Call it the underbelly of school choice.

Some people will pretend to live in a town where the parents get to pick where their children go to school, Regional School Unit 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle said.

“It happens so often. It's a part of my job that's kind of annoying,” Tuttle said in an interview November 15.

All school districts battle fake residency, but some, like RSU 12, are more tempting for the pretenders, Tuttle said.

Alna and Westport Island got to keep school choice for kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the deal when the district formed; and parents in all towns except Wiscasset (which will be out of the district next July) can choose their students' high school.

That means a more expensive school like Erskine Academy is an option; and money the state kicks in for tuition can fall short of costs, Tuttle said.

District taxpayers foot the part that isn't covered. So false residency claims could be costing them, if the district wasn't vigilant about uncovering those situations and cutting off tuition, Tuttle said.

He said he hasn't been with the district for long, but as far as he can tell, few, if any, incidents of fake residency go undetected for long.

“We're pretty good at catching people,” he said.

He credits the steps the district takes to make sure students really live where their parents say they do.

The standard for residency isn't for the family to own or rent property in a town; it's where the student lays his head at night, Tuttle said.

Methods for verifying residency include checking electric bills and driver's licenses, requiring affidavits in some cases, and asking town clerks.

“They're our best resource,” Tuttle said about town clerks.

Alna Town Clerk Amy Warner used to verify the residencies of all students in that town, until the district formed and took over that duty.

She recently checked on a couple of students' residencies for the district and found out that at least one student didn't live in Alna, Warner said at a selectmen's meeting on November 14.

Warner told selectmen she would like to go back to handling the verification process, because she's in a better position than the district to know who lives there.

“How many students are we really paying for that don't live here,” Warner asked.

Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve agreed that verification at the local level could help make sure those who are exercising school choice have a right to.

“You have to live in Alna to enjoy this wonderful thing we've preserved,” Villeneuve said.

Warner acknowledged, however, that not all town clerks may want the added work.

Tuttle, in the November 15 interview, doubted they would. “There's a lot of leg work,” he said.

Tuttle said he would contact Alna officials about the verification process there, but he has no plans to approach other towns about changing the district's expectations for them.