We own in DC and VA, ok to go to school in DC?

[Anonymous]

^^ It's not necessarily a given that "renters pay the property tax". The person who is on the hook for paying it is the property owner, and nobody else. There are people who own in DC but who don't reside there and don't rent their property out, but who still pay. There are people who own in DC, but who are underwater because of the economic downturn, and who are only partially recovering their costs by renting out, as they wait for the market to recover.

And, we ALL understand how residency works. But not all of us understand why taxpayers are so marginalized and demonized by some of you.

[Anonymous]

I own my own home and pay a lot of tax. I don't feel demonized in the slightest. Instead, I feel that suburban folks repeatedly game the system to get into charter schools that have waiting lists in the hundreds...all while 70% of D.C.'s students living in Wards 7 and 8 are scrounging for a first-rate education and would be happy to go to LAMB or Stokes, or MV. People have a choice whether to RESIDE in DC, MD, or VA. It's not that deep. You can easily commute to work in any of those places and live in another. If you chose to reside in a suburb - your children have access to schools in that suburb. If you chose to live in DC - you should have priority in DC. Investment properties are investment properties. Family homes are family homes. They are treated differently for tax purposes and bankruptcy purposes. I would prefer not to pay state income tax. I have a beach house in DE - but I don't reside there more than 6 months a year....so I have to pay DC income tax. When I retire in DE, and RESIDE there, I can stop paying DC tax. Again, not that deep!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In short:

DCPS's residency policy denies and cheats taxpayers out of something they are paying for.

In short:

You are an entitled asshole. Go fuck yourself.

"Entitled"? It's not about "entitlement" WHEN YOU PAID FOR IT. For example, the Republicans call Social Security an "entitlement" even though we've paid in to it our whole working lives.

Basically an analogy would be for you to say it would be fine for Congress to take your Social Security away and spend it on something else, and the fact that you've paid into it for years means nothing, and that you are an "entitled asshole" for thinking otherwise.

You didn't pay for it dickhead. The tenants who pay rent are paying for it. This has been explained to you about 4 million times in this thread. The fact that you are too fucking stupid to get it is frightening. I can't believe dumbasses like you get to vote, because you have the reasoning ability of a 2 year old.

Well, EXCUUUUUSE us poor scumbag taxpayers for pitching in our hard-earned dolalrs to prop the whole world up.

Obviously in your own child-like reasoning and magical thinking, you seem to think money to pay for all these benefits just falls from the sky.

Another stupid idiot. Obviously I have an IQ over the 20th percentile, unlike some on here, and understand exactly what taxes do. I pay PLENTY of them. But it's already been explained to you simpletons that the person who pays rent is paying for the taxes. OP just writes the check for taxes out of the rental income. Are you really this obtuse or just willfully stupid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And, we ALL understand how residency works. But not all of us understand why taxpayers are so marginalized and demonized by some of you.

Actually, I don't think you do understand how residency works, otherwise we wouldn't be having this drawn out and painful conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This person is obviously a troll, so I am going to back away. I'm glad to see that the majority of parents on this board understand how residency works.

We all understand how it works. OP must be a resident on the day residency is verified for enrollment in the charter.

There is no look-back period for that residency verification. Unlike, for example, claiming in-state tuition for UVA, OP need not have been a resident of DC for a year.

There is no look-ahead period for that residency verification. That is, OP need not swear that she intends to remain a DC resident for any significant period of time at the risk of losing that spot.

OP's residency in DC need not be particularly long. How long would it take OP to get a DC driver's license, have utilities transferred, and have DC income tax withheld from a paystub? Two weeks? A month? Assuming OP is willing to pay non-resident tuition, how long past the start of school would OP have to remain in the DC house? One month? Two?

Furthermore, since OP already owns a house in DC, the transaction costs of establishing DC residency are low, provided the current tenants vacate at the right time. No need to sign a one-year lease or pay a broker's commission.

If OP were ever questioned about the short period of DC residency, the appropriate response would be something like "We were so excited about that charter that we moved back into the DC house and tried to make it work, but absence of spouse, absence of other kids, limited space, frequent driving to-from VA, etc. was more than we could bear, and we decided to move back to VA and pay non-resident tuition."

There is nothing wrong with establishing DC residency in order to secure a spot at a charter and then moving out of DC after a few months and paying non-resident tuition if living in DC does not work out. It is analogous to, but less onerous than, the practice of moving into VA one year prior to enrolling in UVA Law School to secure in-state admission preference and in-state tuition. Few of those students reside in VA during breaks and few remain VA residents after graduating.

Residents of neighboring states who are willing to jump through hoops to establish residency and are subsequently willing to pay non-resident tuition are not the problem. How many people are willing to pay thousands per year to attend a DC charter? The number must be very small and unlikely to have any significant impact on the charter lottery.

The real problem is residents of neighboring states who falsely claim DC residency and never pay non-resident tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In short:

DCPS's residency policy denies and cheats taxpayers out of something they are paying for.

In short:

You are an entitled asshole. Go fuck yourself.

"Entitled"? It's not about "entitlement" WHEN YOU PAID FOR IT. For example, the Republicans call Social Security an "entitlement" even though we've paid in to it our whole working lives.

Basically an analogy would be for you to say it would be fine for Congress to take your Social Security away and spend it on something else, and the fact that you've paid into it for years means nothing, and that you are an "entitled asshole" for thinking otherwise.

You didn't pay for it dickhead. The tenants who pay rent are paying for it. This has been explained to you about 4 million times in this thread. The fact that you are too fucking stupid to get it is frightening. I can't believe dumbasses like you get to vote, because you have the reasoning ability of a 2 year old.

Well, EXCUUUUUSE us poor scumbag taxpayers for pitching in our hard-earned dolalrs to prop the whole world up.

Obviously in your own child-like reasoning and magical thinking, you seem to think money to pay for all these benefits just falls from the sky.

Another stupid idiot. Obviously I have an IQ over the 20th percentile, unlike some on here, and understand exactly what taxes do. I pay PLENTY of them. But it's already been explained to you simpletons that the person who pays rent is paying for the taxes. OP just writes the check for taxes out of the rental income. Are you really this obtuse or just willfully stupid?

With all of the namecalling and ad-hominems you have engaged in, I'd say, it's not obvious that you have an IQ over the 20th percentile - but if you do, you evidently manage to offset it with an emotional intelligence at the bottom 20th percentile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This person is obviously a troll, so I am going to back away. I'm glad to see that the majority of parents on this board understand how residency works.

We all understand how it works. OP must be a resident on the day residency is verified for enrollment in the charter.

There is no look-back period for that residency verification. Unlike, for example, claiming in-state tuition for UVA, OP need not have been a resident of DC for a year.

There is no look-ahead period for that residency verification. That is, OP need not swear that she intends to remain a DC resident for any significant period of time at the risk of losing that spot.

OP's residency in DC need not be particularly long. How long would it take OP to get a DC driver's license, have utilities transferred, and have DC income tax withheld from a paystub? Two weeks? A month? Assuming OP is willing to pay non-resident tuition, how long past the start of school would OP have to remain in the DC house? One month? Two?

Furthermore, since OP already owns a house in DC, the transaction costs of establishing DC residency are low, provided the current tenants vacate at the right time. No need to sign a one-year lease or pay a broker's commission.

If OP were ever questioned about the short period of DC residency, the appropriate response would be something like "We were so excited about that charter that we moved back into the DC house and tried to make it work, but absence of spouse, absence of other kids, limited space, frequent driving to-from VA, etc. was more than we could bear, and we decided to move back to VA and pay non-resident tuition."

There is nothing wrong with establishing DC residency in order to secure a spot at a charter and then moving out of DC after a few months and paying non-resident tuition if living in DC does not work out. It is analogous to, but less onerous than, the practice of moving into VA one year prior to enrolling in UVA Law School to secure in-state admission preference and in-state tuition. Few of those students reside in VA during breaks and few remain VA residents after graduating.

Residents of neighboring states who are willing to jump through hoops to establish residency and are subsequently willing to pay non-resident tuition are not the problem. How many people are willing to pay thousands per year to attend a DC charter? The number must be very small and unlikely to have any significant impact on the charter lottery.

The real problem is residents of neighboring states who falsely claim DC residency and never pay non-resident tuition.

Sure sounds to me like confirmation that DC's policy on residency is broken.

[Anonymous]

I think we can safely declare from this thread that we are arguing with people who will never concede that their position is morally, ethically, legally and factually specious. Move on everyone.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would suggest not risking it and here's why. Say your kids are lucky in the lottery, you get in to the school you choose (or maybe your rental is IB for what you want?) and you get past the initial residency verification. You are still not set...parents who have siblings on the wait list, neighbors who are on the list but not yet in, and school officials are still all potentially going to find out and ask you to leave the school. If this happens, your kids will have to leave their friends, leave what they know and start all over. Not to mention that it could be embarrassing for them socially. (There was a high school kid this fall who was pulled out of school for his parents residency fraud, and subsequently his entire football team was not allowed to compete for the remainder of the season.)

My child is 3 and would be very upset if we switched schools next year, so even if they are young this could have an impact. For your kids sake, go to school where you live, or to a private where you have no chance of being kicked out. All of the sought after schools in DC are very on top of this and your changes long term are not good. Paying tuition is only allowed if the school has open spaces, so this will likely not be an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we can safely declare from this thread that we are arguing with people who will never concede that their position is morally, ethically, legally and factually specious. Move on everyone.

Don't be dissuaded, OP. Enter the lottery. If and when you are offered a spot, think about whether attending the charter is worth the trouble of establishing DC residency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would suggest not risking it and here's why. Say your kids are lucky in the lottery, you get in to the school you choose (or maybe your rental is IB for what you want?) and you get past the initial residency verification. You are still not set...parents who have siblings on the wait list, neighbors who are on the list but not yet in, and school officials are still all potentially going to find out and ask you to leave the school. If this happens, your kids will have to leave their friends, leave what they know and start all over. Not to mention that it could be embarrassing for them socially. (There was a high school kid this fall who was pulled out of school for his parents residency fraud, and subsequently his entire football team was not allowed to compete for the remainder of the season.)

My child is 3 and would be very upset if we switched schools next year, so even if they are young this could have an impact. For your kids sake, go to school where you live, or to a private where you have no chance of being kicked out. All of the sought after schools in DC are very on top of this and your changes long term are not good. Paying tuition is only allowed if the school has open spaces, so this will likely not be an option.

...Not really. In reality, residency cheating is not adequately investigated (if at all). There has recently been a few threads on this very topic, which lead to some media coverage. Two very popular charters take a complacent approach to the subject and actually act as if it doesn't exist. Anyways, this whole discussion would be obsolete if DC investigated cheating. This takes parents who are in the to actually participate and report violators. If you know someone is using their rental address to put their kid in a sought after charter, you need to report it. Then, these system abusers would be out of work!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we can safely declare from this thread that we are arguing with people who will never concede that their position is morally, ethically, legally and factually specious. Move on everyone.

Don't be dissuaded, OP. Enter the lottery. If and when you are offered a spot, think about whether attending the charter is worth the trouble of establishing DC residency.

Keep it up, hairbrain. Many charters make you prove residency BEFORE you can even enter the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we can safely declare from this thread that we are arguing with people who will never concede that their position is morally, ethically, legally and factually specious. Move on everyone.

Don't be dissuaded, OP. Enter the lottery. If and when you are offered a spot, think about whether attending the charter is worth the trouble of establishing DC residency.

Keep it up, hairbrain. Many charters make you prove residency BEFORE you can even enter the lottery.

The sign of a true intellectual:

Keep it up, hairbrain.

How do you suppose the families that relocate to DC over the summer but attend charters manage to pull it off?

[Anonymous]

Some charters have home visits by teachers and while this isn't technically to verify residency but to introduce young kids to their teachers, it can raise flags if a visit at home is refused.

[Anonymous]

Where, exactly do you live? That is where you should send your child/children to school?