Is it Stealing?

[maddiel]

Is it "stealing" if I own property in a different district, am paying school taxes and want to send my kids to that school district? For example, I own 3 houses in 3 separate school districts. While I might not be living in two of the three houses, I am paying school taxes in each district. Do I have a right to send my child to a school district in which I have property and am paying school taxes in?

Do you rent out the houses you aren't living in? I would think the school taxes that you pay give you the right to offer your tenants the right to send their children to the school in that district (and if it is a good school, then it should increase the amount of rent you can ask) You should not be able to send your kids to that school district without penalty if you live in a house outside it.

M.

 

[rie'smom]

In our area,if you pay taxes and if you want to send your child to a different school in the district and you have a relative living there,then it's perfectly acceptable to use that relative's address.
Not everything in every community is done the same way. So,it's pretty hard to say what's right when we don't know the law in a particular area.

 

[fan_of_small_world]

Do you rent out the houses you aren't living in? I would think the school taxes that you pay give you the right to offer your tenants the right to send their children to the school in that district (and if it is a good school, then it should increase the amount of rent you can ask) You should not be able to send your kids to that school district without penalty if you live in a house outside it.

M.

I agree...I believe that is why most districts would, on paper at least, require that the address you use to register be your primary residence.

I absolutely think that sending children to a district they don't live in is stealing. We moved where we did because of the school district. I could have had a lot bigger (and brand new) home in several other towns near us, but we chose to take a slightly smaller home and higher taxes to send our kids here. I'd be very upset to learn of someone who lives outside of our town, who is not contributing to our school funding through taxes, yet is sending their children here by lying about their residence.

 

[disneysnowflake]

I know someone who is doing this.

She moved her family to another town, but the kids want to continue going to their original school.

The parents rent a home over 10 miles outside the old school district.

The mom got a job driving bus for the old school district. She set up a post office box in that town to get mail from the school. She gave the school her cell phone so they can't see that she's out of the district.

The kids ride the bus their mom drives both to and from school.

They've been doing this all school year. I'm sure someone in the school must know because the kids all have friends in the district, but they have been living outside the district all year and going to the old district.

 

[Daxx]

Do you rent out the houses you aren't living in? I would think the school taxes that you pay give you the right to offer your tenants the right to send their children to the school in that district (and if it is a good school, then it should increase the amount of rent you can ask) You should not be able to send your kids to that school district without penalty if you live in a house outside it.

M.

I do not rent the houses. Right now, my Dad lives in one and is the caretaker and Grandma lives in the other. I pay the taxes, etc.

Anyway, this whole situation doesn't apply to me b/c my son goes to a private school in my district.

I think all tenants can send their children to the public school in the district that they rent in.

 

[kribit]

I wouldn't say stealing...definately a form of fraud though.

 

[Christine]

In my particular school district, I would not consider it stealing. But it is definitely fraud and lying.

Since this thread is a spinoff of my thread, I will point out my situation. Our schools our county based and funding comes from our county property taxes. We are zoned within our county for certain schools. My DD wants to go to a different school within our county. The only way she can do this is to apply to their specialty program (fine arts). If she does not apply to their program, she cannot go their as a "mainstream" student. However, my mom lives in the one of the neighborhoods that feeds into that school. My DD would like me to "use" my mom's address to get her into that school.

The way our county school system is set up, we wouldn't be stealing anything. Our taxes pay for all the schools in this particular county so it's really just a wash. At the elementary school level in our county, they allow you to pick your elementary school if you go to a daycare center that feeds into that particular elementary school. This isn't much different in that I could send my DD over to my mom's house and my mom could get her to school. But, they don't really allow that for high schools because they don't think you need daycare.

Bottom line though is that I actually *like* to sleep at night and I wouldn't want to worry about getting busted, so I wouldn't do it just because it's not right.

 

[Cool-Beans]

A friend of mine does this. She lives in a crappy school district and her parents live in a much better one, not too far away. So, they use the grandparent's address.

Since the grandparents are paying taxes, I don't consider it stealing. The schools aren't getting less than if they all lived in the house. And the other school district is getting money for nothing.

Lying? Yes. Stealing? I don't think so.

 

[NMAmy]

We have school of choice here. Residents are allowed in automatically and then a certain number of students are allowed to apply for school of choice. When dd would ask me if I could pick up a friend, I had to learn to ask where they lived instead of just agreeing and then finding out they lived way on the other side of town.

 

[mytwotinks]

Yes. Taking something without paying for it is stealing.

 

[Anewman]

Wrong yes, but not stealing.

Money comes from the state(in CA), School got the funding for that child even if that child was from out of the district... so who would they reimburse?

School that child was supposed to go to lost out on that funding, but they did not need the money since that child did not need their services.

In Illinois, a good chunk of school funding comes from the Property Taxes of the residents of that particular District.

Are taxes payed according to the District boundaries???
That is odd, here in CA we use county lines. Los Angeles County may have about 30 school districts(just an estimate).

 

[lulu71]

Here's another question that my single, childless SIL would love an answer on ...

What about the person paying school taxes who has no children attending school and never will? Why should they have to pay for someone else's kids to go to school?

Tell her that she is paying taxes for an educated workforce and local population, which benefits everyone.

 

[Anewman]

Yes. Taking something without paying for it is stealing.

I assume that the parents still pay taxes.

 

[mytwotinks]

A friend of mine does this. She lives in a crappy school district and her parents live in a much better one, not too far away. So, they use the grandparent's address.

Since the grandparents are paying taxes, I don't consider it stealing. The schools aren't getting less than if they all lived in the house. And the other school district is getting money for nothing.

Lying? Yes. Stealing? I don't think so.

But they don't live in the house????? Your reasoning doesn't make any sense.

 

[mytwotinks]

I assume that the parents still pay taxes.

Not to that school district. That would be like taking something from Target because you paid for it at Wal-mart and they forgot to put it in your cart. It doesn't work that way. You get what you pay for and the person is paying for school in the district they pay taxes in.

 

[Anewman]

Not to that school district.

How do you know?

Where I come from nobody pays taxes directly to any school district, do you?


Schools get funding from state and counties depending on how many kids show up to school everyday, hence that school got funding for that child even if that child is not a resident of school boundaries.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Yes. Taking something without paying for it is stealing.

If that is true, then I have to say that the government takes tons and tons of money from lots of people who wouldn't offer it up otherwise.

So, since they are always and forever stealing, they shouldn't cry about it when it happens to them.

 

[mytwotinks]

How do you know?

Where I come from nobody pays taxes directly to any school district, do you?


Schools get funding from state and counties depending on how many kids show up to school everyday, hence that school got funding for that child even if that child is not a resident of school boundaries.

O.k., but the school says that the kid has to pay if they are out of district. If the school can legally charge, how is it not stealing to send your kid there and not pay.

Seems kinda like pool hopping to me!

 

[MareQ]

How do you know?

Where I come from nobody pays taxes directly to any school district, do you?


Schools get funding from state and counties depending on how many kids show up to school everyday, hence that school got funding for that child even if that child is not a resident of school boundaries.

We absolutely do pay taxes to our specific school here where I live. My taxes are $9200 a year - my school is TOP NOTCH - which is why we live here.

Two towns over the taxes are MUCH lower and the schools are not as good... They TRY to get their kids in our school - but our school REALLY cracks down on that and the parenst ARE prosecuted and sued for education costs and court fees It happens all the time in our county - at least once a year there's a huge article in teh paper about this kind of fraud going on

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Are taxes payed according to the District boundaries???

yep, everybody has a line item on their property tax bill which lists their particular school district and the money is paid directly to that school district.


There is a movement in Illinois to change the school funding formula to have everybody pay a higher percent of State Income tax and theory their property taxes will be lowered. This will supposedly even out the school budgets per pupil across the state. Right now there are schools in Inner City Chicago that can't even pay to have their plumbing maintained and the electricity on, and there are schools in the Western Suburbs with buildings and gyms that rival some Universities.

Call me skeptical, but I'm betting that if and when they do manage to increase the State Income Tax (for the schools, the way the lottery was supposedly for the schools) I sincerely doubt my Property Tax bill will decrease at all.