HOOVER, Ala. – A Hoover councilman wants to make criminals out of parents who are seeking the best education possible for their children.

Gene Smith recently proposed an ordinance that would officially make it a crime for parents who reside outside of the Hoover school district boundaries to sneak their children into city schools, alleging that hundreds of current students could already be gaming the system, AL.com reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

The move comes as officials are reworking the district boundaries to prevent overcrowding at Hoover schools, which are known as some of the best in the area. Parents are already upset over the redistricting, but Smith wants to ensure those who lie to get their children into better schools are prosecuted for their actions.

“If they do it and they are caught, they should pay the price,” Smith said, according to AL.com. “Hopefully, as people are caught, other people will feel like they don’t want to take a chance of having a criminal record, and they may go to another system, preferably their own, and not take up valuable spots that are causing some of the overcrowding.”

He’s even advocating for jail time for those who violate the proposed ordinance.

“I’m hoping that six months in jail is enough to convince people that pretend to live here that they should either be here legally or go to the school system responsible where they truly live … I really don’t know anything else that we can do other than make it uncomfortable for those who want to break the law,” Smith said.

There’s a few issues with Smith’s proposal. The first is he may be exaggerating the scope of the problem, as Wayne Smith, the district’s attendance coordinator, contends he’s unaware of anyone violating the residency requirement.

“I’m starting my 13th year in this job, and I know of no student who attends Hoover (schools) who cannot legally be here,” Wayne Smith told AL.com, although he acknowledged that with 14,000 students in the district “there could be some cases where that occurs.”

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Wayne Smith also rebutted the councilman’s assertions that apartment dwellers can more easily skirt the system, and that district officials have been slacking with enforcement.

All student families are required to provide a copy of either a lease or deed, and in special circumstances where one is not available parents must sign an affidavit swearing to the child’s living arrangements within the district.

Wayne Smith told AL.com school staffers also make surprise visits to verify students’ residency, and are often criticized as harassing parents.

“I really don’t know how we can be more stringent than we are,” he said.

The other issue is it’s already a crime for anyone in Alabama to present falsified documents to a government agency. Councilman Smith, however, contends he wants to save the state district attorney’s office the hassle of enforcing the law, which likely isn’t a top priority.

While the residency issue doesn’t seem to be much of a problem to begin with, the councilman’s proposal is quite illustrative of the protectionist mentality that permeates many public school administrations and city councils. Most loathe competition from charter schools or other education options, as well as outsiders who want to send their children to quality schools.

They want to live in isolation.

But the sad reality is that open enrollment policies in numerous states, and areas with intense charter school competition that give parents options, have a natural tendency to improve learning for all students. The competition forces schools to continuously improve academics to recruit students, and the state funding attached to them. The best schools thrive and those with poor academic performance wither away.

Policies like the proposed ordinance in Hoover only seek to limit choices and make criminals out of loving, engaged parents.

And no parent should rot in jail for perusing a quality education for their child.