TAMPA - Hillsborough County school officials soon might look to homestead exemptions to help verify addresses for student registration.School board members and administrators will consider the idea today during a 1:30 p.m. workshop at the Raymond O. Shelton Administrative Center in Tampa.
"I have heard too many people say over the years, 'I'll just use my grandmother's address,' to get into a school,'' said board member Candy Olson, who is pushing for the change. It's happening less frequently, she said, because the district has tightened its rules, but there still are students slipping into schools whose enrollment is stretched beyond capacity.
In the era of class-size restrictions, which limit how many students can be in certain core classes, it is a priority to ensure that students go to the school that matches their address, Olson said.
Students need proof of residency when they enroll. In the past, the district has accepted current electric or water bills, lease agreements and even purchasing contracts for homes. If the board approves the change, the forms next spring would include showing a tax receipt that verifies homestead exemption. The exemption is granted for a primary residence only.
"It doesn't work for all schools,'' said Olson, noting some parts of the county don't have as many owners claiming the exemption as others. "If we find out, gee, only three people are lying, then we don't do it again.''On average, said Steve Ayers of the district, 71 percent of Hillsborough households claim the homestead exemption, which allows up to $50,000 to be deducted from the assessed value of a primary residence.
The change would provide the district with an efficient way to check on a student's address, Ayers said.
The board will consider implementing audits for individual schools, in which an accounting clerk could verify residences of every student enrolled.
Clerks could access the county's property appraiser website, check school choice applications, and review affidavits, including those in which students live with legal caregivers.
Administrators estimate that such an audit at a typical high school with about 2,000 students would take the clerk about six weeks and cost approximately $5,520.
Attending a school other than the one a student is assigned requires an application under the district's school choice program.
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