Council targets interloping pupils
City councilors say they suspect there could be as many as five times more out-of-district students illegally attending Boston schools than are caught.
Last year, 22 students were discharged from BPS after investigations found they did not live in Boston.
“I believe the problem is bigger than that,” said City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George in an Education Committee hearing held yesterday at City Hall.
Boston Public Schools Ombudsperson Carolyn MacNeil told the committee the schools receive about 100 to 150 tips per year about students who may be deceiving the system.
“It is critical that Boston students go to Boston schools,” said City Councilor Tito Jackson, noting that more than 20,000 students are on waiting lists to get into the schools of their choice.
“This truly is a theft of services,” said EssaibiGeorge.
Essaibi-George said she would like to see families be required to provide proof of residency every time a student moves to a new school.
“If there is no prior relationship, it creates more opportunity for families to deceive the system.”
BPS has a residency investigator who looks into each tip and can request documentation to prove residency, MacNeil said. She said that more money for investigations would help.
“The nature of the investigation is reactive,” said MacNeil. “I think more resources would help us be more proactive.”
In the past, MacNeil said out-of-district families were not billed for the taxpayers’ money that was spent on the discharged student.
She said BPS is going to start doing so and she will be sending out her first bill tomorrow.
MacNeil also said that while this “traditionally has been an exam school issue,” they have seen an uptick in out-of-district students in all schools — especially those seeking English language instruction and special education services.
Jackson asked BPS to prioritize investigations on suspected out-of-district special education students, whose per-pupil cost can top $100,000.
The City Council also asked for more details on which schools the 22 discharged students had attended.
“We want to be sure that those dollars that we fight for a on a day-to-day basis ... goes to those students,” said Jackson.”