WaPo takes deep dive into DCPS residency fraud

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a DC resident with multiple children in DCPS. The vitriol on this thread is disturbing. The lack of empathy for the non-resident children who are enrolled by their parents through no fault of their own, and the consequences for these children of publicly shaming their parents. The demonization of non-resident parents, who, with regard to PG County in particular, were pushed out or priced out of DC.

I’m not suggesting that gentrifiers or white people should feel guilty, but hoping they would have some sensitivity to the complicated racial history and dynamics linking PG and DC.

Plus, the suggestion that tax returns/government benefits paperwork should be a singular means of proving residence shows serious a lack of understanding of and bias against poor communities.Too bad the energy isn’t channeled into legitimate advocacy for underserved families in DC instead of advocating for a witch hunt.

Oh, stuff it. The earnest concern and dismay of your post is ridiculous. Where is your empathy for the "underserved families in DC" who are materially and adversely impacted by residency fraud? Every non-resident child who is educated in DC (and who doesn't pay tuition) is diverting resources from DC children. And your lamentations could just as easily be "channeled into legitimate advocacy for underserved families in DC."

It is not the job of DCPS to provide a remedy or soft landing spot for every one of society's ills. We already (and appropriately!) ask schools to feed DC students, provide them counseling services, act as surrogate parents to DC kids. And we should do that! We should not take on that responsibility for Maryland kids as well. This is another in a long live of instances where DC becomes the primary social services provider in the region, at tremendous cost to city residents. If it's important to offer free Preschool and pre-K, the suburban jurisdictions should offer their own programs. Yes, I have empathy for the poor housekeeper who needs to bring her kids into DC to preschool. I have none for the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent who brings her grandkids in, or other DCPS/OSSE employees who knowingly facilitate residency fraud. But make no mistake, it's all fraud, and it should be investigated and terminated. Fine, don't sue the housekeeper for tuition; definitely sue (and fire) each and every DCPS/OSSE employee who is responsible.

But, let me ask you - you decry the "vitriol" of this thread. What is your proposal? Do nothing? Just continue to plod along as we are, with one investigator and no motivation at all to actually enforce the rights of DC residents not to have their tax dollars misappropriated by non-residents?

This. The vast majority of children in DC are underprivileged and their parents need pk3/pk4 and the opportunity to get their children into a good school. Residency cheaters from out of state steal that spot. And they do it so that they can have a much nicer house with a nice yard outside the city. They are criminals.

There is no shortage of prek3/4 spots on the east side of the Anacostia.

https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/portrait-universal-pre-kindergarten-dc

Because they have space doesn't mean the school is free. Taking a spot means taking $$$ from DC residents and students.

This numbers are years old. A lot has changed, especially in the lower grades, in the past 6 years.

True. There was a 2016 set of maps from some article that still shows a trend of a lot more openings than I would have expected in the lower income parts, but I could not find it quickly enough. The populations that would benefit the most from early childhood intervention do not seem to be enrolling their kids.

Not necessarily. The most lottery entrants come from Wards 7 and 8, and most do enroll in a school close to home. But many others seek a school that is WOTR, if you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but there are obvious, and large, practical limitations on how much residency verification could be done centrally,even if vast new resources were committed (and they won't be).

Parents, especially poor parents, aren't in a great position to troop to a central location with registration documents, and the central office doesn't have anywhere near the staff to send registration/residency verification teams out to every school during the one-month charter registration window. With DCPS schools, families mostly register in the spring, but new entrants can of course turn up at any time to register during the summer or school year. If registration were done on-line, documents couldn't be certified they way they are in person.

Requiring DCPS parents registering kids to bring documents to a central location year round for certification would burden at-risk DC families at the expense of kids, and a be a big pain for everybody else.

No, you could electronically match tax records or benefit records. Consent form collected at school or electronically. Knocks out the vast majority (even low income people file taxes due to EITC). All central office has to do is run IT system to match, and verify those without tax or benefits or who don't provide consent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but there are obvious, and large, practical limitations on how much residency verification could be done centrally,even if vast new resources were committed (and they won't be).

Parents, especially poor parents, aren't in a great position to troop to a central location with registration documents, and the central office doesn't have anywhere near the staff to send registration/residency verification teams out to every school during the one-month charter registration window. With DCPS schools, families mostly register in the spring, but new entrants can of course turn up at any time to register during the summer or school year. If registration were done on-line, documents couldn't be certified they way they are in person.

Requiring DCPS parents registering kids to bring documents to a central location year round for certification would burden at-risk DC families at the expense of kids, and a be a big pain for everybody else.

No, you could electronically match tax records or benefit records. Consent form collected at school or electronically. Knocks out the vast majority (even low income people file taxes due to EITC). All central office has to do is run IT system to match, and verify those without tax or benefits or who don't provide consent.

Even at-risk families manage to get to the DMV to get licenses or register cars; they get to offices to get enrolled for social services.

You can no longer ONLY show up to register at DCPS mid-year (2017-18 is first year/ hold harmless and some people are still doing it the old way). But going forward you must contact MSDC first -- and then proceed.

[Anonymous]

Top priority should be schools where even IB kids are waitlisted for pk3/pk4. And schools that are "overcrowded" such that the kids that attend the school are negatively affected (including their feeders).

Those schools should undergo an immediate audit.

Once that is done, DCPS needs to conduct regular audits at other schools and change their residency verification program.

Time to clean up shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a DC resident with multiple children in DCPS. The vitriol on this thread is disturbing. The lack of empathy for the non-resident children who are enrolled by their parents through no fault of their own, and the consequences for these children of publicly shaming their parents. The demonization of non-resident parents, who, with regard to PG County in particular, were pushed out or priced out of DC.

I’m not suggesting that gentrifiers or white people should feel guilty, but hoping they would have some sensitivity to the complicated racial history and dynamics linking PG and DC.

Plus, the suggestion that tax returns/government benefits paperwork should be a singular means of proving residence shows serious a lack of understanding of and bias against poor communities.Too bad the energy isn’t channeled into legitimate advocacy for underserved families in DC instead of advocating for a witch hunt.

huh? this is stealing. these parents should not only be publicly shamed, they should be prosecuted.

[Anonymous]

The DC auditor just released a new report -- even when someone is paying tuition, the District usually fails to collect it.

https://wamu.org/story/18/04/17/d-c-failed-enforce-residency-public-school-students-audit-finds/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Top priority should be schools where even IB kids are waitlisted for pk3/pk4. And schools that are "overcrowded" such that the kids that attend the school are negatively affected (including their feeders).

Those schools should undergo an immediate audit.

Once that is done, DCPS needs to conduct regular audits at other schools and change their residency verification program.

Time to clean up shop.

It should be everywhere. Each kid that enrolls costs the city $10,000+. It's not just about taking spots from DC kids, it's about stealing money from our coffers full stop-- money that could go to improve the education actual DC residents have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DC auditor just released a new report -- even when someone is paying tuition, the District usually fails to collect it.

https://wamu.org/story/18/04/17/d-c-failed-enforce-residency-public-school-students-audit-finds/

Excerpt

In a 28-page audit made public on Tuesday, Lucas outlined a number of shortcomings in the enforcement of the city’s residency law, the majority focused on the Office of the State Superintendent of Education:

For the 2014, 2015 and 2016 school years, the city admitted 85 non-resident students to public and charter schools, but in 82 of those cases did not collect the full tuition they were required to pay prior to the start of the school year. Instead, payment plans were extended to a majority of the students, even though they were not asked to prove that they had a comparable school option where they lived or were facing financial problems that prevented them from paying the tuition in full.

Of the 79 non-resident students that were on payment plans, 51 were allowed to remain in their D.C. school despite having defaulted on what they owed. The amount of uncollected tuition over the three-year period amounted to $169,127.

OSSE failed to report 46 of 67 of the residency fraud cases it uncovered to the city’s attorney general, which prosecutes the cases, or to the city’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability when they involved the children of city employees. It also did not notify D.C. Public Schools and the charter school system, “which limited the school systems’ ability to proactively identify similar cases.”

In 32 of the 46 fraud cases, OSSE had no settlement agreements with the families found to have violated the law. In the 14 cases for which it did, it only collected $73,090 of the $454,727 in unpaid tuition it was owed. And when that tuition wasn’t paid, OSSE didn’t take steps to let schools know so they could discontinue the students’ enrollment.

Due to a number of shortcomings within OSSE, the city is owed at least $550,764 in unpaid tuition by non-residents.

The inspector general’s audit also found that compared to school systems in surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia, “District residency documentation requirements were less stringent than those in neighboring school districts.”

In a response to the audit, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang said that in 2017, D.C. centralized residency fraud investigations within OSSE and has strengthened the rules around auditing school records and investigating whether or not certain non-resident students are attending D.C. schools.

“Not only do we now review 100 percent of student residency verification forms, we have changed our policy to lower the threshold to trigger a full review of supporting documents families submitted to prove residency,” she wrote to Lucas. “For schools that fail our sample review, we automatically initiate a residency file review on all students attending those schools.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The DC auditor just released a new report -- even when someone is paying tuition, the District usually fails to collect it.

https://wamu.org/story/18/04/17/d-c-failed-enforce-residency-public-school-students-audit-finds/

The question is, does anyone care enough about this to put pressure on downtown?

[Anonymous]

This was more a response to those who say that it is taken resources from poor children. I meant to post it in response to another post. I think it is middle class MD/VA people taking resources from middle class DC folk.

They are taking resources from EVERYONE.

Exactly.

We don't even have kids in DCPS and never will. Nevertheless, our household pays a &%#-ton of taxes to the District, in part to operate public schools.

I am delighted by that, actually. I feel gratitude that we have the means to shift some of our high income (via taxes) to — theoretically — provide a net for those most at risk. Philosophically, we also like the idea of robust pubic schools for all DC kids, regardless of means.

I loathe the thought that I'm paying for free daycare for MC/UMC city employees who drive in from Mitchelleville in their Lexus SUVs to show up at their $128,000 a year entitlement city jobs (which I also overpay for).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a DC resident with multiple children in DCPS. The vitriol on this thread is disturbing. The lack of empathy for the non-resident children who are enrolled by their parents through no fault of their own, and the consequences for these children of publicly shaming their parents. The demonization of non-resident parents, who, with regard to PG County in particular, were pushed out or priced out of DC.

I’m not suggesting that gentrifiers or white people should feel guilty, but hoping they would have some sensitivity to the complicated racial history and dynamics linking PG and DC.

Plus, the suggestion that tax returns/government benefits paperwork should be a singular means of proving residence shows serious a lack of understanding of and bias against poor communities.Too bad the energy isn’t channeled into legitimate advocacy for underserved families in DC instead of advocating for a witch hunt.

Oh, stuff it. The earnest concern and dismay of your post is ridiculous. Where is your empathy for the "underserved families in DC" who are materially and adversely impacted by residency fraud? Every non-resident child who is educated in DC (and who doesn't pay tuition) is diverting resources from DC children. And your lamentations could just as easily be "channeled into legitimate advocacy for underserved families in DC."

It is not the job of DCPS to provide a remedy or soft landing spot for every one of society's ills. We already (and appropriately!) ask schools to feed DC students, provide them counseling services, act as surrogate parents to DC kids. And we should do that! We should not take on that responsibility for Maryland kids as well. This is another in a long live of instances where DC becomes the primary social services provider in the region, at tremendous cost to city residents. If it's important to offer free Preschool and pre-K, the suburban jurisdictions should offer their own programs. Yes, I have empathy for the poor housekeeper who needs to bring her kids into DC to preschool. I have none for the Executive Assistant to the Superintendent who brings her grandkids in, or other DCPS/OSSE employees who knowingly facilitate residency fraud. But make no mistake, it's all fraud, and it should be investigated and terminated. Fine, don't sue the housekeeper for tuition; definitely sue (and fire) each and every DCPS/OSSE employee who is responsible.

But, let me ask you - you decry the "vitriol" of this thread. What is your proposal? Do nothing? Just continue to plod along as we are, with one investigator and no motivation at all to actually enforce the rights of DC residents not to have their tax dollars misappropriated by non-residents?

This. The vast majority of children in DC are underprivileged and their parents need pk3/pk4 and the opportunity to get their children into a good school. Residency cheaters from out of state steal that spot. And they do it so that they can have a much nicer house with a nice yard outside the city. They are criminals.

There is no shortage of prek3/4 spots on the east side of the Anacostia.

https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/portrait-universal-pre-kindergarten-dc

News flash: there are poor children living all over the city, not just in Anacostia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree, but there are obvious, and large, practical limitations on how much residency verification could be done centrally,even if vast new resources were committed (and they won't be).

Parents, especially poor parents, aren't in a great position to troop to a central location with registration documents, and the central office doesn't have anywhere near the staff to send registration/residency verification teams out to every school during the one-month charter registration window. With DCPS schools, families mostly register in the spring, but new entrants can of course turn up at any time to register during the summer or school year. If registration were done on-line, documents couldn't be certified they way they are in person.

Requiring DCPS parents registering kids to bring documents to a central location year round for certification would burden at-risk DC families at the expense of kids, and a be a big pain for everybody else.

No, you could electronically match tax records or benefit records. Consent form collected at school or electronically. Knocks out the vast majority (even low income people file taxes due to EITC). All central office has to do is run IT system to match, and verify those without tax or benefits or who don't provide consent.

Even at-risk families manage to get to the DMV to get licenses or register cars; they get to offices to get enrolled for social services.

You can no longer ONLY show up to register at DCPS mid-year (2017-18 is first year/ hold harmless and some people are still doing it the old way). But going forward you must contact MSDC first -- and then proceed.

Yea, and they wait at these offices for hours. Send everybody enrolling to DCPS to one or two offices and we'd wait for days, weeks maybe. Terrible idea.

[Anonymous]

Solution --

a) Go to you IB school to declare intent to enroll, turn in medical forms and sign a form agreeing to have your residency verified via city records (TANF, SNAP, tax returns). 80-90% of people will do that.

Verification happens at a central location.

b) Have anyone not able to do item A go to an office and work out another arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So that’s what happened to the Leckie principal!

Right?!?!

[Anonymous]

Why is DCPS so quick to coddle fraudsters who live in PG County or wherever?