Families living in poor performing districts where proposed reductions will have the greatest impact have increased anxiety for their children’s education. Examples of this anxiety can be witnessed in the infamous case of Tanya McDowell and the lesser known case of Kelley Williams-Bolar. Both women who lived in poor performing districts have been convicted for falsifying residency documents in order for their children to attend school in a better district.
The practice for some families to use the address of family members who reside in better performing districts has been occurring for decades, with the recession severely impacting district allocations, districts have begun to crack down harder on non-residents who are mostly minorities who live in poorer neighborhoods with failing schools. Recognizing the potential of an influx of students from poor performing districts in a recession economy the McDowell and Williams-Bolar cases were decisions made to discourage parents from enrolling children who would be taking away resources from children who are legal residents. However, the cases have also brought the attention to the ongoing disparity among districts and what desperate parents would do to ensure their children get a proper education.
With state governments encouraging districts to think out of the box concerning how to educate children with fewer resources, Sam Chaltain argues that something drastic needs to be done. Chaltain claims that access to the American Dream is being denied to some students based on their zip code[i]. Using legal arguments from the 1954 landmark Supreme Court Brown v Board of Education case and the lesser known 1973 Supreme Court case San Antonio v Rodriguez case, Chaltain argued:
“that the state’s tolerance of the wide disparity in school resources
..many which were determined by the value of property taxes-
violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment[ii]
As the disparity widens, it may be time to take bold steps to close the achievement gap by removing residential boundaries and allow students to attend school in any district.
There are a number of students who cross residential boundaries daily to attend school. These students attend private, parochial, and charter schools. States should consider in the voucher debate the use of vouchers for students to attend schools in neighboring districts. States should also consider require districts to hold a lottery to take out of districts students as part of increasing educational equity and diversity. It is ideas such as these that will ensure that a zip code doesn’t determine a child’s access to the American Dream.
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