Audit of Ajo Unified School District

[My Rights As An American]

An audit was issued this week that found the Ajo Unified School District failed to properly enroll students who lived in Mexico but falsely claimed addresses that were not possible. The findings show that the District owes the State back more than $1.2 million for 2007, 2008 and 2009 students who claimed false addresses.

 

This is not an issue of citizenship, as most of these kids cross the border legally everyday. Most of these students are United States citizens who were born in this country to parents of Mexican citizens (anchor babies). State law says nonresidents of Arizona may attend school districts with payment of reasonable tuition.

 

What do you think? I would really like to hear your feedback if you have any!

 

http://www.ade.az.gov/Busfin/audit/Ajo-FINALSIGNED.pdf

[Snapshot]

It's makes me wonder if this situation applies to other schools. With the huge budget cutbacks that our school systems have seen in recent years, school districts are at a disadvantage. However, enrollment fraud is not acceptable. If it is a proven case of fraud or deception, I hope those responsible are punished accordingly.

 

I do not know if the parents of the kids crossing the border for school are paying a "reasonable tutiion", but I highly doubt it, hence the reason for a fake address.

 

Every child, or adult for that matter, has the right to a decent education, but not using fraudulent or deceptive measures to obtain that education.

 

It does not matter if you are a citizen or not, it is circumstances like this, multiplied exponentially throughout the U.S, that puts a huge strain on education budgets and the quality of education as a whole.

 

 

[Santana Outdoors]

 

Agree.

 

Either obey the rules or change the rules. Thats my opinion.

[My Rights As An American]

This was the first audit that I was a lead manager of. The students/parents were claiming false addresses and it was a very well known fact throughout the community. I interviewed plenty of people who claimed this fact. The students were not paying a reasonable tuition because the district was claiming they were residents and were therefore receiving Basic State Aid (taxpayer dollars) to educate these students who clearly resided in Mexico. I went down there many times to interview, videotape, etc.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

I grew up in Animas, NM, it is about an hour away from Deming, NM. A few years back, Deming was bussing 70-80 students across the border to attend school there in Deming using buses from Mexico. It was determined that the buses from Mexico were unsafe for the students so the district was then ordered to provide buses to get those students back and forth.

That was going on about 10 years ago I suppose.........and I am not sure of how that was funded but I got a hunch it was by USA.

[ajohunter]

What gets me is the people that are screaming about how unfair this is. I attended school in Ajo and I can remember in High School there were 4 or 5 people in my class that lived in Sonoita. This has gone on a long time unchecked. People can cry and say the school is being targeted but thats not the case. The parents of the students in question broke the law by falsifying their residency! Now people are pointing the finger in all directions and saying it was not the schools fault, but the Counties fault. What I see is a failure by many to enforce the law regarding residency requirements. I feel that the District and and Pima County need to investigate and confirm questionable documentation. If these students want to attend school here they should have to pay tuition, which they never have by the way! As non-residents they have no rights to obtain a free education on the tax payers dime!

[Sam]

In recent years, most school districts in the valley have adopted an "open enrollment" policy. The district gets more funding for kids who don't live in the boundaries than those that do. So, if the school has room, they'll accept a kid. We accept kids everyday who don't live in our area. I do not agree with this policy because it only increases class size and counselor work load. Not to mention, the majority of these kids are not on track to graduate or have discipline issues.

 

As far as illegals in our schools. I just did a random look at a handful of incoming 9th graders from one of our feeder schools - almost 20 percent of them were born in Mexico. To use a teenager's expression .....WTF. And I work in the Paradise Valley school district. I can't imagine what a Phoenix Union or Glendale Union school looks like.......

 

 

[ghost hunter]

This is just a part of a large issue. When you drive through the Douglas HS parking lot and look, probably a third of the cars there have Sonora plates on them. Only makes you wonder about the entire school system there (elementary, middle and the HS).