Jailed Ohio Mom Symptom of a Bigger Problem

For years we as a country have been working on the problem of socioeconomic inequality.  Most officials agree that the solution is better education for our youth.  The problem is how to get low-income children the education they need to break free of the cycle of poverty that has so many people trapped.  Some parents take their childs future into their own hands and do what Kelly Willams-Bolar did, lie about their child's address and send them to a better school district.  Some local governments but lower income children to better income schools to
try to even out the education gap. (Though as per the news story below, some districts are trying to undo the progress that's been made.)

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The law turned Kelley Williams-Bolar into a criminal because she wanted to do better by her kids.  Despite the fact that her father, who does live in the school district and was paying the same taxes as the parents who had children attending the school, the courts decided what she did is tantamount to stealing.  What, may I ask,  was her alternative?  In order to prosecute someone for breaking the law you have to give them the opportunity to do right.  Obeying the law in her case would have meant shortchanging her kids.  For anyone who is a parent, that 's not even a choice.  Making an example of her, as the Ohio legal system has chosen to do, is cruel and unusual punishment.  It's a prime example of what happens when the law is used without compassion or common sense.  It's sad we live in a country where it's legal to send someone to jail for trying to give their children a quality education.

There needs to be a federal standard set for educational curriculum in this country.  If we all have a right to equal education then why is the reality that your education is determined by your economic background?  Being born poor in the United States is bigger barrier to success than any other obstacle and it is ignored until incidents like this happen.  The conservative attitude of having everyone fend for themselves shouldn't apply to education.  That's guaranteed by the law and its time steps were taken by the government to ensure that economic discrimination is brought to an end.