Board approves 3-year contract with Thomson Reuters to verify student residency

The Conestoga Valley School District board voted unanimously May 19 to approve a three-year contract with Thomson Reuters to use a national residency database intended to verify student addresses and recover tuition payments billed to cyber charter schools for nonresident students.

The proposal, presented by board member Mrs. Hunsinger, said the service searches national data sources to confirm whether a student enrolled in a cyber program still resides in the district and, when a discrepancy is found, lets the district and charter school correct invoices. "If we even found that there are two regular ed cyber students that are no longer a resident of CV, we could basically recoup one year's cost just right off the bat," Hunsinger said.

Board members asked about contract length, costs and staff capacity to process results. Hunsinger said the district could adopt a 36-month agreement with an option to terminate early with proper notice and no penalty, and that consortium pricing through the Intermediate Unit reduces the monthly and annual fee. "We have the option to term earlier," she said.

District staff noted registration support staff already verify addresses using returned mail and other checks, and said the Thomson Reuters tool would provide stronger, centralized data that could identify families who have moved without notifying either the district or the cyber provider. "This just gives us a lot more powerful information," Hunsinger said.

A motion to approve the 3-year contract was made by a board member and seconded; the item was approved on a roll-call vote with all eight directors present voting aye.

Next steps: staff will report the initial results of the service back to the board in the district's annual cyber-charter report, as requested during discussion.