Is using the surveillance state the solution to this problem though? I personally don't think so. There are other solutions, utility bills in the families name, ownership/rental documents, etc. Will there be some number of people that cheat the system? Absolutely. Will there be some number of people that learn about the license plate trackers and buy a $500 beater and park it on the right street to "beat them"? Also absolutely.

Personally, I think schools shouldn't be funded solely by the taxes of residents that reside within their bounds, but as a collective pool of all tax revenue. That'll not happen in my lifetime though, too many people bought houses in "the right neighborhood" to get their kids into the "good" school that there would be so much push back that no politician would dare touch it. Especially since those people are typically also the ones with the money.

▲

Aurornis 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Will there be some number of people that learn about the license plate trackers and buy a $500 beater and park it on the right street to "beat them"? Also absolutely.

I believe they’re using LPR at drop off and pick up too, so parking a $500 junker somewhere isn’t a workaround. They would have to drive to the parked car every morning, transfer into it, drive it to school, return to the parking location, swap cars again, and then repeat the entire routine for pick up. It all technically could be done, but as a parent who knows what it’s like to hustle multiple kids to school in the morning I doubt this routine would be a common workaround.

▲

cmiles8 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Many districts employ full time investigators for this. The district is a tax collector and this is a form of tax fraud.

Per above though I’m not advocating for license plate readers for enforcement.

▲

lotsofpulp 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The person in the article provided proof in the form of a mortgage statement, which should establish that they pay tax to the district. Where they spend their time outside of school hours seems irrelevant.

▲

ethagknight 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Document fraud is both incredibly easy and pervasive. There’s a mentality of “I jumped through the hoop, now you can’t get me.”

They aren’t taking blood tests or staking out your homes (I don’t think…)

	▲	john_strinlai 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		>Document fraud is both incredibly easy and pervasive. the school does not contest the legitimacy of the documents. the school even says "[...] you are the owner on record of a house in our district boundaries"
	▲	phantom784 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Sounds like the license plate readers basically are stalking out homes though.
	▲	cucumber3732842 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		They provided a mortgage statement. The district employee can trivially verify that by firing up the GIS system.
	▲	lotsofpulp 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		So you go to the county’s website and look up the address and see who owns it. Or even homes.com

▲

pessimizer 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> There are other solutions, utility bills in the families name, ownership/rental documents, etc.

Will these cause injustice and false positives even more than license plate tracking? What is your point?

> Personally, I think schools shouldn't be funded solely by the taxes of residents that reside within their bounds, but as a collective pool of all tax revenue.

Are you talking about undemocratically forcing a restructuring all school financing everywhere in order to avoid one school doing a $1K/mo license plate tracking contract to make sure kids live in the district that they're attending school in? What is the principle that you're trying to uphold?

▲

Jeremy1026 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Are you talking about undemocratically forcing a restructuring all school financing everywhere in order to avoid license plate tracking? What is the principle that you're trying to uphold?

No, I'm talking about changing how schools are funded by making funds more evenly distributed across districts. Giving the kids in the "bad" areas the same opportunities as those in the "good" areas. Right now, if you can't afford that four-five-six-seven-hundred thousand dollar home, you aren't afforded the same level of public education as someone else who can. And doing so democratically, which is why I mentioned it'll never happen because no politician would be able to run on that. Their opponents would be outfunded by the top 10% to keep the status quo.

And this is coming from someone who own's a home in a "good" district. Where we got a total rebuilt elementary school 4 years ago, a new middle school actively being build, and a new high school that opened 3 years ago. Why should my kids have access to everything newer and better just because we can afford to live out in the suburbs, than someone else who isn't working in the cushy tech industry and instead is busting their ass only to live in poverty?

	▲	phil21 40 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Newer does not mean better, or even imply it. Money spent on facilities has almost no correlation to educational outcomes. What matters are the peers you go to school with, supported by decent curriculum and moderately competent teachers. None of which is expensive. Oh, and administrators who actually care about teaching being done vs. being terrified of the lawsuit fairy. It’s the peers that matter by far the most - and that means parents. Parents that are self-selecting into good districts tend to skew heavily towards “involved” and some definition of functional. This can mean being able to and buying a home or rent an apartment in a good district, or finding some clever and/or creative workaround to get the same outcome. The latter is even better in most cases since those families are motivated at an even higher level to make sure it’s a success. The best school I went to as a kid was a private highly selective school in “the ghetto” where my dad lived growing up. Nearly every kid there was on some form of subsidized or full ride tuition, with very “working class” parents. The facilities were barebones at best. The vast majority of kids had parents who held them to extreme expectations even if they didn’t have financial means or even time to be highly involved day to day. The uber rich brand new high school I went to the next year in the suburbs wasn’t even close. The difference was in the kids who attended the school and the expectations put on them for both classroom behavior, engagement, and work ethic. Shitty disruptive kids were kicked out within a matter of days so as to let kids who wanted to be there actually learn. Anything beyond that is close to a rounding error for outcomes. The inner city school district I pay taxes into spends more per student than many of the suburbs. You could triple it again and get zero change in outcomes - in fact so far since living here school budgets are inversely correlated with outcome, although I don’t see a causation there in either direction. Schools that are allowed to be ran like schools and hold students to high expectations and standards do well. Schools that are ran like social programs trying to correct for all of societies ills do not. It’s pretty simple in the end.

▲

patmorgan23 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Uh what's undemocratic about the state legislature, which created the current system of small local districts, Changing how schools are funded and governed?

Small parroquial government entities that are funded inequitably are bad, actually. And the current system of schools districts is a legacy of segregation and white flight. Local government boundaries are entirely arbitrary, should the city let water or fire services suffer in one council district because it doesn't produce enough taxes to support it?

A child's academic opportunity shouldn't be determined by their zip code and parents income. Everyone should have access to free high quality public schools.

▲

ethagknight 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Surveillance State? They already have all kinds of data on you, including your child’s vaccination records, security cameras throughout the building, supposed home addresses, and parental information. I assume you have to have your ID scanned before entering the building. LPR does not offer anything revelatory from a personal freedoms perspective.

Tracking license plates to look for unusually activity is an easy win for both fraud prevention and security from more serious threats.

	▲	summermusic 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> They already have all kinds of data on you So? My employer has my SSN, address, work history, etc. but I don't want them to know about where I go on the weekends. It's a fallacy to say that just because an entity knows a lot about you that it's OK if they know everything about you.