Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If the school is not oversubscribed, out-of-state residents can pay DCPS to attend. Sometimes that makes sense. That could explain the MD plates.

Why do this now, in the middle of the school year? If they are doing something wrong, why not wait until the end of the school year, for the child's sake?

There are relatively few tuition paying students in DC schools. When I checked a few years ago at the Ward 3 elementary school my DS attended, there were NO tuition paying students there. But there sure were a lot of cars from Maryland at morning drop off and in the afternoon pick up hours.

Hope the OP has more than an out of state tag to go on. In Ward 3 you are probably looking at lots of nannies/babysitters handling drop offs/pick ups. This is certainly our situation. I'd be super annoyed if we had to re-verify our residency simply because someone felt it was their civic duty to monitor our nanny's comings and goings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If the school is not oversubscribed, out-of-state residents can pay DCPS to attend. Sometimes that makes sense. That could explain the MD plates.

Why do this now, in the middle of the school year? If they are doing something wrong, why not wait until the end of the school year, for the child's sake?

There are relatively few tuition paying students in DC schools. When I checked a few years ago at the Ward 3 elementary school my DS attended, there were NO tuition paying students there. But there sure were a lot of cars from Maryland at morning drop off and in the afternoon pick up hours.

Hope the OP has more than an out of state tag to go on. In Ward 3 you are probably looking at lots of nannies/babysitters handling drop offs/pick ups. This is certainly our situation. I'd be super annoyed if we had to re-verify our residency simply because someone felt it was their civic duty to monitor our nanny's comings and goings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't DC just require a parent to show a copy of IRS forms and/or DC tax forms when enrolling a student? Things like utilities and leases can be easily forged, but it is very difficult to do so with IRS/tax forms. Even poor parents will have a W-2, Earned Income Tax Forms, or have a government-issued form for them to receive welfare benefits at a certain address. For people who move into a school district mid-year, it would seem fair for them to enroll provisionally with other identification and then have to show a tax form by February 1st when W-2's must legally be issued. Parents would at least be deterred from cheating because they would know that they would be removed by mid-year if they couldn't show tax form proof. I believe that VA requires a tax form to prove residency and doesn't accept lesser forms of residency establishment.

This would solve the objections to people who are worried about issues like divorced parents, etc., since those parents would still have a current IRS form that has their legal DC address. It would also get around the problem of people owning a house in the city that they don't live in or a grandparent putting a parent on the title but the family lives out of state because the parent would not be able to claim residency without being required to pay DC taxes.

I completely agree. However, tax docs can't always be used. What about new residents that move to DC that haven't filed yet? What about military families that can still file in their home state? I agree a pay stub is not enough, I can change my address with my online HR to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and next week that address would appear on my pay stub. Fwiw, Arlington county only requires a lease. I think DC employment office systems should be used to cross reference to ensure that DC wages are being taxed that would fall in line with income.

If DC was serious about establishing residency, all of the situations that you mention could be handled with relatively easy administrative language. A new family to the district can show alternative residency documents and then show tax forms after the first of the year when new W-2s or 1099s are issued. Sure, a person could start the school year as a cheater, but it wouldn't be worth it of they knew that the child would be removed mid-year without the proper paperwork. Military families could submit their out-of-state tax forms and also their DC base IDs to prove that they are currently stationed at a post in DC. These items cannot be faked like leases or utility bills. The point is that there is no reason why DCPS can't have a documentation system that is much harder to cheat. By not making relatively easy changes to their system, they are choosing to look the other way and keeping legal DC residents from attractive DCPS programs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If the school is not oversubscribed, out-of-state residents can pay DCPS to attend. Sometimes that makes sense. That could explain the MD plates.

Why do this now, in the middle of the school year? If they are doing something wrong, why not wait until the end of the school year, for the child's sake?

There are relatively few tuition paying students in DC schools. When I checked a few years ago at the Ward 3 elementary school my DS attended, there were NO tuition paying students there. But there sure were a lot of cars from Maryland at morning drop off and in the afternoon pick up hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't DC just require a parent to show a copy of IRS forms and/or DC tax forms when enrolling a student? Things like utilities and leases can be easily forged, but it is very difficult to do so with IRS/tax forms. Even poor parents will have a W-2, Earned Income Tax Forms, or have a government-issued form for them to receive welfare benefits at a certain address. For people who move into a school district mid-year, it would seem fair for them to enroll provisionally with other identification and then have to show a tax form by February 1st when W-2's must legally be issued. Parents would at least be deterred from cheating because they would know that they would be removed by mid-year if they couldn't show tax form proof. I believe that VA requires a tax form to prove residency and doesn't accept lesser forms of residency establishment.

This would solve the objections to people who are worried about issues like divorced parents, etc., since those parents would still have a current IRS form that has their legal DC address. It would also get around the problem of people owning a house in the city that they don't live in or a grandparent putting a parent on the title but the family lives out of state because the parent would not be able to claim residency without being required to pay DC taxes.

I completely agree. However, tax docs can't always be used. What about new residents that move to DC that haven't filed yet? What about military families that can still file in their home state? I agree a pay stub is not enough, I can change my address with my online HR to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and next week that address would appear on my pay stub. Fwiw, Arlington county only requires a lease. I think DC employment office systems should be used to cross reference to ensure that DC wages are being taxed that would fall in line with income.

Anonymous wrote:

MYOB

This. With a side of STFU. Seriously, you need a hobby.

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't DC just require a parent to show a copy of IRS forms and/or DC tax forms when enrolling a student? Things like utilities and leases can be easily forged, but it is very difficult to do so with IRS/tax forms. Even poor parents will have a W-2, Earned Income Tax Forms, or have a government-issued form for them to receive welfare benefits at a certain address. For people who move into a school district mid-year, it would seem fair for them to enroll provisionally with other identification and then have to show a tax form by February 1st when W-2's must legally be issued. Parents would at least be deterred from cheating because they would know that they would be removed by mid-year if they couldn't show tax form proof. I believe that VA requires a tax form to prove residency and doesn't accept lesser forms of residency establishment.

This would solve the objections to people who are worried about issues like divorced parents, etc., since those parents would still have a current IRS form that has their legal DC address. It would also get around the problem of people owning a house in the city that they don't live in or a grandparent putting a parent on the title but the family lives out of state because the parent would not be able to claim residency without being required to pay DC taxes.

Anonymous wrote:10:56 Because there is information about the parent's / parents' income on tax documents. Really, let's not go there.

Anonymous wrote:OP,

If the school is not oversubscribed, out-of-state residents can pay DCPS to attend. Sometimes that makes sense. That could explain the MD plates.

Why do this now, in the middle of the school year? If they are doing something wrong, why not wait until the end of the school year, for the child's sake?

schools with significant numbers of cheaters, if they exist, are probably crappy schools that would not enrol enough DC kids to stay open, and are a waste of DC taxpayer dollars.