More Maryland parents, including a D.C. teacher, are facing lawsuits from D.C.'s attorney general accusing them of defrauding the D.C. government by lying about where they live in order to get their kids into high-demand public schools without paying tuition.
Attorney General Karl Racine filed lawsuits against four Prince George's County parents on Wednesday.
Racine says the families lied on enrollment forms and said their children lived in the District.
One of the parents is a D.C. school teacher and another is a former D.C. Public Schools employee, according to Racine.
The lawsuits claim that a fifth person who is a current D.C. schools employee said she was related to a student to get them enrolled at the school where she works.
D.C. is suing for more than $450,000 which includes tuition costs and fines.
Parents from Maryland and Virginia lying about where they live so they get their kids into high performing D.C. public schools like Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Hardy Middle School and McKinley Tech has been a problem for years.
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While D.C. residents are given priority for enrollment at D.C. public schools, out-of-state students are allowed to attend, but they have to pay about $12,000 a year in tuition.
The city filed lawsuits against six other Prince George’s County families in December.
“It’s really important that D.C. residents and D.C. kids get the first shot to attend D.C. schools,” Racine previously said.
He said his office is aggressively going after the parents who lie to avoid paying tuition.
“We need to send a message that nonresident tuition fraud needs to stop,” Racine said.
In 2018, D.C. filed a total of nine lawsuits against parents totaling nearly $3 million.
News4 has reached out to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office for comment on the status of the school employees accused in the lawsuits.
