Broward School district toughens enrollment rules

By Kathy Bushouse | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

August 6, 2008

FORT LAUDERDALE - Parents who use false addresses to enroll their children in schools they aren't supposed to attend could be charged with a felony under a stricter registration policy passed Tuesday by the Broward County School Board.

The new policy takes effect immediately. Parents who use fake addresses will be suspected of perjury, which under state law is a third-degree felony punishable with up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

But it will be up to the Broward State Attorney's Office to file charges against parents. The School Board will forward information to the State Attorney's Office, which will then decide whether to move ahead with a case.

Board member Stephanie Kraft said using a false address is "just plain not right."

"What really upsets me as a parent, and I guess as a leader in education, is condoning parents falsifying documents," Kraft said. "What kind of values does that teach our kids?"

Though it's always been against school district rules to use a false address, the toughest penalty that violators faced was a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to 60 days in jail.

The school district will put posters in schools, put a message in the student code of conduct book and use other communications to make sure parents know the penalties they risk by using a false address, said Leah Kelly, the school district's executive director for student support services.

Board member Beverly Gallagher, who championed the change, said the school district is not out to arrest parents. But she said parents had other options, including requesting a reassignment or applying to attend a magnet school, if they want their children to attend another school.

"You don't have to lie about your address," Gallagher said.

The School Board voted 6-3 to strengthen its enrollment policy and designate using a false address as a felony. Board members Maureen Dinnen, Phyllis Hope and Eleanor Sobel voted against the change.

Sobel, Hope and Dinnen all questioned whether the threat of a felony was too harsh.

"I don't think we should be a police body," Sobel said. "... This is not the message we want to send out from this board."

The policy also will require parents suspected of using a false address to show additional proof that they live at the address they've given to a school. Parents also will have to update student registration forms whenever their children move to a new school, from elementary to middle school, and from middle to high school.

Any students found not to live at the address given to school officials will be withdrawn and moved to the school they should attend. Parents who continue to use a false address risk getting reported by the school district.

The district is following a similar policy enacted last year by the Palm Beach County School District.

The Palm Beach County School District has not forwarded any cases to that county's State Attorney's Office, and board member Bob Parks said he doubted any cases would actually be prosecuted in Broward.

"I think the jails are overcrowded right now with real-life criminals," Parks said.

Kathy Bushouse can be reached at kbushouse@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4556.