When parents are jailed for wanting their kids to receive a better education, that has to be a sign of hitting rock bottom.
Sure, she broke the law, if you want to adhere to it in the strictest terms. Given her reasons, I don’t think she deserves the punishment. Fine her, make her pay a non-residency fee, something… but a felony conviction is going overboard, given the circumstances.
p.s. My parents falsified information to send me to a better school. True story.