ADMINISTRATIVE LAW | EDUCATION LAW
01-2-6488 S.D. v. Bd. of Education of the Township of Marlboro, App. Div. (per curiam) (6 pp.) S.S., the mother of children who attended school in the Marlboro School District, appealed a determination that found her children were not domiciled in Marlboro and required reimbursement of $20,598 in tuition fees. The facts as found by an administrative law judge and adopted by the Assistant Commissioner of Education demonstrated that S.S.’s two children attended school in the Marlboro School District during the 2011-2012 school year. The business administrator initiated an investigation into whether the children were truly domiciled in Marlboro. A private investigator surveilled S.S.’s purported Marlboro residence as well as other locations. He observed that the children would be dropped off at S.S.’s father’s Marlboro home in the morning to catch the school bus and then driven to Edison at night. An ALJ conducted an evidentiary hearing, at which time the investigator, the district business administrator, S.S. and members of S.S.’s family testified. S.S. argued that government documents, bank statements and cell phone bills revealed she had a Marlboro residence and these records conclusively established the children’s eligibility to attend the Marlboro schools. In his decision, the ALJ explained how he evaluated the witnesses and how he determined that the investigator was credible. The ALJ also set forth the legal principles applicable to the meaning of domicile and concluded that S.S. failed to sustain her burden of proof. He thus concluded that the children were ineligible for a free public education in Marlboro and he quantified tuition charges for the period of ineligible attendance. The Assistant Commissioner rendered a written decision, which adopted the ALJ’s decision and concluded, among other things, that the documents offered by S.S. were not in and of themselves determinative of the children’s domicile. Deferring to the agency’s expertise and findings of fact, the appellate panel affirmed.
