Attorney General files suit against 16 people for school residency fraud

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

[Anonymous]

Good luck collecting. These people don’t have that money and what’s the deal with asking for 68k for a kid who spent one year in the school. At the beginning of the year the kid was a DC resident He moved during the school year. Where is the apportionment. If I’m on that jury, DC loses just for being an overly aggressive butthole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle income Maryland kids are very low on my list of DC budget priorities.

This makes me wonder, how are things going with Ellington?

Well -- those kids are plugged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle income Maryland kids are very low on my list of DC budget priorities.

This makes me wonder, how are things going with Ellington?

Well none of these cases is against someone enrolled at Ellington, so either they are not pursuing anyone because the investigations didn't pan out, or they aren't ready to file a case.

Almost certainly the latter. Look at the dates in these new lawsuits. All of them are for stuff that happened years ago. These investigations take a lot of time. Going to guess we'll start seeing Ellington cases in the next few years. Racine clearly is not going to let this issue drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

This want about free child care. Some of these schools are middle and high schools. They are not particularly good middle and senior high schools, but child care was not the issue. The family in Virginia was a middle schooler

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle income Maryland kids are very low on my list of DC budget priorities.

This makes me wonder, how are things going with Ellington?

Well none of these cases is against someone enrolled at Ellington, so either they are not pursuing anyone because the investigations didn't pan out, or they aren't ready to file a case.

Almost certainly the latter. Look at the dates in these new lawsuits. All of them are for stuff that happened years ago. These investigations take a lot of time. Going to guess we'll start seeing Ellington cases in the next few years. Racine clearly is not going to let this issue drop.

Why are the cases always so old?

[Anonymous]

I don't get how this works. How did these parents enroll their children in the first place without showing DC withholding?

When they were investigated, they couldn't produce DC tax returns for the last several years? Friends were investigated for residency fraud a few years back. They say they went down to the residency fraud office with certified tax returns for the last several years, as instructed, and were promptly cleared.

Is the real problem here that the parents didn't file DC income tax?

[Anonymous]

I've posted on here before about a coworker who had her kid in a DC charter school even though she and her husband live together in MD. She suddenly moved her kid back to a private in PG County. Makes me wonder if she was being investigated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck collecting. These people don’t have that money and what’s the deal with asking for 68k for a kid who spent one year in the school. At the beginning of the year the kid was a DC resident He moved during the school year. Where is the apportionment. If I’m on that jury, DC loses just for being an overly aggressive butthole.

yep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good luck collecting. These people don’t have that money and what’s the deal with asking for 68k for a kid who spent one year in the school. At the beginning of the year the kid was a DC resident He moved during the school year. Where is the apportionment. If I’m on that jury, DC loses just for being an overly aggressive butthole.

yep

especially when mom is a bus aide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

My life and the educational future of my kid is not a "BS excuse". I'm not sure which schools are listed in the lawsuit, but our options were schools that ranked #836 out of the 853 public elementary schools in the state of Maryland. It's my responsibility to give my child a fighting chance and while definitely ethically questionable, it's more like a case of a man with no money who steals bread to feed his family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck collecting. These people don’t have that money and what’s the deal with asking for 68k for a kid who spent one year in the school. At the beginning of the year the kid was a DC resident He moved during the school year. Where is the apportionment. If I’m on that jury, DC loses just for being an overly aggressive butthole.

It's not about collecting. It's about scaring off future violators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

My life and the educational future of my kid is not a "BS excuse". I'm not sure which schools are listed in the lawsuit, but our options were schools that ranked #836 out of the 853 public elementary schools in the state of Maryland. It's my responsibility to give my child a fighting chance and while definitely ethically questionable, it's more like a case of a man with no money who steals bread to feed his family.

Are you sure that the *only* place you could afford to live was a place with horrible schools? Or was it that you didn't plan ahead adequately re: schools before you moved there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

My life and the educational future of my kid is not a "BS excuse". I'm not sure which schools are listed in the lawsuit, but our options were schools that ranked #836 out of the 853 public elementary schools in the state of Maryland. It's my responsibility to give my child a fighting chance and while definitely ethically questionable, it's more like a case of a man with no money who steals bread to feed his family.

Funny how you said you were "well above the poverty level" though. Sorry but I just can't see prioritizing Maryland residents above DC residents who are below the poverty level. If we let all those Maryland kids in, it would be thousands of kids with no taxes to fund it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean really, a false-claims act suit against a DC bus attendant who moved to MD? I get why these have to be done, but yeah ... harsh. I wish there were a better way. At a minimum, it seems really harsh to employ people in DC who can't afford to live here.

Come on, people are stealing 10s-100s of thousands of DC tax dollars for convenience and to game the system. I don't care what your income is- MD has the same services. It's not like they would go without.

It's not for convenience. Some parents are desperately trying to break the cycle of poverty and offer their kids a fighting chance.

When I first moved to the DMV the only place that I could afford was in PG County. When my child was ready for kindergarten, the local school options were horrific. Like 2+2=hot dog kinds of horrific. I began looking at charter and specialty schools, but they were only a notch above the other schools. I considered private, but got scared by the costs (before I knew that we would be eligible for FA), so we entered the DC lottery (with our real address and being completely transparent). We were admitted to a DC school and I began to inquire what I would need to do to pay the required tuition for out of state students. No. One. Knew. Not one staff member knew what to do. Because I didn't want to break the rules I ended up red-shirting my kid (August bday) and then I started talking to privates who helped me better understand that despite being well above the poverty level (although still poor in the DMV), I would still qualify for some financial aid. I pay what I would have paid if I was able to pay for the DC public school, but most people can't afford that.

Sorry, but that is a BS excuse. PG schools are no worse than the DC ones in this lawsuit. The difference is that DC offers free child care. Which we, DC residents, pay for, through taxes. It's expensive and not a social service for MD residents.

My life and the educational future of my kid is not a "BS excuse". I'm not sure which schools are listed in the lawsuit, but our options were schools that ranked #836 out of the 853 public elementary schools in the state of Maryland. It's my responsibility to give my child a fighting chance and while definitely ethically questionable, it's more like a case of a man with no money who steals bread to feed his family.

Are you sure that the *only* place you could afford to live was a place with horrible schools? Or was it that you didn't plan ahead adequately re: schools before you moved there?

DP. It's cute that you think everyone can "plan ahead adequately" about the schools where they can afford to live.