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I live in a area with bad school district. I pay a lot in property tax and I'd like to avoid paying private school for my children when they start in 2 years.

The option would be to move to a better district but I like where I live as the house I bought is good for living.

My question is: I was thinking of buying some small condo in a better school district where my kids could go to a public school for free. Do I need to be occupant of that condo or is it still possible to rent it to someone else and still belong to that public school in that area?

I live near Cleveland, Ohio, USA

mhoran_psprep
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Grasper
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2 Answers2

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"Open Enrollment" is the process in which a resident of one district attends school in another district.

Ohio does have open enrollment. There are rules and procedures that need to be followed to take advantage of it. Ohio Department of Education has a web page on it:

http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Quality-School-Choice/Open-Enrollment

First, you need to look up your desired school district, and find out if they accept open enrollment students. Some districts allow applicants from any district, some only accept students from adjacent districts, and some don't allow any open enrollment students.

After you've determined whether or not your desired school district accepts open enrollment, you need to contact the district to find out how to apply. There will generally be a period of dates in which you need to apply for the next school year.

If you can make this work, it will be cheaper and potentially more legal than buying a second home just for the schools.

Ben Miller
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School districts are on the lookout for this. Families decide to live in a jurisdiction with lower taxes or better environment, but want their child to go to school in another district for academic or athletic reasons.

You want one local government to believe you live in one place, but you want the school to believe you live in another.

The home district loves you because you send them money but don't use the resources. The school district hates you because you use their resources but don't pay your fair share.

Many times when you move into a school district they want proof: they want a utility bill, rental agreement, or mortgage documents to say you live there. What happens if you lie: They may charge you out of jurisdiction tuition. There could even be fines and penalties, or in extreme cases jail for tax fraud.

Keep in mind that you will never have access to the school bus because they will expect to pick up the children in front of the fake address. Also your child will eventually be forced to lie about where they live.

You do have options:

  • investigate what the out of district cost is to attend the school you want.
  • look at other schools in your district: in some cases you can go to a non-neighborhood school close to a parents work.
  • If the schools are very bad: and this problem is recognized by the state or federal government; you may have more ability to transfer to another school or district.
  • get involved with the schools to make them better.
  • move

Regarding Fair share:

  • original district A pay property tax of x
  • new district B pay property tax of y
  • number of kids that attend district A schools: 0
  • number of kids that attend district B schools: 2+ (the owners two children and the renters children)
mhoran_psprep
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