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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As usual, the truth of the matter is in the middle.

- Yes there are people with MD tags dropping off their kids at school that they attend legally. 
- Yes there are people who attend DC school illegally and in more than "just a few cases."

People shouldn't be attacked for reporting people who might be committing fraud. At the same time, you should not follow people home.

But make no mistake, this is not a victim-less crime. Extra students help prop up what would be failing charters, they take OOB spots in good schools from those looking to get out from failing neighborhood schools. 
[/quote]

The truth of the matter is that it's currently far too easy to cheat on residency in both DCPS and DCPC, both from out of state and in-boundary where DCPS goes.  OSSE's rules on residency aren't well written, clear, or tough.  Enforcement has been lax across the board.  Tighten up the residency verification regime, including by upping document requirements, and enforcement and the appeal of playing CGI, and preachy posts like this, will taper off soon enough.[/quote]

You assume that OSSE WANTS to catch people who are cheating the system.

I do not think they do and I think the City Council and the mayor don't either. OSSE wants to make it easy for people to enroll -- because they really do want everyone who should be in school to be in school. The regs are written for the corner cases to comply with; to ensure there isn't a barrier for the most transient person in a challenging situation to be able to enroll. If some savvy people use the lax rules to cheat, that's an ok price to pay for that at-risk kid to get in.

How many times have DCPS / charters / the mayor / Office of Planning used increasing enrollment in schools as evidence of the city thriving / coming back? They make a show of enforcing some rules to keep the kinds of people who read DCUM mollified, but no one really wants to know what would happen if we had tight rules for school enrollment and residency.

[/quote]
OSSE does want to catch cheaters, because they're under increasing political pressure to do so.  They just don't want to catch them as much as the "kinds of people who read DCUM" generally want.  I don't read a lot of posts by PPs who were investigated by the residency fraud office.  We were investigated, and promptly cleared, two years ago, and the process was no walk in the park. We had several days to produce three years of certified tax returns to help the investigator verify our residence. among other documents.  We also had to appear in person at the residency fraud investigation office to make our case for legit residency, and to consent to a home visit (which never went forward).   Speaking from personal experience, a rigorous process worked very well.[/quote]

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