Urban Education

For years, wealthy suburban schools have been rooting out students who sneaked in from neighboring, financially strapped urban districts. To catch these suburban impostors, school district sleuths have used such tactics as examining students' telephone numbers or checking to see whether they ride city buses.

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But in Chicago, school officials say suburban children are slipping into the city to go to school--without paying tuition.

The revelation is noteworthy for a district long known for its troubled schools: 71 elementary schools and 38 high schools were placed on academic probation last fall because their test scores...