Clampdown on school enrolment cheats

Schools are being forced to investigate a flood of possibly fraudulent enrolments as scheming parents look at new ways to skirt tough zoning rules.

Under Ministry of Education rules, families must live within zones surrounding state schools for their children to be eligible for the roll.

But because of high housing costs, schools say many parents are making false declarations about where they live so their children can attend the college they want.

Principals say this year is even worse, with some parents giving addresses that don't exist or are empty sections. Others, they say, are renting a cheap, one-bedroom apartment and claim it is to house a family of five or six.

Many are opting for short-term rentals on homes within the zone with intentions of letting them lapse once their children are on the roll.

Then there are those who say students are living with relatives when they are either still with their families or, in the case of some older pupils, left by themselves in apartments for a few months.

The scale of the problem is forcing some schools to employ a supervisor to continue checking during the year that students comply with enrolment regulations.

Principals are also worried many parents are overextending themselves financially by selling their homes and taking on big personal mortgages in more expensive suburbs so children can get to their chosen school.

Auckland Grammar School has so far received 60 late applications and predicts many more in the next fortnight, while North Shore's Westlake Boys' High School is expecting 100 late enrolments.

Auckland Grammar deputy headmaster Wayne Moore believed there may be questions around one in five applications it received. Some parents were going to any lengths necessary to get their boys in.

"The fraud is getting worse and it means a lot of wasted time and money for us as the checking doesn't stop once the enrolment procedure is over. It's a year-round job."

Staff had to check tenancy agreements, rates and electricity bills for evidence a family was living at the property, and often had to check street addresses and pay personal visits to those under suspicion.

Auckland Grammar has hired an enrolments manager to do this time-consuming work this year.

Mr Moore said the school took a "hard line" with cheats and a number of enrolments were annulled last year.

Westlake Boys' High School principal Jim Dale said for the past 10 years fraudulent enrolments had been a challenge for staff.

"We receive hundreds of queries from parents living elsewhere and we tell them they are unlikely to get in unless they live in the zone.

"The next day they show up saying they have rented locally or telling us they have placed their family home on the market and are moving to our suburbs.

"It's happening right now as parents panic because school starts in a few weeks."

Popular co-educational state schools like Rangitoto College are also facing the same issues as it only has out-of-zone spaces available to siblings of current pupils and children of teaching staff.

Rangitoto's board of trustees secretary Ching Fuller said high demand for places at the school meant people went to "extraordinary heights" to get their children enrolled.

"We get people who have given addresses to empty sections and somehow present a valid electricity bill to back it. Then there are others who rent in zone and move out after a few weeks."

The Ministry of Education said it was disappointing that some parents were prepared to break the law or make false claims about where they lived in order to have their child attend a particular school.

It said school boards could annul an enrolment if it was based on false information.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY