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District to pilot residency-verification service for outside cyber charter enrollment; administration cites payback through avoided tuition payments
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Summary
Superintendent and administrators proposed a three-year contract for a residency verification service to help identify students who may not reside in district but are enrolled in outside cyber charter programs; administration said the service could quickly pay for itself by identifying ineligible enrollments given high per-pupil charter rates.
Scranton School District administrators recommended that the board consider a residency-verification program that uses public data to confirm whether students enrolled in outside cyber charter programs actually reside in the district, saying the service could recover payments for ineligible enrollments.
What administration proposed
Administration described a demonstration of the Thomas Reuters residency-verification product and said several other Pennsylvania districts have implemented similar systems. The three-year contract cost presented to the board was $30,198 annually.
Why administrators say it will pay for itself
Administrators explained the district’s per-student payments to outside cyber charter providers to put the cost in context: the district pays $12,843 for a regular-education cyber charter student and $24,410 for a special-education cyber charter student. Administration said identifying even one or two ineligible students who no longer reside in Scranton would offset the service cost.
How it would be used
Administration said the service would focus on enrollments in outside cyber charters, verify addresses with a large pool of public data and help target investigations where residency appears questionable. Officials said they had demonstrated the platform and had spoken with other districts (including Carbondale Area and Delaware Valley) that use the system.
Board follow-up
The item was presented for discussion; administration said it would bring a formal contract and additional documentation back to the board for consideration and recommended monitoring early results in other districts.
Ending
Administrators said the system could yield a net savings if it identifies nonresident students currently producing significant per-pupil payments to outside providers; formal contract action was expected to return to the board for a vote.
