School District Residency Requirements May Have Some Flexibility

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A 31-year-old woman was arrested last month after convincing people she was actually a 15-year-old and going to high school. Perhaps students were suspicious when she told people she was listening to her Walkman. That's when my kids tell me I'm old.

In addition to the question: how awful must your life be if having to relive high school seems like a good alternative? One also wonders: it's crazy, but if she's not accused of identity theft, what's illegal about it?

The girl, I mean, WOMAN, involved was attending a private school tuition-free based on her false persona, so this is a financial crime. But even if it were a public school, she would still be in legal trouble since - and this is hard for kids to believe - school districts pay thousands of dollars to educate students. That's the reason why every state has residency requirements that govern who may attend a local public school.

There are plenty of parents who want their school aged children to go to a good school with better student outcomes than the one in which they actually live and create fraudulent schemes to try to get them into other schools. That's illegal. That said, many district have appeals processes regarding why students who don't otherwise meet the residency requirements should be allowed in, so research legal ways to get your kids in to the school district you'd like for them, rather than having them want to get a do-over later in life.