Homeless Mom Sent to Jail for Sending Her Kid to a Good School

Illinois Review reports:

Many poor parents are forced to send their children to failing schools with dangerous problems. Parents like Tonya McDowell. The 34-year-old, who was homeless when she was charged with felony larceny last year, said she wanted the best education possible for the boy.

As Onan Coca writes, Ms. McDowell is no saint. She was also convicted of selling drugs and has had other run-ins with the law, but that’s not really the point.

Ms. McDowell will now spend the next five years in prison for “stealing” about $15K in “free” services from the city of Norwalk, CT. How one steals “free” services is still up for debate. What is not up for debate is the ridiculous punishment for attempting to get her child the best education she could.

Proving that successful public education is pseudo-private education: you have to afford an expensive piece of property to get into the good school district.