WaPo takes deep dive into DCPS residency fraud

[Anonymous]

Silverman knows nothing about DCPS and is hopelessly naive about all the scandals.
I am a liberal but she is too ultra liberal even for me - all her ideas are completely unrealistic.

[Anonymous]

I hope they can do the tax data matching thing. Anything that relies on the schools to report is not going to work, because the schools know they would lose money and it would make people upset. If they just matched DC tax addresses and followed up wiith anyone who didn't have a matching address on file in the tax system, they could catch a large proportion of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope they can do the tax data matching thing. Anything that relies on the schools to report is not going to work, because the schools know they would lose money and it would make people upset. If they just matched DC tax addresses and followed up wiith anyone who didn't have a matching address on file in the tax system, they could catch a large proportion of people.

What happens when people move? This is a fairly transient city, and particularly more so when you're talking about low-income families.

[Anonymous]

If people move to MD and are filing taxes in MD, their kids should enroll in school in MD. That's what happens when people move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If people move to MD and are filing taxes in MD, their kids should enroll in school in MD. That's what happens when people move.

This. Duh.

And if people who move to MD continue to pay DC taxes in order to keep their kids in DC schools, I'm not really outraged by that. That's between the state of MD and those residents to figure it out.

But the current situation is completely unacceptable: living in and paying taxes to the state of MD, but using tens of thousands of DC services per family. It's outright theft of DC taxpayer funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope they can do the tax data matching thing. Anything that relies on the schools to report is not going to work, because the schools know they would lose money and it would make people upset. If they just matched DC tax addresses and followed up wiith anyone who didn't have a matching address on file in the tax system, they could catch a large proportion of people.

What happens when people move? This is a fairly transient city, and particularly more so when you're talking about low-income families.

Ideally, the kids could finish the year and DC and Maryland could square up financially at the end of each year. Or we could make a decision to allow kids to stay if they could document low-income status. But for middle class people, there is no right to go to school in a state you don't live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If people move to MD and are filing taxes in MD, their kids should enroll in school in MD. That's what happens when people move.

This. Duh.

And if people who move to MD continue to pay DC taxes in order to keep their kids in DC schools, I'm not really outraged by that. That's between the state of MD and those residents to figure it out.

But the current situation is completely unacceptable: living in and paying taxes to the state of MD, but using tens of thousands of DC services per family. It's outright theft of DC taxpayer funds.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If people move to MD and are filing taxes in MD, their kids should enroll in school in MD. That's what happens when people move.

This. Duh.

And if people who move to MD continue to pay DC taxes in order to keep their kids in DC schools, I'm not really outraged by that. That's between the state of MD and those residents to figure it out.

But the current situation is completely unacceptable: living in and paying taxes to the state of MD, but using tens of thousands of DC services per family. It's outright theft of DC taxpayer funds.

Agree.

+1000 Just like unemployment benefits they have an agreement between states. where there is a will there is way, but DC will lose population at some schools, hence lack of will!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just shut up y’all. We gonna do what ever we want. We live in MoCo, and I am still dropping my daughter off at Hardy, I wish y’all would stay something,

In which part of the DC government do you “work”?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just shut up y’all. We gonna do what ever we want. We live in MoCo, and I am still dropping my daughter off at Hardy, I wish y’all would stay something,

In which part of the DC government do you “work”?!

Didn't you hear? We did say something...that's what this whole thread is about

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope they can do the tax data matching thing. Anything that relies on the schools to report is not going to work, because the schools know they would lose money and it would make people upset. If they just matched DC tax addresses and followed up wiith anyone who didn't have a matching address on file in the tax system, they could catch a large proportion of people.

What happens when people move? This is a fairly transient city, and particularly more so when you're talking about low-income families.

It’s a myth that is all low income families. I’m fine with turning a blind eye to the low income families. Any enforcement should start with the MC & UMC and the city/fed employees. Their residences should be much easier to figure out.

[Anonymous]

Here's how ridiculous some of this fraud investigation is:

40 year DC resident here. Have commuted to other cities, but always lived in DC as an adult. Enrolled kid in Ellington last year with DC license and registration. Get a call 4 months later saying it's my license but wife's registration, even though same household. They could have caught that at the school when I registered but not problem. But OSSE auditors did not ask for matching, they asked for utility bills from certain months. No problem. Sent those. Get a call a month later saying the bills say "credit". They need something saying "paid". I tell them credit means paid, but apparently logic has no impact. Dig into emails and find a receipts that says "Paid". Fine, right? Call a month later says "paid" is one month after the bill. I say "That's how it works. You pay AFTER you get the bill." Again, logic does not work. Am asked to go online and print out a ledger of consecutive months. Did that. Get a call days later saying this is all likely a result of my phone number and wife's and the fact that we have cellphones with out of town area codes, and not landlines with "202". Except it's the 21st century, and we have not had landlines since 2006, and the whole notion of "mobile" means your number goes with you and area codes are an obsolete concept.
After the 8th call asking for more, start asking other parents and find out dozens are going through the same thing. Some because the fonts were different on a bill one month than it was on another month, even though DC Water and Pepco both had design and website changes in 2017.

This is all true. I really don't mind being a bit inconvenienced to catch some scofflaws, but when it gets beyond 2-3 calls, we're not talking fraud, we're talking OSSE incompetence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's how ridiculous some of this fraud investigation is:

40 year DC resident here. Have commuted to other cities, but always lived in DC as an adult. Enrolled kid in Ellington last year with DC license and registration. Get a call 4 months later saying it's my license but wife's registration, even though same household. They could have caught that at the school when I registered but not problem. But OSSE auditors did not ask for matching, they asked for utility bills from certain months. No problem. Sent those. Get a call a month later saying the bills say "credit". They need something saying "paid". I tell them credit means paid, but apparently logic has no impact. Dig into emails and find a receipts that says "Paid". Fine, right? Call a month later says "paid" is one month after the bill. I say "That's how it works. You pay AFTER you get the bill." Again, logic does not work. Am asked to go online and print out a ledger of consecutive months. Did that. Get a call days later saying this is all likely a result of my phone number and wife's and the fact that we have cellphones with out of town area codes, and not landlines with "202". Except it's the 21st century, and we have not had landlines since 2006, and the whole notion of "mobile" means your number goes with you and area codes are an obsolete concept.
After the 8th call asking for more, start asking other parents and find out dozens are going through the same thing. Some because the fonts were different on a bill one month than it was on another month, even though DC Water and Pepco both had design and website changes in 2017.



This is all true. I really don't mind being a bit inconvenienced to catch some scofflaws, but when it gets beyond 2-3 calls, we're not talking fraud, we're talking OSSE incompetence.

OSSE knew the hammer was coming down so they tightened the screws on everyone

By the time these DC auditor reports come out and they get talked about in MSM the data is 1 if not more years old. Mgmt already knows they are coming (DC auditor talks to them as part of the reports) and have instituted changes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's how ridiculous some of this fraud investigation is:

40 year DC resident here. Have commuted to other cities, but always lived in DC as an adult. Enrolled kid in Ellington last year with DC license and registration. Get a call 4 months later saying it's my license but wife's registration, even though same household. They could have caught that at the school when I registered but not problem. But OSSE auditors did not ask for matching, they asked for utility bills from certain months. No problem. Sent those. Get a call a month later saying the bills say "credit". They need something saying "paid". I tell them credit means paid, but apparently logic has no impact. Dig into emails and find a receipts that says "Paid". Fine, right? Call a month later says "paid" is one month after the bill. I say "That's how it works. You pay AFTER you get the bill." Again, logic does not work. Am asked to go online and print out a ledger of consecutive months. Did that. Get a call days later saying this is all likely a result of my phone number and wife's and the fact that we have cellphones with out of town area codes, and not landlines with "202". Except it's the 21st century, and we have not had landlines since 2006, and the whole notion of "mobile" means your number goes with you and area codes are an obsolete concept.
After the 8th call asking for more, start asking other parents and find out dozens are going through the same thing. Some because the fonts were different on a bill one month than it was on another month, even though DC Water and Pepco both had design and website changes in 2017.

This is all true. I really don't mind being a bit inconvenienced to catch some scofflaws, but when it gets beyond 2-3 calls, we're not talking fraud, we're talking OSSE incompetence.

Just consent to a home visit, or have them check your tax records. You can short circuit this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how ridiculous some of this fraud investigation is:

40 year DC resident here. Have commuted to other cities, but always lived in DC as an adult. Enrolled kid in Ellington last year with DC license and registration. Get a call 4 months later saying it's my license but wife's registration, even though same household. They could have caught that at the school when I registered but no problem. But OSSE auditors did not ask for matching, they asked for utility bills from certain months. No problem. Sent those. Get a call a month later saying the bills say "credit". They need something saying "paid". I tell them credit means paid, but apparently logic has no impact. Dig into emails and find a receipt that says "Paid". Fine, right? Call a month later says "paid" is one month after the bill. I say "That's how it works. You pay AFTER you get the bill." Again, logic does not work. Am asked to go online and print out a ledger of consecutive months. Did that. Get a call days later saying this is all likely a result of my phone number and wife's and the fact that we have cellphones with out of town area codes, and not landlines with "202". Except it's the 21st century, and we have not had landlines since 2006, and the whole notion of "mobile" means your number goes with you and area codes are an obsolete concept.
After the 8th call asking for more, start asking other parents and find out dozens are going through the same thing. Some because the fonts were different on a bill one month than it was on another month, even though DC Water and Pepco both had design and website changes in 2017.

This is all true. I really don't mind being a bit inconvenienced to catch some scofflaws, but when it gets beyond 2-3 calls, we're not talking fraud, we're talking OSSE incompetence.

Just consent to a home visit, or have them check your tax records. You can short circuit this stuff.

Not only did we consent to a home visit. we offered it, to no avail. Problem with short-circuiting is every time you respond you think you're OK, then a month later you get another issue. Could likely stop it by providing tax info or pay stub, but why would one ever trust the privacy of kind of info in such a flawed system?