Schools

New Student Enrollment Policy Aims to Keep Non-Residents Out of Mill Valley School District

With booming enrollment and stagnant property taxes, district looks to limit the number of students who don't live in the city out of Mill Valley's five elementary schools and one middle school.

If you don’t live in the 94941, don’t send your children to public schools in the city. 

That’s the message the Mill Valley School District is sending to families with a revamped ‘Proof of Residency’ policy that aims to cut down on the number of people claiming they live in Mill Valley when the really don't.

“We need to be sure false residencies are not negatively impacting our students and class sizes,” said Superintendent Paul Johnson.

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In addition to providing four forms of documentation that prove enrolled students live in the city, all families will also be required to sign a new 'Declaration of Residency' form with language that “tightens up” the policy, Johnson said. For families that rent or lease homes, landlords will also be asked to complete a verification form. (See attached PDF documents).

The process will occur in April or May prior to the start of the 2013 school year.

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“Every family is going through a recertification,” Johnson said. The district is also considering doing annual checks at certain grade levels.

It costs about $10,000 to educate each student, and enrollment has been steadily rising, Johnson said. 

“With our growth issues, this is really important because we don’t have a lot of extra space,” he said.

In November 2012, the city also passed a $196 parcel tax, on top of an existing $731 parcel tax, to help combat the Mill Valley School District’s looming budget deficit. The additional parcel tax kicks in at the start of the new 2013-2014 in July, prevents cuts to educational programs and retains quality staff. In the meantime, the district took a “shared sacrifice” approach to avoid cuts as teachers took the first of two furlough days in October, and agreed to paying a higher percentage of medical coverage costs. 

The school board adopted the new enrollment policy in February after several cases of suspected false residency were reported to the district, Johnson said in an e-newsletter that went out to the school community. He did not have data on how many cases there have been in the last year, but said it’s looked at on a “case by case” basis.

The district has hired a retired police detective to investigate any cases, and also established an anonymous phone and email tip line for reporting suspected false residencies. Call (415) 389-7715 or email residency@mvschools.org to make a report.

“We want to make sure," Johnson said, "our local funds are funding local education for our local kids.”

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