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Any Way to Get Around School Zoning Boundaries?

3,237 Views | 32 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by agnerd
WestTXag18
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6:32p, 8/13/24
There is a neighborhood we love that is less than 2 miles from the elementary we want to be in. However, it is zoned to a district that is much further away. The prices are better in this neighborhood for that reason.

Does anyone know of any creative ways to get around that? We've reached out to the district to see if there is any chance of rezoning and they don't see any changes in the future. Just thinking there has to be some way around it since it is so close to the schools.
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CS78
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6:56p, 8/13/24
Unfortunately common sense wasn't the top priority in the last rezoning. A lot of people got screwed. Traffic and transportation continue to get worse by the year but people are still being forced to drive past the schools they live by. Hopefully things will be reevaluated soon.

To answer your question, I think some people will rent an apartment in the zone where they want to attend.

Do you have any family in town? Kids could go "live with" grandma.

Im sure there's other ways.
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GT_Aggie2015
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7:05p, 8/13/24
AG
Lots of ways around this but it depends on how creative you want to get and how risk tolerant you are.
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jopatura
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7:17p, 8/13/24
AG
1) Are you talking about the school boundaries of two schools in the same district?

Or

2) Are you talking about the school boundaries of two schools in two separate districts?

I have found it's a little bit easier to get an out of district transfer as long as the school isn't full. In district varies on the district - if they have a variety of SES schools they may not be as willing because if they do it for you they have to do it for everyone.
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WestTXag18
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8:05p, 8/13/24
It is 2 separate districts and it makes no sense.

I'm willing to get creative and take a risk! I'm open to any ideas.

We unfortunately don't have any family in town.

I have thought about trying to buy a rental house but the numbers don't really make sense to do that. Or buying a lot to potentially build on in the future. But again, by that point it would be cheaper to pay up for a house in a different neighborhood that is zoned correctly.

I have a friend that is about to buy a house in the district we want and he will live there then eventually turn it into a rental. I have wondered if there's anyway I could partner with him. Not sure that would allow us into the district or not.
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TxAg20
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8:31p, 8/13/24
AG
I live in a school district that is generally more desirable than the surrounding school districts. I know of a few people that use addresses of friends or family for their kids to go to school in the more desirable district.

I don't think we get a single piece of mail from the school district as all communication is through a portal or email, so using someone else's address shouldn't be an inconvenience for them from a mail standpoint.

All this said, we limited our house shopping to our desired school district.
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JobSecurity
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8:49p, 8/13/24
AG
One of you need to get a job there. Be a crossing guard. Then can enroll as a staff kid
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jopatura
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9:01p, 8/13/24
AG
You will never get rezoned into another district. It would require District A to give assets to District B.

What is the out of district transfer policy of the district you want? With money following the student they almost all have one these days.

Getting a job is also a good idea. Some districts offer that benefit to subs too.

You can try using someone else's address, but they know. The systems will catch on pretty quick that a billing address doesn't match or a piece of mail came back or two separate students listed the same address without the accompanying McKinney-Vento paperwork about being displaced and living with another family… or just a good ole someone will rat you out if the kids don't get a long. Address hoppers don't last long at my district.
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jja79
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10:27p, 8/13/24
AG
Don't have school aged kids anymore but since moving to Arizona I've been impressed to find out you can send your kids to any school, including other districts, you want to.

Off topic but you also get your DL, license plate and voter registration at the driver's license store rather than having to make an appointment and wait forever at the DPS. Who would have thought giving people choices would be a good idea?
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Matsui
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In reply to WestTXag18 • 7:47a, 8/14/24
AG
Re-zoning between 2 districits is very rare. And it goes way above the officials you probably emailed. That is controlled by elected officials and school boards.

I'd try to rent a place in the desired district or trying to use a friends address that is in the district. Or get a part time job there.

Good luck!
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Yesterday
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12:13p, 8/14/24
AG
That's Fraud brother!
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EclipseAg
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12:33p, 8/14/24
AG
In my local district, fraud is commonplace.

Some families band together to rent an apartment and they all use the address.

Or they use a friend's or relative's address.
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Beckdiesel03
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In reply to EclipseAg • 12:52p, 8/14/24
AG
I don't understand how this works. I have to upload a utility bill that is no older than 1 month old to register or even reregister my kids for school. They kicked it back for my returning student last week because it was in my maiden name, which is clearly listed on my kids BC that is also uploaded to the system.
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LostInLA07
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In reply to WestTXag18 • 1:01p, 8/14/24
AG
Rent an apartment.
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GT_Aggie2015
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1:10p, 8/14/24
AG
My wife is a teacher and at her last district in N Texas it was rumored that several parents would put down storage unit addresses to resemble apartment addresses. The school never mailed there since residence and mailing address differed (PO Box in same zip as storage unit) and no one from the school verified address. That's probably the most creative and risky one I've heard from her but she's got other stories and rumors she's shared. I'll pick her brain later
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GT_Aggie2015
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1:13p, 8/14/24
AG
Just remembered another one. She once heard of a family that would "sell" their address and change their utility bills' point of contact to match the "new" family for a July/August invoice and then switch back. So internet bill would change and she would charge family A, electric bill change to family B, water bill change to family C, etc. Apparently it was a nice grand or so they picked up for maybe two hours of phone time with the utility companies to make the switches.
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ChoppinDs40
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In reply to GT_Aggie2015 • 4:07a, 8/19/24
AG
GT_Aggie2015 said:
Just remembered another one. She once heard of a family that would "sell" their address and change their utility bills' point of contact to match the "new" family for a July/August invoice and then switch back. So internet bill would change and she would charge family A, electric bill change to family B, water bill change to family C, etc. Apparently it was a nice grand or so they picked up for maybe two hours of phone time with the utility companies to make the switches.


Scams like these are becoming more commonplace in desirable districts. My wife (works in administration in our district) told me they've recently had to fire up, more or less, a private investigator type role to start digging into these type of issues more thoroughly.

A group of people in surrounding districts apparently got ahold of lease documents from an apartment complex and falsified them to show residency. Since lots of people are "moving in" they skirt around the utility bill issue and then enroll their kids fraudulently.

PI recently went to that apartment complex and there was no record of any of those people residing. All of these families had kids trying out for varsity sports at this newer high school.

Boom, cya. Kicked out.

The suggestions on here to just use a family members address are possible but ultimately fraudulent. You pay taxes to your zoned district. Falsifying documents to have them in another district is, well… fraud.
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_lefraud_
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5:30a, 8/19/24
AG
Live out of your car for a few weeks and claim you're homeless.
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ATM9000
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6:22a, 8/19/24
AG
It's always strange to me how casual of a relationship people have with committing fraud and also how you never hear about districts prosecuting folks for this sort of fraud.
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ElephantRider
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In reply to WestTXag18 • 7:55a, 8/19/24
AG
WestTXag18 said:
It is 2 separate districts and it makes no sense.

I'm willing to get creative and take a risk! I'm open to any ideas.

We unfortunately don't have any family in town.

I have thought about trying to buy a rental house but the numbers don't really make sense to do that. Or buying a lot to potentially build on in the future. But again, by that point it would be cheaper to pay up for a house in a different neighborhood that is zoned correctly.

I have a friend that is about to buy a house in the district we want and he will live there then eventually turn it into a rental. I have wondered if there's anyway I could partner with him. Not sure that would allow us into the district or not.


What do you mean "zoned correctly"? Those district boundaries most likely predate the schools and houses you're talking about. One district built a school close to the boundary because there was a need for one there. If you were talking about two different schools in the same district then you've got a point, but complaining about the district is futile. It's never going to change. You know the district, take it or leave it.
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JMac03
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8:13a, 8/19/24
AG
In CS now, if you play a high school sport, the coaches make a home visit to ensure you live at that address. I realize your children are a lot younger, but that's something to think about. I don't know if it will become more common place.
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Yesterday
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In reply to JMac03 • 8:15a, 8/19/24
AG
JMac03 said:
In CS now, if you play a high school sport, the coaches make a home visit to ensure you live at that address. I realize your children are a lot younger, but that's something to think about. I don't know if it will become more common place.
That's funny. I love how sports is the final line....not financial fraud.
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AlphaBean
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8:45a, 8/19/24
AG
An entire lake was built between us and our district. Getting to a school now requires driving around the lake. Our district is in a different county. Literally on the other side of the road is the more logical district and in our county. Supposedly years ago folks banded together in suit attempting to force a district redraw. Districts will fight tooth and nail to keep their turf, even if their boundaries are completely asinine, and they will not redraw when a huge ass lake is put between them and their students. You stuck.
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ElephantRider
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In reply to AlphaBean • 10:21a, 8/19/24
AG
AlphaBean said:
An entire lake was built between us and our district. Getting to a school now requires driving around the lake. Our district is in a different county. Literally on the other side of the road is the more logical district and in our county. Supposedly years ago folks banded together in suit attempting to force a district redraw. Districts will fight tooth and nail to keep their turf, even if their boundaries are completely asinine, and they will not redraw when a huge ass lake is put between them and their students. You stuck.
They're not going to just give up property tax revenue
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AlphaBean
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In reply to ElephantRider • 2:00p, 8/19/24
AG
ElephantRider said:
AlphaBean said:
An entire lake was built between us and our district. Getting to a school now requires driving around the lake. Our district is in a different county. Literally on the other side of the road is the more logical district and in our county. Supposedly years ago folks banded together in suit attempting to force a district redraw. Districts will fight tooth and nail to keep their turf, even if their boundaries are completely asinine, and they will not redraw when a huge ass lake is put between them and their students. You stuck.
They're not going to just give up property tax revenue


Of course not. Also of course I doubt they actually do any math to prove up it's "worth" fighting for in the first place. It's likely the lost revenue is nullified by lost expenditure. But as with all things government, you never ask for less in the budget.
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ChoppinDs40
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In reply to AlphaBean • 2:04p, 8/19/24
AG
Actually, it's more of "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" if these rules aren't enforced then your school will be run rampant with people from out of the district. Schools become overcrowded. No staff to pay them (no taxes to support the fraudulent heads) and then school district goes down.

Highland Park is like the gestappo with this.
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normaleagle05
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In reply to WestTXag18 • 2:04p, 8/19/24
AG
The Education Code has a petition process to remove territory from one district and place it in another. If the districts don't act in the same manner as to the petition it takes it out of their hands and lets the Texas Education Commissioner make the decision.

Go do some reading here:
https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.13.htm#13.051
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AlphaBean
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In reply to ChoppinDs40 • 2:11p, 8/19/24
AG
ChoppinDs40 said:
Actually, it's more of "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" if these rules aren't enforced then your school will be run rampant with people from out of the district. Schools become overcrowded. No staff to pay them (no taxes to support the fraudulent heads) and then school district goes down.

Highland Park is like the gestappo with this.


I didn't say a thing supporting the idea of attending the district you're not zoned to. I fully understand why districts don't want that, and as a parent I don't want it either.
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ChoppinDs40
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In reply to AlphaBean • 2:14p, 8/19/24
AG
I know, it was more of a reply to the "they're not doing the math"... The districts that have big influxes of kids every year certainly do the math.
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62strat
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In reply to ATM9000 • 3:04p, 8/19/24
AG
ATM9000 said:
It's always strange to me how casual of a relationship people have with committing fraud and also how you never hear about districts prosecuting folks for this sort of fraud.
what's crazy is, while this may be fraud in (presumably) texas, in denver (I'm in douglas county SD), you can open enroll into any school you want.. totally not against any rules and very common.

The downside is there are 8 kids on my street ages 5-10, none of them go to the same school.
The benefit is you can pick the house you want without out worry of what schools you are zoned to.

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ATM9000
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In reply to 62strat • 3:17p, 8/19/24
AG
62strat said:
ATM9000 said:
It's always strange to me how casual of a relationship people have with committing fraud and also how you never hear about districts prosecuting folks for this sort of fraud.
what's crazy is, while this may be fraud in (presumably) texas, in denver (I'm in douglas county SD), you can open enroll into any school you want.. totally not against any rules and very common.

The downside is there are 8 kids on my street ages 5-10, none of them go to the same school.
The benefit is you can pick the house you want without out worry of what schools you are zoned to.


Not near the same thing because this means people probably aren't falsifying and misleading on official forms and records to try to arb the system to their benefit.
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62strat
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In reply to ATM9000 • 3:57p, 8/19/24
AG
ATM9000 said:
62strat said:
ATM9000 said:
It's always strange to me how casual of a relationship people have with committing fraud and also how you never hear about districts prosecuting folks for this sort of fraud.
what's crazy is, while this may be fraud in (presumably) texas, in denver (I'm in douglas county SD), you can open enroll into any school you want.. totally not against any rules and very common.

The downside is there are 8 kids on my street ages 5-10, none of them go to the same school.
The benefit is you can pick the house you want without out worry of what schools you are zoned to.


Not near the same thing because this means people probably aren't falsifying and misleading on official forms and records to try to arb the system to their benefit.
I know it's not the same thing, just pointing out how differently school districts can operate from one state to the next.

One state, you have to commit fraud by lying about address to go to a school you aren't zoned to, the other state, you just fill out a form and you can go wherever you want.

Going to a school you aren't zoned to isn't inherently illegal. But some states don't let you do it... for now. I would think this would change over time.

https://reason.org/open-enrollment/public-schools-without-boundaries-a-50-state-ranking-of-k-12-open-enrollment/
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agnerd
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6:21p, 8/20/24
AG
Quote:
But again, by that point it would be cheaper to pay up for a house in a different neighborhood that is zoned correctly.
Sounds like you answered your own question.
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