The Greater Victoria School District is clamping down on anyone who may try to circumvent enrollment requirements by providing false address information.
On Monday, School District 61 introduced strict new rules surrounding proof of residency for parents wanting to enroll their kids in their designated catchment area for the 2018-2019 year.
To prove they live in a catchment area, parents must now provide two of five options including purchase agreement of their home, recent property tax statement, homeowner's insurance, notice of assessment or a purchase agreement.
If parents can only provide one of those options, they'll also have to produce their bank or credit card statement, vehicle registration, income tax statement or insurance papers.
If parents rent instead of own, they must provide a rental agreement complete with landlord contact information to provide they reside in the catchment area. They'll also have to show two of the following: bank or credit statements, vehicle registration, income tax statement or renter's insurance documents.
The district says for privacy purposes, parents can choose to redact personal information on those documents other than their address and full name.
The tougher rules come after the district moved to new student enrolment priorities earlier this year, placing in-catchment students above non-catchment siblings on the priority list.
The new enrollment priorities are:
- re-enrolling students
- a catchment area sibling
- a catchment area child
- a non-catchment sibling
- a non-catchment child
- a non-school district child
Kindergarten and early French Immersion registration starts in January and the student transfer process will take place in February. The deadline for non-catchment students to submit a transfer request is Feb. 23 at 3 p.m.
