School residency cheaters investigated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't parents report the parents who are cheating? Why would you let it go that half the damn class is from maryland? I don't understand. I mean, I'd be more inclined to let it go if the kid was under privileged, but the handful of people I suspect are cheating are able to do so because they are rich and own more than one property.

Because the poster is lying. If you have seen the PK3 classes at LT you would know that half of the class isn't 50% AA. It is more like 30%. The PKs at LT are overwhelming white and in-boundary families.

The original article is full of lies! "D.C. school graduates also get in-state tuition to any public college in the nation."

Would somebody please fact-check that nonsense? OMG, if that were true, EVERYONE who wanted in-state tuition for their out-of-state student would be beating down the doors to live in DC and happily pay DC taxes to do it. Imagine if you could get in-state tuition for New York or Texas or Michigan by living in DC. Alas, somebody has no damn clue what DC TAG is or how it works.

(On the off chance the idiot is me, and not the asleep-at-the-wheel editors of Daily Caller, and that my children actually DO qualify for in-state tuition anywhere in the U.S., please correct me immediately. I'll apologize profusely and buy you some nice and incredibly overpriced donuts from Barrack's Row along with a bottle of champagne. Just say the word.)

My kids are way too young for me to know all the details, but I read something once about this and here's what I found on-line:

http://osse.dc.gov/dctag

Okay, so hardly "free tuition" but a tuition offset. OOS tuition could still run 20k per annum depending on the institution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is a DC agency - can't they check against the other databases instead of relying solely on what could be fraudulent pay stubs and other documentation? They should have cross-agency access to TANF, SNAP, the DC Office of Tax, etc. It seems like the verification information is already at their fingertips and that they could just work with the other agencies to get that information quite easily.

This thread has blown this into a race issue and it's not. It's a DCPS prioritizing MD (or VA) cheaters over DC taxpayers issue. Especially in the case of charter schools, DCPS is literally allowing MD students to take spaces away from DC students. What makes the MD cheaters more entitled than the DC kids who also may face socioeconomic challenges? Why should any DC taxpayer have to pay another 1-2 full years of daycare because they can't get into a PK-3 or PK-4 spot that's given to a non-taxpaying family who is legally ineligible to take that spot? This is not a moral issue, it is a legal and financial issue. If I already pay tons of taxes for the schools and then I have to pay $20k+ for daycare because I can't get into the schools, damn that will make me mad. And some people can't afford great daycare - those kids risk being in another year of a bad situation because they can't get into their school. And many needy DC kids are being robbed of an opportunity to attend a charter school that's better than their neighborhood school because cheaters have taken their spots. I just can't understand the people who are defending this - it's stealing money from our pockets and from the programs that support DC students, including those with special needs and other challenges.

People are unhappy with the tactics used, but this has been going on forever with NO CONSEQUENCES and no concern on behalf of DCPS. So another approach was needed. Relying on officials to handle this wasn't going to change any of the results, so people have taken another tack. Focusing on the tactic is a distraction from the fact that the ultimate problem is the endemic practice of stealing money and educational opportunities from DC kids (and parents) and giving to MD kids (and parents).

I want you to know don't disagree with you, except about one thing: the way this was done by the daily caller reporters was wrong, sets all sorts of questionable precedents and pretty much goes against every ethic I can think of. Which is kind of funny, considering the Christian thing... but I digress.

It is okay to demand more accountability. It is not okay to witch hunt children. It is not okay to interrogate people in front of their children, or go through their trash, looking for "proof." Just for fun, I wonder of the daily caller could find some African American stringers and send them on an assignment to follow some folks through McLean borders.

Agreed. And the scope of the issue is also completely blown up. This is "Cadillac Welfare Mom" redux (except with an Escalade!) While cheating isn't good, there's no evidence that it is some kind of systematic fraud making any sort of meaningful impact on DCPS. This just seems to be a perfect storm of white parents obsessed with being "shut out" from their PK3, and a "news" organization pushing an ideological agenda that is very happy to bash DC and black people in general.

[Anonymous]

Another interesting point is, how much are you willing to let this issue be crafted as yet another whipping boy in the conservative argument that DC doesn't deserve statehood? Because you have two reporters, neither living in DC, salaried to a publication whose objective is slamming "big" government, and throwing in some racial forment on the side.

They aren't trying to "fix" anything. Their objective is to light the entire enterprise on fire and watch it burn, because presumably returning to some kind of magical fantasy privatization-land will solve all--plus, Jesus probably wants a rapture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is a DC agency - can't they check against the other databases instead of relying solely on what could be fraudulent pay stubs and other documentation? They should have cross-agency access to TANF, SNAP, the DC Office of Tax, etc. It seems like the verification information is already at their fingertips and that they could just work with the other agencies to get that information quite easily.

Exactly! There should be the auto-verify tract through the DC agencies (tax, social services, welfare, foster homes) and then a "complicated case" track for why someone does not show up in any of DC's government systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is a DC agency - can't they check against the other databases instead of relying solely on what could be fraudulent pay stubs and other documentation? They should have cross-agency access to TANF, SNAP, the DC Office of Tax, etc. It seems like the verification information is already at their fingertips and that they could just work with the other agencies to get that information quite easily.

Exactly! There should be the auto-verify tract through the DC agencies (tax, social services, welfare, foster homes) and then a "complicated case" track for why someone does not show up in any of DC's government systems.

A DC agency certainly can't get federal or state income tax information easily. I'm no expert on the subject, but I know that tax payers have rights to confidentiality, other than where property tax payment goes, as do welfare recipients. Parents enrolling their children in DC public schools would have to consent to auto-verify scrutiny, which would open a big legal can of worms (you won't sign the auto-verify form so you can't enroll in our charter, oh no, I'll sue...etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another interesting point is, how much are you willing to let this issue be crafted as yet another whipping boy in the conservative argument that DC doesn't deserve statehood? Because you have two reporters, neither living in DC, salaried to a publication whose objective is slamming "big" government, and throwing in some racial forment on the side.

They aren't trying to "fix" anything. Their objective is to light the entire enterprise on fire and watch it burn, because presumably returning to some kind of magical fantasy privatization-land will solve all--plus, Jesus probably wants a rapture.

qft, all of what you wrote

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another interesting point is, how much are you willing to let this issue be crafted as yet another whipping boy in the conservative argument that DC doesn't deserve statehood? Because you have two reporters, neither living in DC, salaried to a publication whose objective is slamming "big" government, and throwing in some racial forment on the side.

They aren't trying to "fix" anything. Their objective is to light the entire enterprise on fire and watch it burn, because presumably returning to some kind of magical fantasy privatization-land will solve all--plus, Jesus probably wants a rapture.

If Congress would like to big foot in on this issue by creating an enforcing mechanism with teeth, I might be able to swallow the whole Heller thing a little better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed. And the scope of the issue is also completely blown up. This is "Cadillac Welfare Mom" redux (except with an Escalade!) While cheating isn't good, there's no evidence that it is some kind of systematic fraud making any sort of meaningful impact on DCPS. This just seems to be a perfect storm of white parents obsessed with being "shut out" from their PK3, and a "news" organization pushing an ideological agenda that is very happy to bash DC and black people in general.

Scope blown up? Really? You may not like the Daily Caller, but you are being disingenuous if you pretend this isn't a substantial problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is a DC agency - can't they check against the other databases instead of relying solely on what could be fraudulent pay stubs and other documentation? They should have cross-agency access to TANF, SNAP, the DC Office of Tax, etc. It seems like the verification information is already at their fingertips and that they could just work with the other agencies to get that information quite easily.

Exactly! There should be the auto-verify tract through the DC agencies (tax, social services, welfare, foster homes) and then a "complicated case" track for why someone does not show up in any of DC's government systems.

A DC agency certainly can't get federal or state income tax information easily. I'm no expert on the subject, but I know that tax payers have rights to confidentiality, other than where property tax payment goes, as do welfare recipients. Parents enrolling their children in DC public schools would have to consent to auto-verify scrutiny, which would open a big legal can of worms (you won't sign the auto-verify form so you can't enroll in our charter, oh no, I'll sue...etc.).

True for DC taxes. But homestead exemption is available to all on the internet. A mechanism simply demonstrating that DC income tax has been paid for how many quarters, a yes/no, should suffice without any SSN, income level etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So yeah, you should be alarmed if your child is regularly being shuttled from school to a house in Maryland. People are pissed off at the blatant fraud that is commonplace at some schools and that has gotten the attention of this click-bait website. Perhaps you should express your frustration to your councilmember, who might be able to get some answers out of OSSE, because "all that's required" is not enough to keep people from cheating the system.

Again: raise of hands/posts of DCUM posters shut out of the schools mentioned in the article: Ludlow Taylor, Eagle Academy, KIPP, JO Wilson?

Hello? Anyone?

We live on the Hill. Our waitlist number for LT is, currently, in the 60s. Last year we did not make it below the 130s for LT. We were also shut out of JO.

I would guess that every single IB family with their kid at Miner for PK had LT above it on their list. Given that Miner's PK is full and more than 50% IB...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While I'm enjoying this thread, the one on MOTH - where people are not annonymous has been equally entertaining.

Link? Is it possible to read if you're not on the list Serv?

MOTH has definitely helped cast people I thought were neighbors and friends in a different light. True colors.

Huh? I must have missed something. What in those emails would make you re-think your friendships? People who say they think that the process should be more rigorous to weed out fraud? People who wish a more reputable news source would do an investigation? You must have a very low tolerance for differences of opinion.

I was going to say the same thing. Super zzzzzzz on MOTH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"D.C. school graduates also get in-state tuition to any public college in the nation."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/04/investigation-md-residents-ripping-off-dc-schools-while-admins-refuse-to-address-it/#ixzz4DXaYKX00

This quote isn't quite accurate: You have to be a DC resident in order to the the DC TA, not just graduate from a DC school. And DC TAG is most definitely NOT "in-state tuition" though I wish it was. DC TAG is $10K per year for up to five years towards the OUT OF STATE tuition rate which is typically $30K-50K. So, yes the DC TAG takes a little bit of the sting off, but it's nowhere near what in state residents pay.

What prevents the fraudsters from using the same relative's or other non-legal DC address for TAG purposes, as well as to enroll their MD kids in DCPS or charters?

Nothing prevents them from doing that, but I will say that qualifying for DC TAG is much more difficult than just proving residency. It's tied to other financial aid docs that you have to fill out for the feds, so comes with a higher degree of difficulty (showing tax returns, etc). I only was pointing out that "DC school graduates" doesn't really explain who gets TAG.

[Anonymous]

so DCPS has about 6 weeks before school begins to propose how it will credibly address this issue. Otherwise, every school will have MOM investigators staking out the dropoff and pickup at the beginning of the school year. And what about reaction from Browser...crickets. i did not like the tactics by the reporters but DC government is doing NOTHING to deal with this legitimate concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so DCPS has about 6 weeks before school begins to propose how it will credibly address this issue. Otherwise, every school will have MOM investigators staking out the dropoff and pickup at the beginning of the school year. And what about reaction from Browser...crickets. i did not like the tactics by the reporters but DC government is doing NOTHING to deal with this legitimate concern.

Ha ha! I know! DCUM task force mixed with Anonymous and Caller tactics. PTAs will start fundraising for private investigators instead of school trips and sports equipment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is a DC agency - can't they check against the other databases instead of relying solely on what could be fraudulent pay stubs and other documentation? They should have cross-agency access to TANF, SNAP, the DC Office of Tax, etc. It seems like the verification information is already at their fingertips and that they could just work with the other agencies to get that information quite easily.

Exactly! There should be the auto-verify tract through the DC agencies (tax, social services, welfare, foster homes) and then a "complicated case" track for why someone does not show up in any of DC's government systems.

A DC agency certainly can't get federal or state income tax information easily. I'm no expert on the subject, but I know that tax payers have rights to confidentiality, other than where property tax payment goes, as do welfare recipients. Parents enrolling their children in DC public schools would have to consent to auto-verify scrutiny, which would open a big legal can of worms (you won't sign the auto-verify form so you can't enroll in our charter, oh no, I'll sue...etc.).

True for DC taxes. But homestead exemption is available to all on the internet. A mechanism simply demonstrating that DC income tax has been paid for how many quarters, a yes/no, should suffice without any SSN, income level etc.

and DMV/ID registration.