(ABC)
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district.
They confronted her with the video tape and demanded that she pay $30,000 in back tuition. She refused and they pressed charges. She was sentenced last week to 10 days in jail, three years of probation, and additional community service.
The school district admitted they wanted to make an example of her. Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove said, “I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts.”
Ohio Mom Jailed for Sending Kids to Better School District [ABC News]
More From Consumerist
-
Posting An Item On Craigslist As “Free” Before You Steal It Doesn’t Mean It’s Actually Free
-
Shari's Berries Replaces Order Even Though I Screwed Up
-
Don’t Buy Computers Off Craigslist When The Seller Has Suddenly Left For Toronto
-
T-Mobile Doesn’t Really Care That Your House Burnt Down
-
TSA Policies Are So Confusing It’s No Wonder A 3-Year-Old In A Wheelchair Gets Upset During Screening
My kids go to an out-of-district school. The school they attend bills the school district we live in. We did have to work it out ahead of time, but it wasn’t a big deal. They said they do it all the time. Perhaps the school on question might consider doing something like that.
Hmmm, nice to see the National media spin a story for once on a situation I actually know somethjing about. A coworker of mine lives and has children in the community this occurred in (Copley, Ohio).
What you are not hearing from this superficial story is how this woman is taking section-9 housing money; with 2 kids she gets enough money to rent a decent size apartment in Akron. Then she shipped the kids to her dad’s house to go to school and avoided having to pay property tax. She wants the best of both worlds.
What you are also not hearing is how a total of 50 families – including this woman and her father – were caught doing the same thing. The district gave each of them 3 choices: move into the district, pull your kids out, or pay the costs of their education. 49 of the families settled in one of these 3 manners… but THIS woman said no, it was here right to send her kids wherever she wanted and the school was just being racist, etc. So the school had no recourse other than pursue legal action.
The school TRIED to resolve it, but this lady choose not to and is now paying the price. Boo freakin’ hoo.
Just to raise the awareness of racial sensitivity in this matter:
The families lives in a school district that serves predominantly black communities.
The school district that the mom put her child in serves predominantly white communities.
I assume there are people living in this tony district who rent…and therefore don’t directly pay property taxes. Are they freeloaders too? Just shows you how dysfunctional the system is. Seriously…people in china have more choice about where to send there kids to school–don’t we deserve better?
So now Taxes = Tuition ?
At a public school?
Other families were caught as well but she’s the only one who fought “The Man”
Would the City be pissed if parents from that “better” school district
sent their kids to the shittier crime-ridden school??
Maybe they could have an exchange program.
Another player….another liar….another leech. The system of education is terrible for many reasons, but instead of making the necessary changes within her own family structure, she chooses to make this everyone else’s problem and expense.