Send Your Kid to School, Go Directly to Jail

The funding of American public schools is completely broken.

Nearly 50% of the funding of American public schools is tied to local taxes, which, as you can imagine, leads to some great disparities between school districts. School districts that are found in wealthy areas -- areas that pay more taxes -- receive substantially more than school districts found in poorer areas -- areas that pay very few taxes. How large of a disparity? In excess of $10 000 per student per year, which is right around the amount that the Canadian province of Ontario provides to its students (for the 2011-12 school year, Ontario's average per-student funding is $11 207). Predictably, this arrangement also exacerbates poverty and increases the income disparity between whites and everyone else.

No other developed country treats public education in this way. Most developed countries -- like Canada -- maintain equal funding for school boards based on the number of students. The Netherlands actually goes one step better, and attempts to reverse inequality by increasing the funding given to poorer areas. Of course, such an approach makes far too much sense to work in the US, which also has similar problems with healthcare.

Despite the outrage this should arouse, all of this is fairly widely understood in educational circles. And despite all the recent "educational reform" that has been flying around recently, it's not very likely to change any time soon.

But here's an example of another consequence of the flawed system at work-- one that I had never even considered until today. What happens if you are an American parent in one of those poorly funded regions and you try to get your child into a wealthy school? I'll tell you what happens: you go to jail.

There are several examples of parents lying about their home address in order to get their children into better school. Once discovered, many of these parents are fined and arrested, and Judges make examples of these parents "so that others who think they might defraud the school system perhaps will think twice".

America, land of the free and the brave. But WAIT! There's MORE!

Some school districts are now offering bounties to anyone who can provide information on any students who are lying about the home address. That's right -- they'll pay people who are willing to deprive children of a better education.

There are even a few companies popping up that are offering their investigative services to public school districts. VerifyResidence.com is one such company; according to its website, it offers "residence audits" and surveillance using “the latest in covert video technology and digital photographic equipment to photograph, videotape, and document subject activity when logistically possible.” Here is a picture this company is using on its website:

Doesn't that just warm the cockles of your heart?

On the plus side, at least it's creating some jobs during a recession, am I right?