PRICEY PUBLIC SCHOOL
Trenton mom fined $15K for illegally sending child to Ewing schools >>
EWING » Trenton parents are being hit with steep fines heftier than any traffic ticket.
For the third time in less than two years, a city parent paid a steep price for illegally sending their child out of district.
New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) Commissioner Kimberley Harrington ordered last month that a Trenton mother pay a whopping $15,584 for sending her daughter to the Ewing Township School District, according to a copy of her decision.
The district uncovered the mother’s deceptiveness in May 2016 after conducting a residency investigation that determined the mother and daughter both lived in Trenton and not Ewing.
Under state law, students are entitled to a free public education in the school district that they reside.
Since the Trenton parent violated this rule, the mother was ordered to pay $15,584 in tuition for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years that her daughter attended Ewing. The amount was calculated at $76.39 per day for 204 days, the decision states.
The mother was given a chance to plead her case at an Aug. 7 hearing, but she never showed. The mother reportedly told education officials that she had forgotten about the hearing, “and then changed her story, asserting that her daughter was sick,” according to documents.
With no evidence to defend her case, the commissioner ruled in favor of the district.
In an email, Ewing schools spokeswoman Theresa Hullings said the district does “investigate any reported or alleged incidents of students who may be attending district schools unlawfully.”
“The Ewing Township Board of Education does believe that, as emphasized by law, any students attending the district schools should legally reside in the township,” the district spokeswoman said.
According to the district’s policy, homeowners and renters must provide either a property deed, property tax bill, property settlement agreement or a current rental lease for proof of residence.
“Families who currently live with another family and do not pay rent and do not own the property, must complete an affidavit. In addition to an affidavit all families must provide either/or; a recent pay check showing current address, a recent welfare check showing current address, or a letter from employer showing current address and provide a written statement from the homeowner indicating they are living with the family without cost and not for more than a year and not for the purpose of going to the Ewing schools,” the policy states.
The affidavit families must reregister annually and provide four acceptable proofs of residence that must include a copy of the families’ most recent Federal 1040 Tax Return form and three of the following: IRS statement, bill receipts, homeowners/renters, insurance drivers license, cable TV bill, welfare card, auto insurance card, public utility bills, voter registration card and any recently dated business mail, the policy indicates.
Ewing is not the only local district cracking down on out-of-district students.
Hamilton Township Public Schools has been on a crusade the past few school years to catch students illegally attending township schools. Hamilton even has its own covert residency investigator.
In June 2016, a Trenton mom was ordered to pay $47,000 in tuition reimbursement for unlawfully sending her two children to Hamilton public schools for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years.
Another Trenton mother was fined $13,000 in February 2016 for illegally sending her daughter to Hamilton public schools.
“My response to someone who gets caught: If you have done something illegally, there is a price to pay for it,” Hamilton School Board President Anthony Celentano said at the time. “Whether or not they can afford the year’s tuition, that is not for me to decide.”
Last school year, the district launched an initiative that forces a random selection of students to prove they are bona fide Hamilton residents. The district requires the student to re-enroll in the district and require the parents to provide a proof of residency.
The one common factor is that all the parents who were busted for illegally sending their children to other districts in Mercer County lived in Trenton.
Trenton Public Schools has been documented to have many special education and student safety problems in recent years, possibly creating a reason for these parents to seek an education elsewhere, even if it means possibly facing a five-figure fine if they are caught.