side, you can get prosecuted and go to jail.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-mom-jailed-sending-kids-school-district/story?id=12763654

You might be better off asking some questions than breaking the law. A district that is not at capacity will often allow kids outside of district attend their schools. Our great little district has lots of kids from outside of district. The immersion school population is 50 percent from out of town (and it's not a magnet or charter.) Our area is getting older and not as many young families moving in. The school population was naturally starting to dwindle. Opening up to outside students was a win-win.

Another legal options are charter schools. You might look and see if there are any you like. These are often lottery based and you can come from anywhere if you are willing to transport your own child.

It's not something we would risk. Our kids haven't been in their assigned local school since early elementary and we've always found them options in a legal way.
 
#6 ·
I know the county I previously lived in it was HARD to do that. They checked everyone and frequently because the one "good" school was so wanted. I don't know what the consequences were but I know they checked and would toss the kids out of school if caught. I know to put a kid in the person at the address had to be the legal guardian or you had to sign an affidavit that you lived there and they did check routinely that you were still there. The county I live in now has an out-of-district school policy. If you live in county but want your child in a different school within the county it is a $300 per year per child fee plus of course you lose bus privileges but it is fairly easy to do. If you don't live in the county at all you can still pay the fee and get your kids in but the district you are in has to release your child to go. For my area the schools that you wouldn't want your child to attend are not likely to release your child so this is basically impossible.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oread View Post

I think it is unethical. Because if parents are doing it to send their children to a "better" school they are just contributing to the demise of the less sought after school. If a parent has the resources to shuttle their kids to a different district, chances are they also have the resources to get involved and improve the less appealing school. It's the same reason I have a problem with charter and private schools, it siphons resources (not only money, but parental involvement) away from struggling schools, making them even worse for kids whose families don't have the ability to send them elsewhere. We should be fixing problem schools by getting involved, instead of abandoning them.
would you count as unethical the many families who choose to homeschool in the circumstance of living in a failing school district?? because the result is identical in terms of pulling parental involvement away from struggling schools.

i am idealistic too, but i think giving parents the right to make choices about where to send their children to school is KEY to fixing the BROKEN public school system in our country.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oread View Post

I think it is unethical. Because if parents are doing it to send their children to a "better" school they are just contributing to the demise of the less sought after school. If a parent has the resources to shuttle their kids to a different district, chances are they also have the resources to get involved and improve the less appealing school. It's the same reason I have a problem with charter and private schools, it siphons resources (not only money, but parental involvement) away from struggling schools, making them even worse for kids whose families don't have the ability to send them elsewhere. We should be fixing problem schools by getting involved, instead of abandoning them.
This is a discussion that has been had before. If that is what you believe, that is what you believe. It's an idealistic and naive view that I shared until I actually got some actual experience under my belt.

I often feel it's a mentality that misunderstands the direction many schools are taking. Example, the local high school district only has one campus with an orchestra program. They can't afford to have one on every campus. Even if they could, they really only have enough district players for 1 decent orchestra. So, one school has an orchestra and the kids who are passionate about it go there. Our local primary district splits up there campuses quite a bit.... all campuses have special ed services but only two have full-time special needs classrooms for more extreme cases. Only one campus offers Spanish and Mandarin Immersion... if they tried to split that program up, they'd go broke fitting each campus with the necessary resources. I suppose the answer could be to kill the immersion program all together because it's not fair? Specializing campuses are far more financially viable and as you know, there isn't a penny to waste.

It also seems an opinion held by people whose own kids are in a decent place. Yes, when my kids were in our happy little middle to lower middle class district, I thought there was nothing we parents couldn't do. Not enough field trips? We'll raise the money! We want an immersion program... yep, we banded together and spent 2 years making it happen! My eldest starts kindergarten at 5th grade levels? Yep, I was at that school everyday making it work! Then, our son started getting bullied and again, I was at school everyday working with the staff to make it better. I was sure I could fix it but when several years pass and your child is still being tormented and the well-meaning staff can't seem to fix it, you move your kid and regret all the years you let him go through that because it has fundamentally changed him. Then our daughter moved into one of the largest districts in the country for high school and I got another dose of reality. When you can't even get your kid transferred out of a class with no teacher assigned, when your child's honors English class only reads one book the whole year and is assigning word searches in 10th grade and the teacher leaves the room when you try to talk to her (and she's tenured, can't be fired and been already been transferred 4 times in the district), when the few engaged teachers on campus are telling you "we can't give her what she needs here, she's falling apart, you have to move her" you start to understand that some problems are just too big to be solved fast enough to stop your child from spiraling into depression. So, you move your kid so they don't slit their wrists, marvel and what the right educational environment can do and you go on advocating in hopes that the kids a few years down the line will have a better experience.

So, sister, go fight the good fight. Sacrifice your kids if you feel it leaves the world a better place. I suspect you don't have to sacrifice your kids though. I've yet to meet an idealist whose kids were truly in a dangerous and failing school. Most of them have kids that are fine and in schools where a good year in wrapping paper sales makes all the difference.
 
#11 ·
slightly OT, but i am learning a lot from this discussion. and i would like to add that the very broken educational system in our country is run by an extremely well paid group of "administrators" who control just about everything.

a not-to-be-discounted fact of the dysfunction is that in a non-english speaking, sometimes illegal population, highly under educated themselves, there is very little chance of experiencing good administrators who have the best interests of the children in mind. instead, you get sociopathic types -- those with absolutely no conscience -- who think only of, well, themselves... and make every decision with that priority in mind. and they get away with it because they can. the very few educated, english speaking, legal residents who pay taxes in the district usually 1) leave the district by moving or quit to homeschool, or (if they stay) 2) become exhausted by obstacle after obstacle they encounter when trying to make sure their own kids are actually benefitting from going to public school -- there is much going on that is outright detrimental, does the good outweigh the bad? tough call. depends on the teacher you get each year.

i try to help my community school... but at what cost to my own children?? yes, i'm pretty idealistic. but not above prioritizing my own children.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oread View Post

I think it is unethical. Because if parents are doing it to send their children to a "better" school they are just contributing to the demise of the less sought after school. If a parent has the resources to shuttle their kids to a different district, chances are they also have the resources to get involved and improve the less appealing school. It's the same reason I have a problem with charter and private schools, it siphons resources (not only money, but parental involvement) away from struggling schools, making them even worse for kids whose families don't have the ability to send them elsewhere. We should be fixing problem schools by getting involved, instead of abandoning them.
I would never, EVER prioritize a failing school over my children's education.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tropicana View Post

would you count as unethical the many families who choose to homeschool in the circumstance of living in a failing school district??
And what about all the families who chose not to move into the otherwise-lovely home in the failing school district, but instead chose to live in an area with lovely, safe, progressive schools? And what about the couples who chose not to have children at all, thus depriving the school district of their energy and their hypothetical enrolees? Or the couples who chose to have only two children rather than four or five, thus contributing to falling enrolment?
:nut


I'm not sure how school taxes work in the US. Here they come out of the same pocket throughout the province, and the funding for a child enrolled out-of-district follows that child. I can see an unethical element if your child is attending public school in an area where you don't contribute to the pool of tax dollars that provides for that education. Homeschoolers, private schoolers and charter schoolers can't be criticized in this respect, because their children are not benefitting from educational tax dollars their parents haven't contributed to. But as for not being willing to sacrifice your child's well-being to a failing school .... well, sorry, but I don't buy that as a civic duty.

Miranda
 
#14 ·
Since school performance and safety pretty much rise with house prices and income, and the taxes and monetary donations given by the parents, does that mean that well-off parents are off the hook for improving the bad schools? Really, did they not pay their way out of a bad, unsafe school simply by buying a house in a rich neighborhood?

If you cannot afford a home in a rich neighborhood, and you cannot afford private school, and you cannot homeschool, are you really obligated to put your children in a school that does not realistically offer an appropriate academic and social environment?

If a few parents simply volunteering and working for change is all that it takes to turn an entire school around, most schools would be great. The reality is that bad schools usually have a large population of students who are using the available resources just to catch up and stay out of trouble. The fact that the majority of students in good schools are read to and have stable lives puts them at a whole other level of being able to engage, learn and function, and only when the students are at that place can the class move forward with learning and enrichment activities.

I just feel like to say that it would all be better if a small group of well meaning but not rich parents just volunteered enough all would be well is incredibly ignorant of the challenges poor schools face.

And obviously I do not think it is unethical to place a child in a school that is safe and academically challenging. I think the thing that is unethical is that these bad public schools exist at all, and that the government is not pouring more money into improving them with smaller class sizes, early intervention programs and counseling services.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oread View Post

I think it is unethical. Because if parents are doing it to send their children to a "better" school they are just contributing to the demise of the less sought after school. If a parent has the resources to shuttle their kids to a different district, chances are they also have the resources to get involved and improve the less appealing school. It's the same reason I have a problem with charter and private schools, it siphons resources (not only money, but parental involvement) away from struggling schools, making them even worse for kids whose families don't have the ability to send them elsewhere. We should be fixing problem schools by getting involved, instead of abandoning them.
That belief is fine and dandy, until you are knee deep in it. And I am not going to neglect my children for a moral. My DD was in a class with three boys who jumped out of windows, ripped curtains off the walls, jumped off tables, under tables, kicked over tables... ran in and out class 20-30 times, screamed and rocked in a corner, were being held down by a teacher, wrote f*u*c*k on the chalk board 3 times. And this was just in the 2.5 hours while I was sitting in on the class. And this are 6 year olds. One boy put two girls in the emergency room within a week. I repeat, these kids are 6 years old. How long should I have waited?

If I could have snuck my daughter into another school district I would have done it. Unfortunately the population of the whole country is only 5.5 million, so the government knows everything about everybody, so this is not possible. I signed my daughter up for every single private school within driving distance. We tried to get her transferred to a different (read better) public school. This was in the spring. We decided to put our house on the market in August, and move into a row house in the good (read rich, white) neighborhood in August. Luckily a private school opened a spot for her in June. There was absolutely no way my DD was going to go back to that school for the next 9 years. It would have been over my dead body. That school isn't something that can be fixed by 10 cheerful, volunteering moms.

Quote:
Originally Posted by whatsnextmom View Post

Well, on the extreme side, you can get prosecuted and go to jail.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-mom-jailed-sending-kids-school-district/story?id=12763654
Just shows you how bad the schools can actually be if they have to throw her in jail. Good for her, trying to give her two girls an education. To bad it had to come to this.
 
#16 ·
Our school district checks up on this. It's a highly sought after district.

In terms of whether it's unethical or not, I don't have super strong feelings about it in this case since the grandparents live in the town/district with the preferred school and are presumably paying taxes, but the money is the sticking point. We pay the taxes that support our good school system. If we lived outside our school district and were paying low taxes, but sending our kids to our good schools w/o paying for it then the ethics are questionable.
 
#17 ·
That is an unethical practice. I would tip off this child's school. Say what you will..... but I'm the third generation in my family to re-locate to a good school district once my kids were school age. Better to own a small house in a good school district than a mega mansion in a sad one. Living in a good school district also helps the re-sale value on your home as well.
 
#19 ·
Actually, in our school district local funding is greater than state or federal. It's more than 10 times the federal funding, which is paltry. Our schools are not populated exclusively by the children of wealth, either. While there certainly is wealth in the area, there are lots of middle class kids in the schools, too, and I think the district as a whole has about a 25% free and reduced lunch rate. Our area just places a high emphasis on education and has high taxes to fund schools on a local level. Our area has a reputation as an expensive place and certainly there are multi-million dollar homes, but there are trailer parks, too.

Quote:
Originally posted by tropicana:

a not-to-be-discounted fact of the dysfunction is that in a non-english speaking, sometimes illegal population, highly under educated themselves, there is very little chance of experiencing good administrators who have the best interests of the children in mind.
My dd2's elementary school is about 50% white with a large 1st gen Hispanic/Latino population, a significant refugee population from Burma/Myanmar, and about 15% African American. We have a very popular dual language Spanish program. Our free and reduced lunch program has about 50% participation. The Hispanic parents are very involved in the school attending PTA meetings (w/ someone to translate present) and the Dual Language program has their own parent organization also. Our principal speaks Spanish and used to teach in the Dual Language program. There is an evening language program for the Burmese/Karen population. It's a great school. Our district is regularly the top performing district in the state as well.
 
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#20 ·
Beanma and I are in the same school district. My son's elementary school is in an upscale neighborhood next to a very wealthy neighborhood. The school boundary lines ensured that the school was economically diverse. Because of the universities, we have a large number of families who come here to study/work for a year or two (mostly from Asia and Europe.) The district just added a new elementary school and converted another to a dual language magnet school. This required major redistricting and we got something like 120 Burmese/Karen children. The school is now a Title 1 school, which is nice because that designation brings a lot of additional resources and our wonderfully diverse school is even more wonderfully diverse.
 
#21 ·
Lurker coming out of the woodwork (we homeschool).

This is interesting because our area has no problem with students changing districts, I think depending on enrollment for the local kids. My neighbor goes to one school district, I have 3 girls in my girl scout troop (out of 9 girls, including my 2 hsed girls, so that's nearly half!) that attend schools in a different district from which they live. Interesting how different things our in other areas. I don't personally know any kids who attend our local school district! (District has about 75 students, K-12).

Enjoying the conversation, especially about the ethical implications.
:sip
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by philomom View Post

That is an unethical practice. I would tip off this child's school. Say what you will..... but I'm the third generation in my family to re-locate to a good school district once my kids were school age. Better to own a small house in a good school district than a mega mansion in a sad one. Living in a good school district also helps the re-sale value on your home as well.
If you can afford this, then it's a great solution and (agreed) entirely without ethical questions. However, many people cannot afford to relocate. Many reasons why not, take your pick. This generation is faced with an entirely different reality regarding homeownership.
 
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#23 ·
We're homeschoolers in a city where this is a very hot topic.

Our property taxes are nearly twice those in the surrounding area. They are so high that our mortgage underwriters couldn't believe it when we bought this house. We reap lots of rewards, though, and I don't mind the high taxes. We have an awesome, free compost system (everything! soiled paper, bones, all food scraps, yard waste) and once a month we get to pick up as much of the finished compost as we can carry. We have a fast response for street repair. We have loads of bike boulevards. And of course, there are the schools.

I went to one of them in high school (actually, my mother lied about our address! I am pretty glad she did because otherwise I might not be here typing... we lived in one of the most dangerous districts at the time) but beyond that I have no idea what they are like. But I know Berkeley residents are awfully proud of them. And I know we have a pretty serious out-of-area enrollment issue. People who are against it say it is causing overcrowding since the school only increases size or adds new classrooms based on expected census data and birth rates, but we have enrollment rates that don't add up. Since I don't use the school system I have no opinion on the matter.

There is a nearby city with incredibly rich schools that has like zero enrollment fraud, and that is because they have pretty hard-to-fake enrollment criteria. But our city has few requirements.

I don't feel like it is unethical. People can't relocate to this city. It is unbelievably expensive to rent or buy. The only reason we got to is we bought at the lowest moment and we bought a dump to fix up. People were so happy for us for getting into this city for the schools. I had to disappoint and say, we homeschool. I have issues with the public school system which have nothing to do with funding.

All that said, there is a process here where you can get a permit to attend out of district schools. I don't know how hard it is, but it might be worth trying. Then your kids wouldn't have to lie and you'd feel more secure. And to the person who suggested that if you can afford to shuttle your kids to and fro you should be able to afford to relocate... I don't see how that is based on reality at all. I made my commute in high school on public transit. I bought monthly passes and it was cheaper than the gas if someone drove me. We were in no position to relocate.

ETA: It isn't the difference between a small house and a megamansion. It is the difference between being able to find a place to live and simply not being able to.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tabitha View Post

We're homeschoolers in a city where this is a very hot topic.

Our property taxes are nearly twice those in the surrounding area. They are so high that our mortgage underwriters couldn't believe it when we bought this house. We reap lots of rewards, though, and I don't mind the high taxes. We have an awesome, free compost system (everything! soiled paper, bones, all food scraps, yard waste) and once a month we get to pick up as much of the finished compost as we can carry. We have a fast response for street repair. We have loads of bike boulevards. And of course, there are the schools.

I went to one of them in high school (actually, my mother lied about our address! I am pretty glad she did because otherwise I might not be here typing... we lived in one of the most dangerous districts at the time) but beyond that I have no idea what they are like. But I know Berkeley residents are awfully proud of them. And I know we have a pretty serious out-of-area enrollment issue. People who are against it say it is causing overcrowding since the school only increases size or adds new classrooms based on expected census data and birth rates, but we have enrollment rates that don't add up. Since I don't use the school system I have no opinion on the matter.

There is a nearby city with incredibly rich schools that has like zero enrollment fraud, and that is because they have pretty hard-to-fake enrollment criteria. But our city has few requirements.

I don't feel like it is unethical. People can't relocate to this city. It is unbelievably expensive to rent or buy. The only reason we got to is we bought at the lowest moment and we bought a dump to fix up. People were so happy for us for getting into this city for the schools. I had to disappoint and say, we homeschool. I have issues with the public school system which have nothing to do with funding.

All that said, there is a process here where you can get a permit to attend out of district schools. I don't know how hard it is, but it might be worth trying. Then your kids wouldn't have to lie and you'd feel more secure. And to the person who suggested that if you can afford to shuttle your kids to and fro you should be able to afford to relocate... I don't see how that is based on reality at all. I made my commute in high school on public transit. I bought monthly passes and it was cheaper than the gas if someone drove me. We were in no position to relocate.

ETA: It isn't the difference between a small house and a megamansion. It is the difference between being able to find a place to live and simply not being able to.

Just had to post to say
:yeah
to this line! What an assumption that was that everyone who can commute to another town can afford to buy a house.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by boater View Post

ETA: It isn't the difference between a small house and a megamansion. It is the difference between being able to find a place to live and simply not being able to.

Just had to post to say
:yeah
to this line! What an assumption that was that everyone who can commute to another town can afford to buy a house.
Try as I might, I can't find anyone saying that specifically. There was this comment:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oread View Post

I If a parent has the resources to shuttle their kids to a different district, chances are they also have the resources to get involved and improve the less appealing school.

And there was philomom's comment about moving to a new district, which I commented on, but I'm not seeing where anyone mentioned that if someone can afford to commute, they can afford to move. Maybe there has been some editing?
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by philomom View Post

That is an unethical practice. I would tip off this child's school. Say what you will..... but I'm the third generation in my family to re-locate to a good school district once my kids were school age. Better to own a small house in a good school district than a mega mansion in a sad one. Living in a good school district also helps the re-sale value on your home as well.
This is the reference, I believe.
 
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