Photo by Mr. T in DC

When we wrote about D.C.’s master fee schedule earlier today, we noticed that sending an out-of-state students to D.C. public schools can cost between $6,709 and $11,986. That, of course, got us to thinking—how many non-residents actually send their kids to D.C. public schools?

Not many, it seems. According to an audit performed by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent for Education, of the 45,191 students in D.C. public schools, only 198 are non-residents. Of the 31,562 students enrolled in public charter schools, 38 were from outside D.C.

Still, the interesting issue seems to be that many of those non-resident students just don’t pay what they owe. The audit found that 126 of the 198 non-resident students in DCPS avoided paying their way; in charter schools, it was 32 of the 38.

Even bigger an issue is the 118 non-resident students that attend “non-public schools,” which in this case means special education programs. As the Examiner explains, they can be very expensive, requiring busing students to and from schools that may be far outside D.C.:

Under federal law, the District must pay to send special-education students whose needs aren’t served by their neighborhood schools elsewhere, often to private school. Between tuition and transportation — school buses regularly transport students to Baltimore and further — the average cost per student is $65,000 each year.

The most popular school for out-of-towners? Tenleytown’s Wilson High School, which reported some 37 students under investigation, 22 of which remain so.

“Education is free, but not without cost,” said State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley in a statement. She said that Maryland and Virginia residents attending public school in the District place an unfair burden on D.C. taxpayers.