Perhaps you’ve heard about Kelley Williams-Bolar, the Ohio mother who was recently tried and convicted for falsifying residency records so her daughters could attend a better school where they would receive a quality education.
The “better school” hired a private investigator to prove that Williams-Bolar’s children lived outside the district. As a result, she received a 10-day jail sentence, three years of probation, and a criminal record (two third-degree felonies) that will haunt her for the rest of her working life.
All this happened simply because Williams-Bolar wanted her children to receive a decent education.
Yes, she broke the law and was punished. On strict legal grounds, that was the correct course of action.
But in the broader sense of right and wrong, what happened to Williams-Bolar is an outrage – possibly of game-changing proportions—and should serve as a wakeup call for Americans about the need for bold, substantial school choice laws throughout the country.
She’s not a hero, she’s a criminal. She lied about her residency. End of story. Whatever the motivation, that’s that.
That being said, there’s an even bigger issue afoot here: she didn’t live in the district that was paying taxes for that better school, meaning she was paying the taxes for her crappy school and then sending her kid to a better one in another district. She not only lied about her residency, but she was stealing educational services she wasn’t paying for.
Maybe that’s not so bad for her, but what about the people paying extra so their kids could legally go to those schools?
Rosa Parks admitted in numerous interviews that she wasn’t comfortable being labeled a civil rights icon and has said that all she wanted was a bus seat because she was tired. If an icon like that doesn’t want recognition, maybe we should avoid bestowing it on someone who committed fraud.
Just a suggestion.