Each student registering in a school should be a resident from the local School District taxing region. If they lie about where they live to attend the school, the school's local area taxpayers are paying for the student while the student's real residential school district collects their percent of "local taxes" but does not incur the teaching, busing and other related expenses.
Does that happen in the Lake County School District? We don't know, but here is a good article on the issue from the Detroit Free Press, and the one example below shows that about 200 of a 3000 student body, or about 7%, are fraudulent residents that are actually caught and sent back to their own school districts.
Favorite quote:
Southfield (School District in Michigan), which has two staffers handling residency investigations, removes up to 200 students every year after checking the status of the 3,000-some students living in apartments and any others suspected of attending school fraudulently, officials said.
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Ethics, taxes, education at issue as schools weed out residency fraud
BY GINA DAMRON
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
In a morning routine familiar to most teens, the 17-year-old from Westland wakes up at 5:45 a.m., takes a shower, gets dressed, eats a quick bowl of cereal and is out the door for school by 6:30 a.m.
Except this teen heads to school in Southfield -- illegally. The student, who asked not to be identified, uses a relative's address in the district.
Such students have walked the halls of schools for years, but this year, some districts have hired staffers to investigate them. At least one fines parents who send their children to school illegally.
Districts like Southfield, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe and Dearborn investigate hundreds of students attending schools illegally every year, sent by parents who lied about living within a district's borders in an effort to give their children what they believe to be better educational opportunities and safer learning environments.
Most districts require parents to prove their residency using lease agreements, mortgage papers and utility bills when registering their children.
But some families set up temporary housing in apartments or use a relative's address in the city they want their children to attend school, school officials said. More parents and residents within districts are raising concerns about such students benefitting from a district's tax dollars and decreasing state aid funds. Ken Siver, deputy superintendent for Southfield Public Schools, said a district does not have to return state aid for a student dismissed over residency requirements. Instead, students who are dismissed are not counted during the next statewide student count day, which helps determine the amount a district receives per student.
"As people see schools having to make financial reductions, they're obviously wanting to make sure that the people who are entitled to the services are the ones receiving them," said Marcia Wilkinson, spokeswoman for Birmingham Public Schools, which dismissed about 15 students last year over residency fraud.
Grosse Pointe Public Schools hired a dean of students this year to handle residency checks and, on occasion, to go to students' homes to make sure they live where they claim. About 17 students have been dismissed so far this year, and 25 were dismissed last school year.
The district came under pressure in 2005 from parents concerned about the residency status of some students. The Avondale School District in Oakland County faced a similar situation last year. The district hired a staffer who conducted residency checks this past summer on about 1,000 students whose parents rent housing or live with other residents. A handful of students didn't return to the district, probably because they had been attending fraudulently.
Southfield, which has two staffers handling residency investigations, removes up to 200 students every year after checking the status of the 3,000-some students living in apartments and any others suspected of attending school fraudulently, officials said.
As a taxpayer and parent in Birmingham, Kim Watzman is glad the school district diligently enforces its residency rules.
"If you're not going to pay, then you shouldn't benefit," said Watzman, president of the Birmingham Parent Teacher Student Association.
But for students like the teen from Westland, the concern isn't about taxes or school financing. It's about education.
"I like everything about Southfield. ... I like the way the teachers work with you," the teen said. "It's a very long drive, but I'd rather take it."
Making a move
After a shooting in October outside Detroit's Ford High School, which left one 16-year-old dead and three others injured, Southfield was flooded with calls and visits by Detroit parents, hoping to move their kids across 8 Mile, said Ollie Colvard, manager of pupil accounting for Southfield Public Schools. Some moved to Southfield to make their kids eligible, she said.
Siver said some parents have relinquished guardianship of their children to relatives so their children would be eligible to attend schools in the district. Colvard said probably 98% of the students coming into Southfield illegally are from Detroit.
Some districts welcome students from Detroit, including Oak Park, Highland Park and Inkster. Out of Oak Park's more than 3,800 students, about 1,200 are nonresidents, with most coming from Detroit, Superintendent Sandra Harris said.
In Birmingham, when a student is caught attending school illegally, parents are required to pay a prorated amount of the $12,444 annual tuition fee paid by an out-of-city student.
Students attending school fraudulently are rooted out in several ways, school officials said. They're frequently late for school or hang out after school, waiting for a ride home. Other students or parents rat them out. And, especially in Southfield, schools are tipped off by apartment managers.
"If you're cheating," Colvard said, "someone's going to tell."
In some communities, there is concern over whether students cheating the system are dragging down test scores or are causing disciplinary problems. Mustonen, the spokesman for the Dearborn schools, said that may be the perception, but not likely the reality.
"I think that you will get your fair share of students who are having difficulties learning, whether they live within the district or whether they live one block outside the district," he said.
The district created a Verification Task Force last year and has sent letters to 24 families this year, notifying them that their residency status is in question. Most of the students fraudulently attending Dearborn schools are from Detroit, Dearborn Heights and Inkster, Mustonen said.
Appearance vs. reality
But not all reports of residency fraud are founded, school officials across metro Detroit said.
Sometimes family situations are more complex -- with one parent living in the city where a student attends school, the other in a different community. And with the poor economy, some families are resorting to other options, said Rebecca Fannon, a spokeswoman for Grosse Pointe schools.
"More and more people are losing their homes," she said, "and moving in with relatives."
Contact GINA DAMRON at 248-351-3293 or [email protected].
