Poll: Ohio mom jailed for sending kids to a better school district. Your thoughts?

[Samus Aaron]

Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-mom-jailed-sending-kids-school-district/story?id=12763654

Is the mom justified in doing this? What she did seems unquestionably illegal, but at the same time, she had a responsibility to give her kids the best quality of living that they could get, and education is a vital aspect in that regard. On the other hand, if people who don't abide by the law don't get punished, then real criminals will be able to manipulate the system more easily. There's no definite answer.

Here's a few arguments from both sides. Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

She was justified:
-She had a responsibility to her childrens' education
-Her kids should not have been denied a better education simply because of where they lived
-If she really had equal opportunity, one school district would not receive priority to another.

She wasn't justified:
-What she did was illegal. If you want this type of thing to change, advocate the changing of the law itself.
-Residents of the other better district paid higher taxes and consequently received a better education. The mom paid less taxes and still got her kids a better education, which is unfair.

So what do you think? Is the mom justified in what she did?

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Lying about her residency? Ya, that is illegal for a number of reasons. Its just another case of being morally right while being lawfully wrong.

If only she lived in Cleveland, Ohio, they actually have a Voucher system her kids could use.

 

[El Poncho]

I think she's justified. I think everyone has the right to a good education no matter how much money they have. The people with more money get a good education, they get better jobs and so still get a well paid job. However if the people with less money have to go to schools which provide a bad education, they will find it difficult to get a well paid job without a whole lot of luck so that means for generations to come they're stuck at the same financial level.

So I think everyone deserves an equal opportunity, but of course that would be COMMUNIST! and it will bring DEATH to the almighty USA!

 

[Leg End]

Basically in the right morally but legally in the wrong.

But that is why laws change.

But, SHE DID IT FOR TEH LOLIS. Always do it for the Loli.

 

[Leg End]

So I think everyone deserves an equal opportunity, but of course that would be COMMUNIST! and it will bring DEATH to the almighty USA!

The first time today that I can tell that that is a joke. Poe's Law is offline.

But yes, education, right, CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Seems like rather derpy laws to me, but then again I live in a country where all education is free and where you can choose to attend a school in the other end of the nation as long as you pay for your transport yourself.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

So you only get as much education as you're willing to pay for? So that's where Cameron got the idea from.

 

[Bobic]

A 10 day sentence? I'm sure she'll get over it pretty quickly.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

To be fair, she also lied and falsified documents.

Also, how much better was the new school. If it had two points higher on tests or something, then she was being a dumb-ass and deserved it. If it was significantly better, I can see her point.

 

[Biosophilogical]

I think she's justified. I think everyone has the right to a good education no matter how much money they have. The people with more money get a good education, they get better jobs and so still get a well paid job. However if the people with less money have to go to schools which provide a bad education, they will find it difficult to get a well paid job without a whole lot of luck so that means for generations to come they're stuck at the same financial level.

So I think everyone deserves an equal opportunity, but of course that would be COMMUNIST! and it will bring DEATH to the almighty USA!

Damn straight it would! How dare you even suggest giving people an opportunity for a good education! Having American citizens getting a good education would undermine the entire social structure, and that is clearly a morally wrong action! Because rish people need poor people to stay poor, who else is going to serve them at fast food restaurants, teenagers? Don't be ridiculous!

OT: What a F***ed up system that is. The law should be about protecting the people, not controlling them.

 

[Slycne]

So I think everyone deserves an equal opportunity, but of course that would be COMMUNIST! and it will bring DEATH to the almighty USA!

Actually school vouchers are typically supported by the "commie hating" right. It's the left and their association with the teacher's unions that is the typical opponent of them.

 

[Dags90]

So you only get as much education as you're willing to pay for? So that's where Cameron got the idea from.

That's pretty much how property tax funded education works in practice. It's stupid, it should be based off of a statewide budget appropriated to schools based on size.

Other interesting information about this is that the woman is a teacher's aide in her own school district.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Wow is that a messed up system, are we sliding back into the middle ages where only the rich would get an education...?

 

[Eumersian]

Well, as far as I know how the system works, some your tax dollars go to the town of your residence. So technically none of her money would have been going to the school that she was sending her children to. So the school wouldn't be getting the money they should have gotten to teach her children. She was cheating the system, which is wrong, undeniably wrong. Certainly not the absolute worst thing, but nonetheless wrong, and illegal.

Maybe I'm not familiar with jail, but the sentence she got doesn't sound too bad. Since the kids' father lived in the boundaries, she could have signed over guardianship of the children to him, or something like that. She did legally owe $30,000 in tuition to the school. She did refuse to pay it. Absolutely illegal.

 

[Valagetti]

I don't think we have the 'big picture', though we can't make exceptions for law because, other people can slide into the same catagory.

 

[Koshok]

I'm guessing this was the only way she knew of to get her children into another school district. I don't know her particular situation and why she didn't move somewhere with a better education district. It seems to me that if this really was the only way her children could get a better education, it's just an indication of a bad system. In my opinion, education should be top, or close to top priority for any culture. Unfortunately, all I see from the US government is that the education system is seen as one of the first things to go when politicians are forced to choose how to address debt. I really wish we could see a government who put more thought into teaching the next generation, so we can improve as a culture.

 

[bobknowsall]

Yeah, this is a load of rubbish. Wouldn't get that where I come from. You can head to school where you want, assuming you can foot the bus fare.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

She did the right thing, the problem is that it was also illegal. I live in ohio, and out residency rules are shitty. There are some good schools, and there are some really really REALLY bad ones.

What needs to happen is that we need a law of Separation of School and State, and allow schools to compete for students, instead of this crap. But as long as the government runs schools, there are going to be severe issues with stupid asinine laws like this.