Giving Compass' Take:

· School districts are working to ensure that tax dollars paying for the education of students is strictly used for residents. By hiring private investigators, school districts are able to save money by withdrawing illegal students form their schools.

· What kinds of effects or consequences can come from using private investigators to track kids illegally enrolled in suburban schools?

· Read more about illegal immigration and DACA.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Tina Blanchette is doing what a lot of moms do on weekday afternoons: waiting in a suburban parking lot for a kid to arrive.

While idling in her inconspicuous, white SUV, we chat about her interests and her three children. Midway through a sighing soliloquy about travel soccer, Blanchette spots a Lexus as it scoots past us.

Here is where Blanchette’s parking-lot loitering takes a turn from the ordinary. She whips out a small camcorder and films a teenage boy as he steps out of the Lexus and into a two-story townhome.

When she isn’t shuttling kids to practice or binge-watching HBO, Blanchette is a private eye.

There are 63 school districts in the four collar counties surrounding Philadelphia, and nearly all of them spend time and money making sure students from outside the district don’t try to sneak in. Enforcement is necessary, administrators say, to ensure that legal residents  — and legal residents alone — receive the benefits of their tax dollars. Several district officials said they’ve increased their vigilance in recent years. And the trend isn’t limited to Pennsylvania. Districts around the region — from Washington, D.C. to New Jersey— use private investigators.

Read the full article about private eyes working for school districts by Avi Wolfman-Arent at The Hechinger Report.