MD scofflaws?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know of two families that either cheated in the past (kids are grown) or are currently cheating. I am not going to rat anyone out but it does seem odd to me that I know of two families and I am just one person. So likely there are many other people like me that know a couple of cheaters. This all adds up pretty quick. I guess it is still going to be an issue if there is no investigation by DCPS and Charters since I am not going to rat out the family I know. The dilemma....

Do you know for sure they are not paying the DC per capita rate? A few years ago DD attended a DC charter and we paid about $11K/year for this (a figure calculated by the DC govt for all out-of-DC families to pay), so no cheating here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The scope of the problem from OSSE audit can be found here. http://osse.dc.gov/release/osse-moves-forward-non-resident-enforcement

Non-resident students who did NOT pay tuition (and % makeup of total enrollment)
DCPS 126 (0.3%)
PCS 32 (0.1%)
Non-Public 118 (6.9%)
Total 276 (0.35%)

Honestly? This is tiny. You're talking about 276 kids in a school system with 45,000 students (http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Who+We+Are).
- About 23 students in each of grades K-12 (276 scofflaws/45,000 kids in the DC school system)
- About 2 kids per school (276 kids/125 schools)
- The cost to the DC school system may be $2-3M. But I'm not sure that setting up a whole reporting system, with a staff of "enforcers" and a dedicated, computerized reporting system, is a net budget gain.
- DC is probably coming out ahead when you consider DC residents sneaking into VA and MoCo. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that at LEAST 276 DC kids are sneaking across the border to MoCo schools. I'm not sure you'd even have to include the kids of divorced parents, where one lives in MoCo (which I think is totally legit, BTW, because as a PP said, the MoCo parent is paying taxes).

I agree with the PP who says you need to get a life. I too recognize these recurring posts. I think it may just be one obsessed poster, who needs to find something else to be morally outraged about. I know - how about getting outraged about bad Anacostia schools? Lack of textbooks? Low teacher salaries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I am a grandmother living off my social security and I don't pay taxes but I am the guardian. So, what proof is acceptable for my seven grandkids.

Court documents showing legal guardianship for all 7 grandkids. Additionally, if you're getting DC Charter (Medicaid etc), your eligibility letter will suffice just fine (being that they already do residency verification). If not, a copy of SS eligibility letter showing DC address.

However, being that you have 7 grandkids that you care for 100 times to zero, you file taxes every year to get the thousands in earned income credit every year, thus your tax returns will be just fine. Thanks. Next.

Also, some actual proof that those seven grandkids live with you, and not with theor parents in MD, and the legal guardianship papers aren't just a ruse to allow then to attend school near where their parents work. Which is kinda the whole point of the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The scope of the problem from OSSE audit can be found here. http://osse.dc.gov/release/osse-moves-forward-non-resident-enforcement

Non-resident students who did NOT pay tuition (and % makeup of total enrollment)
DCPS 126 (0.3%)
PCS 32 (0.1%)
Non-Public 118 (6.9%)
Total 276 (0.35%)

Honestly? This is tiny. You're talking about 276 kids in a school system with 45,000 students (http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Who+We+Are).
- About 23 students in each of grades K-12 (276 scofflaws/45,000 kids in the DC school system)
- About 2 kids per school (276 kids/125 schools)
- The cost to the DC school system may be $2-3M. But I'm not sure that setting up a whole reporting system, with a staff of "enforcers" and a dedicated, computerized reporting system, is a net budget gain.
- DC is probably coming out ahead when you consider DC residents sneaking into VA and MoCo. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that at LEAST 276 DC kids are sneaking across the border to MoCo schools. I'm not sure you'd even have to include the kids of divorced parents, where one lives in MoCo (which I think is totally legit, BTW, because as a PP said, the MoCo parent is paying taxes).

I agree with the PP who says you need to get a life. I too recognize these recurring posts. I think it may just be one obsessed poster, who needs to find something else to be morally outraged about. I know - how about getting outraged about bad Anacostia schools? Lack of textbooks? Low teacher salaries?

Note OSSE audit just checked that the documentation was in order. A worthwhile additional step would be to take a random sample of students and check if the documentation submitted corresponds to their actual residential address. Without doing this there is no way to estimate the size of the problem.

[Anonymous]

How about this: parents at the good schools can bring up having a few parents check/make referrals to DCPS or the PCSB or whatever in the PTA.

If the PTA by consensus agrees with having a few parents check, do so.

If you say it's on behalf of the PTA, it seems much more legit to me. Then you can follow up to see what happened, and get the deterrent out there that the PTA wants the school to be populated with DC kids, from all of DC, just not outside of DC.

As someone looking forward to the lottery for a little kid, I would appreciate not competing with true out-of-District residents who want free day care near the office. Kid who has a parent, part-time-caregiver grandparent here - whatever, I'm ready to shed a tear for the extra problems/needs of a non-nuclear family.

And schools that are underenrolled and just need bodies, I don't care much. The money's being spent, let it at least be spent on children until somebody has the guts to pull the plug on underenrolled schools.

But the rest need to suck it up. Move into the District if you want to have your kid in one of the better schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As of this week I was at DCPS high-school football scrimmage and I noticed a parent who had her son enrolled in a catholic middle-school last year. This parents resides in PG-County. Well her son attends a DCPS school and I inquired did she move to DC. She said "hell no" but as long as his daddy lives in DC, I'll let'em have the DCPS thrill for awhile. But if it doesn't work out well, he'll be on PG County roles in a heartbeat.

Hence; School swapping.

If the father lives in DC and is paying taxes why can't the kid go to school in DC? I live in MoCo and there are defintely kids with divorced parents who live on both sides of the line who are attending MCPS.

That's my point there are so many family dynamics and to equate that wrong doing is because of a car with out-of-town license plates is the beginning of distrust is foolishness. No wonder DCPS only puts two-people in charge of ensuring policy and procedures are observed. This is not Mayberry and this your not worthy because you don't pay taxes is a useless base. We can't have it both ways as in Taxation without Representation and then in another breathe You don't pay taxes and you don't deserve a free education. A more adequate statement is "you have to pay to play in DCPS."

[Anonymous]

10:00 you have to be kidding me. It IS "pay to play" as you put it because you pay your taxes to fund the LOCAL schools! That's how public education works. I can't just go enroll my DC in any school in any state unless I live (and pay taxes) there, too. You sound just like the parents who drive in from MD and put their kids in Cap Hill schools on the way to downtown jobs. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As of this week I was at DCPS high-school football scrimmage and I noticed a parent who had her son enrolled in a catholic middle-school last year. This parents resides in PG-County. Well her son attends a DCPS school and I inquired did she move to DC. She said "hell no" but as long as his daddy lives in DC, I'll let'em have the DCPS thrill for awhile. But if it doesn't work out well, he'll be on PG County roles in a heartbeat.

Hence; School swapping.

If the father lives in DC and is paying taxes why can't the kid go to school in DC? I live in MoCo and there are defintely kids with divorced parents who live on both sides of the line who are attending MCPS.

That's my point there are so many family dynamics and to equate that wrong doing is because of a car with out-of-town license plates is the beginning of distrust is foolishness. No wonder DCPS only puts two-people in charge of ensuring policy and procedures are observed. This is not Mayberry and this your not worthy because you don't pay taxes is a useless base. We can't have it both ways as in Taxation without Representation and then in another breathe You don't pay taxes and you don't deserve a free education. A more adequate statement is "you have to pay to play in DCPS."

You must be word salad lady. I am not quite sure what you are trying to say but my point was that if one parent lives in DC they are paying taxes and therefore have a right to send their child to DCPS. Not sure what representation in the House and Senate has to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of two families that either cheated in the past (kids are grown) or are currently cheating. I am not going to rat anyone out but it does seem odd to me that I know of two families and I am just one person. So likely there are many other people like me that know a couple of cheaters. This all adds up pretty quick. I guess it is still going to be an issue if there is no investigation by DCPS and Charters since I am not going to rat out the family I know. The dilemma....

Do you know for sure they are not paying the DC per capita rate? A few years ago DD attended a DC charter and we paid about $11K/year for this (a figure calculated by the DC govt for all out-of-DC families to pay), so no cheating here.

Both families out right told me they are cheating or did cheat so I don't think they are confused.

[Anonymous]

Our popular DCPS used to be pretty lax with residency. Partly because principal ran it as her fiefdom and not a school. This was not too long ago when the mantra of once you're in you're in was standard because there were so few popular DCPS schools.

Our more recent principal is not from DC and was apparently not at all happy about the housing shenanigans, especially at younger grades.

It's a school leadership issue. If the principals were fined and schools were identified, like healthcode violations, whatever excesses might diminish.

Parents should not have to be the enforcers of integrity.

[Anonymous]

10:47...read a DC license plate and you'll clearly understand what I am saying. Let's be real, if a large percentage of the DCPS students are FARM which one could assume that their tax-liability is zilch to a drop in the bucket, then why are you the new poor, so worried.

I am reading that parents should start turning other parents in for infractions? The liability for that would only make a lawyer rich with all the nuisance cases that would begin to arise.

Weighted Student Formula Funding and a student that is being driven to the school in a car with MD tags. Are you freaking serious, you better hope that principals haven't started their own shuttle service from the counties.

I laugh in your face. What have we become the School Nazi... No school for you, go!!!!

[Anonymous]

15:36 -- i'm guessing that your DC doesn't attend your neighborhood school. . .

[Anonymous]

Stop with that neighborhood school nonsense, there are not enough kids in a neighborhood to keep schools at capacity level. Do you actuslly think that you're having an eureka moment in regards to out of town license plates. Again, I laugh in your face, ha ha ha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The scope of the problem from OSSE audit can be found here. http://osse.dc.gov/release/osse-moves-forward-non-resident-enforcement

Non-resident students who did NOT pay tuition (and % makeup of total enrollment)
DCPS 126 (0.3%)
PCS 32 (0.1%)
Non-Public 118 (6.9%)
Total 276 (0.35%)

Honestly? This is tiny. You're talking about 276 kids in a school system with 45,000 students (http://dc.gov/DCPS/About+DCPS/Who+We+Are).
- About 23 students in each of grades K-12 (276 scofflaws/45,000 kids in the DC school system)
- About 2 kids per school (276 kids/125 schools)
- The cost to the DC school system may be $2-3M. But I'm not sure that setting up a whole reporting system, with a staff of "enforcers" and a dedicated, computerized reporting system, is a net budget gain.
- DC is probably coming out ahead when you consider DC residents sneaking into VA and MoCo. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that at LEAST 276 DC kids are sneaking across the border to MoCo schools. I'm not sure you'd even have to include the kids of divorced parents, where one lives in MoCo (which I think is totally legit, BTW, because as a PP said, the MoCo parent is paying taxes).

I agree with the PP who says you need to get a life. I too recognize these recurring posts. I think it may just be one obsessed poster, who needs to find something else to be morally outraged about. I know - how about getting outraged about bad Anacostia schools? Lack of textbooks? Low teacher salaries?

Note OSSE audit just checked that the documentation was in order. A worthwhile additional step would be to take a random sample of students and check if the documentation submitted corresponds to their actual residential address. Without doing this there is no way to estimate the size of the problem.

So you want to spend major taxpayer $$$ to conduct a random survey (are you random survey lady who doesn't seem to have taken statistics?) to try to substantiate your personal suspicions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:47...read a DC license plate and you'll clearly understand what I am saying. Let's be real, if a large percentage of the DCPS students are FARM which one could assume that their tax-liability is zilch to a drop in the bucket, then why are you the new poor, so worried.

I am reading that parents should start turning other parents in for infractions? The liability for that would only make a lawyer rich with all the nuisance cases that would begin to arise.

Weighted Student Formula Funding and a student that is being driven to the school in a car with MD tags. Are you freaking serious, you better hope that principals haven't started their own shuttle service from the counties.

I laugh in your face. What have we become the School Nazi... No school for you, go!!!!

What does FARM mean?