Another Lake County school district getting strict on residency
Taking a page from a Lake County district to the east, Antioch's elementary school system will hold an inaugural proof-of-residency event later this month.
Antioch Elementary District 34 Superintendent Scott Thompson said the decision to verify student residency is to ensure taxpayers are not supporting children who should be attending school elsewhere.
Thompson said building crowding also is an issue, with District 34 using 16 mobile classrooms. As few as five extra students in a class could throw off numbers to the point where an extra teacher would have to be hired, he said.
"What's really crucial is we are trying to be as fiscally responsible as we can," Thompson said Tuesday.
District 34 is patterning its effort after one launched last year at Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50, Thompson said.
District 34 will hold its proof of residency event Aug. 20-22 at Antioch Upper Grade School.
Woodland spokeswoman Jennifer Tempest Bova said officials in her district met with Antioch Elementary representatives to provide guidance.
About 92 percent, or 4,300 families, proved they belonged to the Woodland district before the 2007-08 academic year began. Woodland's second proof-of-residency event is set for Aug. 13-16.
District 50 officials said roughly 60 children who lived outside the boundaries and improperly attended classes cost nearly $579,000 - based on $9,647 in per-pupil spending - in the 2006-07 school year.
Residents enrolling children during the District 34 residency event will need at least two current sources of proof. That includes a mortgage statement, tax bill, electric bill, homeowner's or renter's insurance policy and original lease.
Like many other suburban districts, the 3,200-student Antioch district has been verifying pupil addresses only at initial enrollment.
Thompson said he doesn't have exact numbers, but suspects some District 34 students have been slipping in from just over the border in Wisconsin and from McHenry County. With per-pupil spending at $7,700, it would cost District 34 $192,500 if 25 students improperly attended classes there.
"I think our school district is appealing to a lot of people," Thompson said.
Reasons vary on why parents place their children in the wrong public school districts. Educators say it can range from a parent's unhappiness with a particular district to a desire for a child who moved in midyear to finish at the same school.
An extreme case of residency verification likely will be necessary Sept. 2 at Winnetka-based New Trier Township High School District 203.
Democratic state Sen. James Meeks of Chicago's South Side is urging students in the city to skip class on opening day and enroll at New Trier. He said he wants to demonstrate how school funding is unfair in Illinois, because New Trier spends $17,000 annually on its pupils and Chicago about $10,000 on children in elementary and high school.
New Trier policy requires parents to prove legal residency with "appropriate documentation" and custody of a child before enrollment.
"It's something we take seriously," New Trier spokeswoman Laura Blair said.