Schools Guard Against Illegal Enrollments

Documents were examined and rejected as insufficient. Neighbors were interviewed. Finally, investigators were dispatched on several occasions to inspect the private Huntington Beach residence, even checking the closets for clues.

It sounds more like the tactics of law enforcement than those of an elementary school district.

But that’s exactly what happened earlier this spring when the Ocean View School District suspected 8-year-old Jimmy Peters and his father, James, of actually living in another school district. The school district had banned the 8-year-old boy, an unwitting symbol of the ongoing battle to mainstream special education students, but readmitted him after court papers revealed that he indeed resided in the school’s district.

The rare episode highlights the difficulty faced by Orange County public schools in enforcing policies that prohibit students from sneaking into their schools. Though exact numbers are impossible to ascertain, school officials estimate that hundreds of students lie about their true residences in order to attend a school in another district.

Most frequently, a parent’s motivation to break the rules is to enroll his or her child in a stronger academic program, school officials say. But an outstanding arts, athletic or special education program can be equally alluring to parents or guardians dissatisfied with the district their child is required to attend.

“We know it’s a problem,” said Trustee Tom Burnham of the Irvine Unified School District, which consistently outperforms most other districts on state and national tests. “It’s relatively simple to get around the system and do it. It’s a joke really.”

With their stellar academic reputation and full classrooms, Irvine schools feel the pinch more than most other districts. The trend has become serious enough that the school board is planning this summer to tighten its residency policy and allocate more resources to ferreting out rule breakers.

“When you are as tight as we are in the classroom, every 10 square feet of space counts,” said Irvine Deputy Supt. Dean Waldfogel, who declined to provide the number of investigations his district undertook this year. “Our first duty is to educate our own students.”

But Waldfogel, like most other school administrators, would not disclose the district’s methods of tracking down parents, for fear of tipping off would-be violators.

Some school officials blame vague state guidelines for much of the trouble in confirming a student’s residency. The guidelines recommend that districts accept “reasonable” evidence of residency, though the state fails to elaborate on the term or how schools should define it.

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Most Orange County school districts require two forms of proof, usually a driver’s license, a utility bill or a property tax receipt. In the case of Jimmy Peters, the parent supplied a lease agreement--a document most districts accept--but Ocean View doesn’t because their officials believe it is easy to falsify.

The large number of students whose parents are divorced or separated further complicates enforcement efforts, school officials say. A student who spends time living with each parent can lead to false alarms and easily confuse officials about the child’s true home.

“That’s a tough one,” said Ocean View Supt. James R. Tarwater, who notes that his district catches about 20 students each year giving fake addresses. “As far as our district goes, if the student is going between two domiciles, it’s where they reside the majority of the time. But that can take a lot of work to determine that.”

Oftentimes that is work that budget-strapped school districts can ill afford. Like virtually all districts, the Los Alamitos Unified School District has no full-time employee responsible for checking residency. Instead, Los Alamitos pays school administrators or security guards to check on a student’s residence during off-hours.

Administrators are usually tipped off by another student or a slip-up made by the student himself. Bus drivers sometimes report that students are not showing up at stops near their listed addresses.

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The Los Alamitos Unified School District, where administrators each year catch some Long Beach parents trying to sneak their children into its schools, has sent officials to about 20 homes this year, about half of which turned out to be false addresses, according to Los Alamitos Unified assistant Supt. David Hatton.

But many school officials question whether they should be forced to play cop in the matter.

“If people are going to take advantage of the situation, they certainly don’t have much integrity,” said Burnham. “But I don’t think it’s the schools’ business to be policeman.”

“We just don’t have the resources to be funneling away from the classroom so we can double-check an address,” he added.

In some cases though, school districts have little incentive to ban students even if they are lying about their places of residency. As long as they aren’t at capacity, schools receive $2,000 to $5,000 in sorely needed state funding for each pupil in a classroom each year.

“I don’t think a lot of districts want to admit this, but especially with the ones experiencing enrollment dips, they really don’t enforce residency rules too much,” said Santa Ana Trustee Audrey Yamagata-Noji. “I don’t see them kicking out any students when they know, or should know, the kids don’t live there.”