Pennsylvania districts accused of improper enrollment requirements
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Education Law Center (ELC), a nonprofit advocacy group, charges that local school districts in Pennsylvania are turning away students because they are not adhering to state laws regarding enrollment. ELC contends errors involving enrollment inconvenience parents and adversely affect children, particularly foster children and immigrants, who cannot afford a delay in access to education. The group has sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) requesting a state investigation of school district enrollment practices based on violations it compiled by reviewing enrollment information posted on school district websites. According to ELC, because only 278 districts have enrollment information posted online, the problems may be more widespread than it was able to determine. ELC’s letter stated that it has intervened in 270 cases during the past school year in which families had difficulty enrolling students. It said some districts improperly demand a child's Social Security card, a parent's photo identification or court custody order, or inquire into immigration status as a condition of enrollment. It said a handful of districts also violated the state law requiring that children be enrolled no later than five days after parents, guardians or caretakers submit registration materials. Emily J. Leader, deputy chief counsel for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, does not believe that every practice the center assailed in its letter was inappropriate. In other cases, she said, districts might be following outdated regulations or making good-faith efforts to identify students trying to enroll under false pretenses. “It happens all over the state, all the time,” she said of efforts to skirt enrollment guidelines. In general, ELC says 162 districts were too explicit in the documents they demanded to establish residency, guardianship or caretaker status or demanded more health records than families are obligated to provide.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/13/08, By Joe Smydo
[Editor’s Note: ELC’s press release and the letter sent to PDE are below.]
ELC press release
ELC letter to PDE