WaPo takes deep dive into DCPS residency fraud
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Anonymous
In my opinion, the kids needs to have the parent/guardian who is registering them for school be a DC taxpayer. This is the crux of the issue. And, ideally, OSSE can pull this verification directly from the District's tax systems. Plus, the law around "primary caretaker" needs to change. All that is required from grandma or auntie is writing a letter attesting that they are the primary caretaker and that the child lives with them. It's so loosey-goosey and lax. Basically any District citizen can claim to be the child's caretaker for purposes of qualifying DC residency. |
Anonymous
Can someone cross-post the list? |
Anonymous
Honestly I am amazed that the list is not longer, especially near the state line. |
Anonymous
Couldn't agree more. When no parent or guardian is paying DC income tax, or at least filing a DC tax return if they're too poor to pay income tax, a kid should not be enrolled in any DC public school without permission or paying tuition, period. It's a no brainer and OSSE needs to figure out how to get this right. No delay. |
Anonymous
I imagine this is just the tip of the iceberg. |
Anonymous
There are students who are charged tuition. Few of them pay. |
Anonymous
Most people don't want to make life difficult for kids from struggling families (even if they are bending the rules). The situation that is emerging with the details in these successive stories is that there is significant fraud from middle class families -- often with DC or fed gov jobs -- and the myth that it's primarily at-risk kids is just played to misdirect the attention. |
Anonymous
Yes, but look at the single digit numbers, 1 kid at this school (i.e.. Brent) who's not a bona fide District resident, 2 at that one, 3 there, half a dozen tops. Some of the schools on this list have obviously have enrolled these kids in the double digits. Why are so few of these DC income tax dodging families being caught year after year? |
Anonymous
I think you're way out of touch with the home situations of a lot of DC students. If the student is physically in DC during the school year, that should be (and is) what qualifies the student as a DC resident. If a grandma claims caretaker status but the kid is residing outside of DC, that clearly should not be allowed. But there are a lot of grandmas and aunties actually taking care of kids in DC while their parents live somewhere else - and these are not the cases DC should focus its limited resources on. Let's stop the cases with kids physically residing out of DC first - that's the bulk of the problem and the most blatant violations. |
Anonymous
Brent was overrun with PG kids for years-- convenient to drop them off on the way in to work in downtown DC. |
Anonymous
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"Trends" from the OSSE report.
Our findings show that while many records upon first review appeared sufficient and adequate documentation of bona fide District residency, they were in fact problematic upon further examination. The initial review of documents contributed to the findings reported in the 2017-18 enrollment audit that OSSE published in January 2018, which documented 74 identified non-residents at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. However, in the course of OSSE’s further, more in-depth investigation, many more records were deemed to be insufficient or potentially fraudulent, and additional students were determined to be non-residents. Broadly, OSSE observed a high volume of student records at Ellington where the authenticity of the records and the veracity of the information provided is questionable, as compared with the same type of records at other schools. Additionally, the number of records that were incomplete or otherwise inadequate to verify residency indicates, at minimum, a significant lack of oversight and internal controls. Schools bear the first and primary responsibility for collecting and approving the adequacy of residency documentation, which is a requirement for enrollment. Residency must be proactively proven each year; residency cannot be verified when there is a lack of sufficient documentation. Additionally, non-residents admitted legitimately into a school are required to enter into a tuition agreement with OSSE. OSSE anticipates that after all due process rights have been exhausted, the total number of confirmed nonresidents could potentially decline from the current findings of non-residency if some families are able to produce sufficient documentation. However, the volume of errors suggests systemic non-compliance at the school. The factors contributing to findings of student non-residency at Ellington are varied, but OSSE identified several trends among the 164 non-resident student files, including: ? Apparently falsified or inauthentic documents. Files included documents such as leases, receipts of rental payments, and paycheck stubs that appeared to be falsified or fabricated. Credible evidence obtained during investigation further indicates that these families actually reside in other jurisdictions, while their enrollment and residency verification forms list DC addresses that do not belong to them. ? Apparently sufficient documents with specific indicators of non-residency revealed by investigation. Files contain enrollment and residency verification forms that are sufficient on their face, but further investigation revealed that the enrolling parents or guardians do not reside at addresses supplied. Credible evidence obtained during investigation revealed that these parents or guardians have no connection to the addresses listed on their enrollment and residency verification forms, and that they actually reside in other jurisdictions. ? Enrolling parent’s use of a non-parent’s address to verify residency. Files listed a DC address for the enrolling parent or guardian to establish District residency, however, further investigation revealed that these individuals reside in other jurisdictions and the addresses provided belong to family members such as a grandparents or aunts. The remaining 56 student files that are still under investigation included documents that provided no conclusive indication of residency outside the District, but also generally did not comply with legal requirements. It is important to note that a finding of non-residency has not been made with regard to these files. Concurrent with the release of this report, OSSE has notified these families of the investigation and provided them with a final opportunity to verify District residency before making any findings of nonresidency. |
Anonymous
DC doesn't garnish the wages of DC employees. |
Anonymous
NBC4 this week about the story of the police officers with 7 kids at 7 different schools said that 25% of their wages would be garnished. |
Anonymous
The issue with rentals is that they rent an apartment to get the IB address, and then sublet it to someone else (who then also uses the school). They don't live there, they just use the address. |
Anonymous
| why is tuition only 12k? there is no way that covers the cost for kids. Most private schools in DC start at 30k. |