EOL 469: Legal Basis of Educational Practice

David M. Stone, University Laboratory High School, Urbana, IL USA

Week 3: Analysis of Illinois Residency Determination Cases, Statutes and Hypothetical Situations

The week's activities centered around reading and briefing several cases dealing with Illinois public school district residency determination (assembled into a document entitled "Cases Dealing with Illinois Public School Residency Determination"), reading the current Illinois residency statute, and analysis of two hypothetical cases involving Illinois public school residency determination. Each hypothetical case is presented below, followed by analysis using my understanding of case and statutory law developed up to this point through EOL 469 readings, class assignments and WebBoard interactions.

Hypothetical 1 Background

District A and B belong to a special education cooperative district that serves hearing impaired students. Students attend classes in District C and the home district is responsible for paying to District C the per student expenses for their student(s) attending this program. John, a 13 year old hearing impaired student, originally lived in District A with his family. Three years ago John's mother died and his father moved to another city outside of the area. Last year John's father remarried and returned with a new wife and two step children to live in District B. John continues to live in District A with his grown sister and her family and continues to attend the special program in District C. (John has lived with this sister since his father moved away after his wife's death.) John's father supports John financially (claiming John as a dependent on his income tax) and maintains responsibility for disciplining him (meeting with John at least once a week, usually at his daughter's house in District A).

Hypothetical 1 Assignment

Is District A or District B responsible for paying John's tuition to District C? Explain your rationale and be explicit about factual assumptions central to your analysis. First analyze this problem on the basis of the statute then read the Herscher case and consider whether this case is still good law under the current statute and applicable to this hypothetical.

Hypothetical 1 Analysis

The central issue here is who should pay John's tuition. This can be resolved only by examining Sec. 10-20.12b of the Illinois Residency Statute which states explicitly that "the residence of a person who has legal custody of a pupil is deemed to be the residence of the pupil." This section defines "legal custody" in one of five possible ways, each of which is shown below:

(i) Custody exercised by a natural or adoptive parent with whom the pupil resides.

(ii) Custody granted by order of a court of competent jurisdiction to a person with whom the pupil resides for reasons other than to have access to
the educational programs of the district.

(iii) Custody exercised under a statutory short-term guardianship, provided that within 60 days of the pupil's enrollment a court order is entered
that establishes a permanent guardianship and grants custody to a person with whom the pupil resides for reasons other than to have access to the
educational programs of the district.

(iv) Custody exercised by an adult caretaker relative who is receiving aid under the Illinois Public Aid Code [305 ILCS 5/1-1 et seq.] for the pupil
who resides with that adult caretaker relative for purposes other than to have access to the educational programs of the district.

(v) Custody exercised by an adult who demonstrates that, in fact, he or she has assumed and exercises legal responsibility for the pupil and provides
the pupil with a regular fixed night-time abode for purposes other than to have access to the educational programs of the district.

In this case both i and v include conditions most closely approximating those found in this scenario, while ii, iii, and iv are irrelevant to this situation. The arguments in favor of the father's district (B) paying include the fact that the father 1) has not given up legal custody, 2) maintains the child financially and 3) exercises disciplinary control over the child. Logically, it initially appears that the father's district should be considered the child's home district. However, the full condition of i is not satisfied because the child lives apart from his biological parent. It appears that v is most closely satisfied since John's sister clearly provides John with fixed night-time abode and John's educational needs will be met in equally well in either district, hence there is no additional educational benefit derived from him residing with his sister in District A. The last part of v to be considered is the determination of whether John's sister has assumed and exercises legal responsibility for John. Since we know that John's father has resided a significant distance away from John for two of the past three years, it is apparent that she has assumed the abovementioned responsibilities, and will continue to do so since the child resides with her. Based on the conditions for determining residency in the current Illinois residency statute and the clear statement that only one of the above-mentioned five conditions can be met in determining home district, it is clear that v is applicable, that District A is John's home district, and therefore District A should reimburse District C for expenses incurred in educating John. (Judgment rendered by Judge Stone, 9/12/99.)

The hypothetical case and the Herscher case appear to be virtually identical. The new statute makes clear the different ways in which legal residency is determined, whereas both courts involved in different iterations of the Herscher case did not have clearly stated residency determination guidelines. The reasoning behind the decisions in the Herscher case was reasonable at the time, though the guidelines set forth in the new statute would result in a different decision than that made at the time of the Herscher case.

Hypothetical 2 - Background

The Smith family owns a home in District A and a condominium in District B. John Smith is a good football player and hopes to earn a football scholarship to a Division I school. With a threatened teachers' strike in district A John enrolls in District B and begins practicing with the District B football team. He and his father have been living in the condominium during the week and returning to their home on the weekends.

Hypothetical 2 - Assignment

Assume that District B is your district and that your District's residency policy applies. Using the residency statute and your district policy (and guidelines if they exist) is John a resident of your district for purposes of receiving a free public education? Explain your rationale and be explicit about factual assumptions central to your analysis. After reading the statute and district policy review the Connelly and Kraut cases. Do these cases still apply to interpreting the statute?

Hypothetical 2 - Analysis

This one is fairly simple in my situation. I teach at a public laboratory high school which accepts students throughout the state of Illinois who reside with either a parent or legal guardian in the state of Illinois. If John resides with his father in the state of Illinois, he is eligible to apply for admission to the high school and will be considered on an equal basis with every other student who resides in Illinois, period. One might wonder , though, why he is applying to a high school which doesn't have a football team...

The Kraut holdings as outlined in "Cases Dealing with Illinois Public School Residency Determination" are consistent with the current custody possibility v designation of legal custody (see the current statute's five possible ways to designate legal custody near the top of this page). The Connelly holding may have actually been reversed since it appears that Matthew's situation is the first custody situation (i) shown above, based on the information we have presented regarding the current statute. Since the current statute supersedes previous statutes and past legal cases, these cases are largely of academic interest and their application in interpreting the current residency statute is minimal.

Created 9/12/99. Last modified 9/12/99.