If aliens came here from outer space---or just a Trans-Atlantic flight?---I can't help but think that they would find our (US) school-funding/districting systems (Rich School, Poor School) INSANE.

The fatalist would say "That's just the way things are: some kids start off rich, some (way more!) start off poor."

But to have those discrepancies CODIFIED into LAW, via school-districting/funding, is as crazy as it is immoral.

JC Fisher

Stealing food is OK if you're hungry, right? But don't steal bread, steal caviar!

Need a car? Don't steal a Kia, steal a Mercedes!

Stealing is taking something that doesn't belong to you. It's not like this woman's child was denied an education, it just wasn't nice enough for her taste.

(And if you think catchment area problems don't exist in other countries, you're dreaming.)

We are required by law to send our children to school. IMHO they should all be entitled to the same quality of education.

"We are required by law to send our children to school. IMHO they should all be entitled to the same quality of education."

The quality of parents makes much more difference than the school or teachers.

DaveP, could you please provide us a solution, instead of just snark? A solution that is not either a) Well, if the parents just made enough money to NOT live in a horrible school district or b) Tough Luck, kid!

Since you're talking about "the quality of parents": at the moment of enrollment, if you were Ms. Williams-Bolar, what would YOU do? Would YOU be satisfied---not w/ a "Kia" (car), but walking shoeless? Moldy bread? For your child? Really?

JC Fisher

JCF

Solution? How about behaving in a legal and ethical manner?

What this woman did was illegal where she lived and highly unethical. That's the quality of parent the kid has apparently. What's next, sneaking her kid into MIT?

The fact is nobody can guarantee identical educational opportunities to everyone. And more money doesn't necessarily equate to better education. Federal, state and local governments do the best they can to provide as reasonable an opportunity for everyone as possible, but the fact is equality of opportunity is elusive and equality of outcome is impossible (nor even desirable.)

The biggest difference in a child's life is parenting, and having parents that are law-abiding and ethical is a useful start, no matter how poor they are.

You didn't answer my question, Dave.

You're giving me abstractions. I'm looking for empathy. Where's Christ in this---the "least of these"?

JC Fisher

I am an Ohioan, black, and cannot disagree strongly enough with Mr. White's insistence that race is a factor here.

Every year the news has stories of parents using a relative's address to register their children in a better school district. When found out, they make restitution and register their children in the proper schools. The Summit County prosecutor noted that this is the first case she has had to prosecute because all others were settled out of court.

As a Clevelander, I am sorely aware of the inequalities in our public school funding system. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled the system unconstitutional, but more than a decade later we still do not have a new system in place. Not only do urban, predominantly black districts suffer; so do rural, predominantly white ones, especially those in Ohio's Appalachian counties.

It's a bad situation that is only getting worse with the current economy. Something has to change and I wish I had the answer. For now I vote in favor of school levies and pay my taxes.

I live in Akron, am white, and, by choice, send my son to the Akron Public Schools--the system Ms. Williams-Bolar's children would go to based on their residence. My son is getting an excellent education because I was able to buy a house in the part of town with the best elementary school and was also able to navigate the open enrollment requirements for an innovative new middle school. Unfortunately, despite a great school superintendent and dedicated teachers, her experience has likely been quite different--even though we live just a few miles apart. It's very hard for me to condemn her for wanting to give her daughters what I have given my son.

This case has complicated race and class issues, and at its core, as Linda writes, is Ohio's utterly broken school funding system. But Cafe readers should note that there are three Episcopal churches (including mine) within just a few miles of the school that Ms. Williams-Bolar is afraid to send her children to, and petty jealousies and disagreements keep us from working together to make it better.

Interesting moral problem. Note the following:

"The Seventh commandment forbids theft, that is usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universal destination of goods. This is the case in obvious urgent necessity when the only way to provide for immediate essential needs (food clothing shelter ...) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of others."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church Article 7 The Seventh commandment (II) Respect for Persons and their Goods # 2408.

Not all crimes are moral transgressions. In fact, some legal arrangements are fundamentally problematic fromm a moral point of view.

What gets me riled about this case is how punitive the judge was during the proceedings. Yes, Ms Williams-Bolar broke the rules (though hardly an uncommon rule to break).
It isn't a question or not whether she committed a crime. The question--and the allegations of prejudice--lie in whether the punishment fits the crime.

Other families that could afford to settle out of court or pay restitution (the court determined that Ms. Williams-Bolar had cost the school $30,500) could walk away quietly. So this woman is supposed to take this crazy heavy punishment to make an example?

She was studying for an education degree, to work with children with special needs. And the judge willfully took that away from her. This is what she said in sentencing: "Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today... The court's taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve." (Source: Boyce Watkins)

I'm sorry, but I can't wrap my mind around how the loss of a livelihood, plus ten days in jail and three years probation, is adequate punishment for this crime.