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Student Residency Verification
During the 1990s, two separate entities developed and issued rules governing the documentation and verification of District residency for public school students: the District of Columbia Board of Education and the Emergency Transitional Education Board of Trustees.
Since its establishment in July 2000, the State Education Office assumed the legal responsibility of formulating and promulgating rules for the documentation and verification of District residency for public and public charter school students, pursuant to sections 2 and 3 of the District of Columbia Nonresident Student Tuition Act. DC Public Schools, the two chartering authorities, and the public charter schools are responsible for administering and enforcing the rules.
The State Education Office first issued rules for residency verification in the summer of 2001. To ensure that stakeholders’ voices were heard in the development of these rules, the SEO established a residency verification working group that collaborated in the rule development.
In 2002, following a court case and numerous complaints that children living with grandmothers and others without legal guardianship were being excluded from school, the State Education Office revised the rules for residency verification to clarify requirements for documentation of primary caregiver status. Once again, these revisions were made with the guidance of a working group. In 2004, the rules were included in the FY 2005 Budget Support Act.
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), formally the State Education Office, continues to convene a working group to develop clear guidelines that help schools and parents better understand the rules and provide a specific list of acceptable documentation. Revised guidelines are issued each spring, are used in school staff training sessions, and are maintained at each traditional public and public charter school.
The OSSE understands that student residency verification is a complex issue in a city that is home to many diverse populations and is committed to continuous research and development to ensure that policies governing residency for students are fair and do not infringe on the right of any eligible student to receive a free public education.
To learn more about student residency verification, please select from the items below.
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