Do the right thing...

[SEC=UGA]

An Ohio mother's attempt to provide her daughters with a better education has landed her behind bars.

 

Kelley Williams-Bolar was convicted of lying about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district.

 

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

 

Williams-Bolar decided four years ago to send her daughters to a highly ranked school in neighboring Copley-Fairlawn School District.

 

But it wasn't her Akron district of residence, so her children were ineligible to attend school there, even though her father lived within the district's boundaries.

 

The school district accused Williams-Bolar of lying about her address, falsifying records and, when confronted, having her father file false court papers to get around the system.

 

Williams-Bolar said she did it to keep her children safe and that she lived part-time with her dad.

 

"When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else," Williams-Bolar said.

 

While her children are no longer attending schools in the Copley-Fairlawn District, school officials said she was cheating because her daughters received a quality education without paying taxes to fund it.

 

"Those dollars need to stay home with our students," school district officials said.

 

Sentence Intended as Deterrent

 

The district hired a private investigator, who shot video showing Williams-Bolar driving her children into the district.

 

The school officials asked her to pay $30,000 in back tuition.

 

Williams-Bolar refused and was indicted and convicted of falsifying her residency records.

 

She was sentenced last week to 10 days in county jail and put on three years of probation.

 

She will also be required to perform community service, the Beacon Journal reported.

 

Williams-Bolar said she was being singled out.

 

"I don't think they wanted money ? ," Williams-Bolar said. "They wanted me to be an example."

 

Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove acknowledged as much.

 

"I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts," Cosgrove said.

[The Irish Doggy]

Now I'm no expert on these things, but it seems to me that the right thing to do is move into the correct district instead of staying in the apparently crime infested neighborhood in which she current resides.

[cliaz]

Now I'm no expert on these things, but it seems to me that the right thing to do is move into the correct district instead of staying in the apparently crime infested neighborhood in which she current resides.

 

 

My wife is a school teacher and I she explained to me one time about the reason why this is a no-no. I was surprised that it can impact funding pretty heavily. But for the most part I wasn't paying attention to her because Star Trek the Next Generation - The best of both worlds was on.

[Caveman_Nick]

It's a bad situation and I feel badly for the woman. I even admire the risk she's willing to take for her kids. That doesn't make what she's doing right. There's the beg borrow and steal to get your kids anything you think they need version of "Doing the right thing". But then there's the people you are stealing from. In this case, the mother is taking school resources from the other kids that other families have paid for. What should have happened here?

[TimC]

Why don't we move school funding to the state level so all schools are equal?

 

In our suburban county, we just built a Taj Mahal of high schools complete with a wasted 3-story fully glass atrium when you walk in and a basketball court bigger than most small colleges while the city of Richmond is reusing cardboard boxes as desks.

 

This is another case of NIMBY. Everyone wants great schools, but they really want their school to be better by keeping their money as local as possible.

[SEC=UGA]

It's a bad situation and I feel badly for the woman. I even admire the risk she's willing to take for her kids. That doesn't make what she's doing right. There's the beg borrow and steal to get your kids anything you think they need version of "Doing the right thing". But then there's the people you are stealing from. In this case, the mother is taking school resources from the other kids that other families have paid for. What should have happened here?

 

One could argue that her "family" is in fact paying taxes in said school district, as her parents live there. They should have done what most people do in this circumstance, file the paperwork saying the kids lived at her parents address. I know of a number of people who have done this in my county, you have good pockets of schools in the affluent areas and in the more affordable areas not so great schools. If their parents live in the good areas, they file that as their address of record to the school board and drive their kids to those "better" schools.

 

But, I do also agree, once caught, her children should have been withdrawn from the school and sent back to the appropriate school district. It just seems that sending this woman to jail for doing right by her kids is a little harsh. Kinda like I feel with illegal immigrants, catch 'em, send 'em home, no reason to clutter up our local jails/courts with 'em. But, I guess that would be too much to ask.

[Ursa Majoris]

The school officials asked her to pay $30,000 in back tuition.

 

I thought we were talking about public schools? What is this thirty grand based on? School levies in property taxes? I don't understand this at all.

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

I think besides the jail time and fine she now has a Felony conviction she gets to live with the rest of her life. Bit harsh IMO.

[wiegie]

SEC, it seems that this situation is not really any different than if the mother were, say, Mexican and she broke the law to move her kids illegally to the United States so that they could have a better life. Would you consider that mother to have done the right thing?

 

If not, what's the difference?

Edited January 26, 2011 by wiegie

[Clubfoothead]

The right thing to do is lie to your local school district and file false documents with the Court?

[SEC=UGA]

SEC, it seems that this situation is not really any different than if the mother were, say, Mexican and she broke the law to move her kids illegally to the United States so that they could have a better life. Would you consider that mother to have done the right thing?

 

If not, what's the difference?

 

Don't antagonize me, boy.

 

She's a citizen of said state, number one.

In one of my other posts in this thread I noted that this is somewhat akin to your question and answered by saying once caught, she should have been forced to move her kids back to the appropriate school district. That it made no sense to expend further resources to prosecute and jail her. So, while you are complaining about the money she cost the school system by sending her children to your schools (though the grandparents of the kids pay property taxes to that school district) you choose to expend more taxpayers money to prosecute her.

My only real argument is the severity of the penalty for a mother trying to make a better life for he kids.

[Perchoutofwater]

I thought we were talking about public schools? What is this thirty grand based on? School levies in property taxes? I don't understand this at all.

 

Well apparently she cheated the district for four years with multiple children. I didn't see where it said the number of daughters she had, but it did use the plural daughters. So if you figure it is only two girls, that is 8 years tuition at only $3,750 per year.

 

The average cost per pupil in Ohio public schools is $10,173.

 

Link to cost data from June of 2010.

[Perchoutofwater]

SEC, it seems that this situation is not really any different than if the mother were, say, Mexican and she broke the law to move her kids illegally to the United States so that they could have a better life. Would you consider that mother to have done the right thing?

 

If not, what's the difference?

 

Nice fishing. BTW I think she got what she deserved. I just wish all the illegals did too.

[SEC=UGA]

The right thing to do is lie to your local school district and file false documents with the Court?

 

It wasn't "her" local school district, which is what they had a problem with in the first place. She kinda got the cart before the horse on the other part. You file the "fake" address prior to getting caught, not after you've been caught and you are under scrutiny.

 

Are all of the parents of illegal messican children going to schools in AZ (who cross the border every day) going to be prosecuted and their kids kicked outta the schools?

 

I think there was a segment on 60 Minutes some months ago where people were saying that these non-citizen children should not be barred from US schools, it was immoral. But, hey, you're a legal citizen, you live one county over, we're gonna throw your ass in jail...

[Ursa Majoris]

Well apparently she cheated the district for four years with multiple children. I didn't see where it said the number of daughters she had, but it did use the plural daughters. So if you figure it is only two girls, that is 8 years tuition at only $3,750 per year.

 

The average cost per pupil in Ohio public schools is $10,173.

 

Link to cost data from June of 2010.

But while she cheated one district, she was surely paying to fund another (the one she should have been using), wasn't she? Is there really such a colossal disparity in property tax or whatever? Or are things done completely differently in GA to what I am used to here in MN?

[Clubfoothead]

It wasn't "her" local school district, which is what they had a problem with in the first place. She kinda got the cart before the horse on the other part. You file the "fake" address prior to getting caught, not after you've been caught and you are under scrutiny.

 

Are all of the parents of illegal messican children going to schools in AZ (who cross the border every day) going to be prosecuted and their kids kicked outta the schools?

 

I think there was a segment on 60 Minutes some months ago where people were saying that these non-citizen children should not be barred from US schools, it was immoral. But, hey, you're a legal citizen, you live one county over, we're gonna throw your ass in jail...

 

[SEC=UGA]

 

I fail to grasp the complexity of your response.

[Perchoutofwater]

But while she cheated one district, she was surely paying to fund another (the one she should have been using), wasn't she? Is there really such a colossal disparity in property tax or whatever? Or are things done completely differently in GA to what I am used to here in MN?

 

I don't know, but in my county the property tax varies as much as 37% by district. It would probably vary a lot more if it weren't for the Robin Hood Program.

Edited January 26, 2011 by Perchoutofwater

[westvirginia]

It wasn't "her" local school district, which is what they had a problem with in the first place. She kinda got the cart before the horse on the other part. You file the "fake" address prior to getting caught, not after you've been caught and you are under scrutiny.

 

Are all of the parents of illegal messican children going to schools in AZ (who cross the border every day) going to be prosecuted and their kids kicked outta the schools?

 

I think there was a segment on 60 Minutes some months ago where people were saying that these non-citizen children should not be barred from US schools, it was immoral. But, hey, you're a legal citizen, you live one county over, we're gonna throw your ass in jail...

 

 

You know, that's a good point. I wonder why she couldn't find a lawyer to go after some kind of suit - maybe under RICO or something? I don't know the law, but this sure doesn't seem to be equal protection under the law.

 

Oh, and if I wasn't smart enough to understand the discussion I'd probably too.

[Clubfoothead]

I fail to grasp the complexity of your response.

 

You are trying to argue with me about illegal Mexicans. I'm the wrong guy to have that argument with.

 

She lied to the school district and filed false documents instead of having her kids live withher Dad. You can try and justify that however you want.

[SEC=UGA]

But while she cheated one district, she was surely paying to fund another (the one she should have been using), wasn't she? Is there really such a colossal disparity in property tax or whatever? Or are things done completely differently in GA to what I am used to here in MN?

 

It was in Ohio, so I'm not exactly clear on how things work up there.

 

In GA, what we have are "must transfer schools" where if your child is zoned for a particular school, say in Cobb County, and said school doesn't meet certain academic standards then the parents have the option of transferring the child to another school, within the county of residence, of their choice. They must, however, provide transportation to and from school for the child or arrange to drop them off and pick them up at a designated school bus stop served by the new school.

 

As I have said I know people who have used a friends or parents address to make sure their kids were in a better school district and only know of one who was caught. The children were simply transferred back to their local school.

[westvirginia]

I don't know, but in my county the property tax varies as much as 37% by district. It would probably vary a lot more if it weren't for the Robin Hood Program.

 

 

Point of order - Robin Hood stole from the evil and corrupt GOVERNMENT (a redundancy like "criminal lawyer, I know) and gave back to the citizens. Carry on...

[SEC=UGA]

You are trying to argue with me about illegal Mexicans. I'm the wrong guy to have that argument with.

 

She lied to the school district and filed false documents instead of having her kids live withher Dad. You can try and justify that however you want.

And you feel she should go to jail for doing so?

 

I wasn't trying to argue with you about illegal messicans, I was merely pointing out that we have a different "moral" standard for messicans and blacks in this country. It really is quite a shame that we still persecute and repress blacks the way we do, but messicans, sh!t they can do whatever they want and we can't say "boo" about it or we are all of a sudden racists.

[Perchoutofwater]

Point of order - Robin Hood stole from the evil and corrupt GOVERNMENT (a redundancy like "criminal lawyer, I know) and gave back to the citizens. Carry on...

 

It was one of the worst laws Texas has written in a long time. It stated that:

Passage came in 1993, after the Texas Supreme Court threw out two attempts by the Texas Legislature to write a constitutional school-finance system. The Legislature finally passed a funding plan that was accepted by the Court, in 1993.

 

The goal of the system was an attempt to prohibit wealthy districts from being able to raise revenue to provide benefits which poorer districts could not. Two provisions of the legislation would seek to implement this:

 

* First, school districts were strictly limited to a $1.50 tax rate per $100 assessed property value for maintenance and operations (M&O). School districts already over the limit could continue at that rate. The tax rate was not capped for additional taxes assessed to pay for bond packages for facility construction or renovation.

* Second, notwithstanding the rate cap, districts were limited to M&O revenues which did not exceed a statewide rate per student. Any revenues in excess of the statewide rate were "recaptured" by the state and given to poorer districts. The wealthy district could, in lieu of state recapture, enter into an agreement with a poorer district to transfer funds. It is this portion of the legislation which earned it the "Robin Hood" name.

 

Like most social engineering programs it has had dire unintended consequences which out way the benefits:

The plan is also claimed[1] to have been one of the worst financial disasters in US history by decreasing the value of Texas real estate by $81 billion, an amount far in excess of the revenues received. This resulted from unintended positive feedback forces. As taxes went to benefit districts other than those taxed, property values decreased. People moved to other districts with more favorable taxation, which further decreased values. Lower assessed values lowered tax revenues, and the "recapture" mentioned above (also known as "confiscation threshold") was lowered. Decreased tax revenues also meant increasing tax rates to pay for works within the district.[2] "Although Robin Hood reduced the spending gap between Texas' property-poor and property-rich districts by $500 per pupil, it destroyed about $27,000 per pupil in property wealth".[3] "Public policy experiments rarely produce complete successes or total failures. Occasionally, however, there's a policy disaster so catastrophic that everyone agrees that something has to change. California's convoluted attempt to deregulate electricity was one example. Texas's decade-long experiment in school finance equalization -- universally referred to as Robin Hood -- is another".[4]

[Clubfoothead]

And you feel she should go to jail for doing so?

 

I wasn't trying to argue with you about illegal messicans, I was merely pointing out that we have a different "moral" standard for messicans and blacks in this country. It really is quite a shame that we still persecute and repress blacks the way we do, but messicans, sh!t they can do whatever they want and we can't say "boo" about it or we are all of a sudden racists.

 

She broke the law. It's 10 lousy days in jail. I think that is getting off light for the filing of knowingly false documents.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by a different moral standard.