I've always heard people talk about shopping for a house with good schools. Around where I live this doesn't really make sense. We have really large school districts here in NC (my current district is supposedly the 21st largest in the country and growing quick).
Here's how our system works: You are assigned to a school or two based on your address (your "base school(s)"). Most people can choose between a year round school (9 wks on/3 wks off), or a "traditional" calendar school with the summer vacation of 2-3 months. Then there is a dozen or two other options throughout K-12 called "magnet" schools, where, by application and presumably lottery drawing, you can send your kids.
In practice, this means that you have a slate of at least 4 elementary schools that you can send your kid to that will pick up/drop off via school bus essentially in front of your house. And then there are another 5-10 magnet schools that provide limited bussing, or parent pick-up/drop-off only. In other words, a pretty wide selection of schools with various specialties and strengths (academics, performing arts, culture, foreign language immersion, International Baccalaureate, etc.).
I have a two daughters a few years away from entering kindergarten. The school in our neighborhood within walking distance that is the "default" school seemed pretty decent when I checked it out a couple years ago.
I checked today, and wow! The neighborhood school was the worst performing elementary school in the entire school district (out of ~130 elementary schools). 59% of students are performing at or above grade level. It has been named the county's only "priority school". It is listed as a "high poverty" school where 65% of the kids are "economically disadvantaged". Predominantly minority - only 17% white students. I know, this probably looks like a junior Harvard or Yale compared to the "real" rough inner-city public schools that many have access to.
A few years back, it wasn't quite this bad, performance-wise. After controlling for things like economic advantage, race, parental education levels, etc. it seemed like non-poor kids of white or asian descent with educated parents did pretty well at this school. But now I'm wondering if I want to send my kids to a school where 50-60% of kids are performing below grade level in some grades and subjects. I have no clue what kind of "advanced track" programs they offer, but I assume they would be limited and the main focus would be getting the 50-60% of underperforming kids trained enough at test-taking in order to increase the pass rate. I'll have to investigate, but the severe drop in test scores seems like either "white flight" or maybe they stopped teaching the test?
Bottom line, I have plenty of viable alternatives (although slightly less convenient). The default "magnet" school has incredible academic stats on paper - 91% of white/asian students above grade level and 8% at grade level (1% performed below grade level). The comments I have seen about this school compare it very favorably to all local private schools (which may be a comment on the caliber of local private schools...). Guess I'm lucky.
Regarding paying a premium to buy a house in a "good school" area - in our district they re-district annually. Probably 10% of folks are affected each year. You may buy into a neighborhood that gets sent to the school you wanted. Then the next year, your kid is getting bussed across the county to a different school (that could be much less desireable).
A question for you: How does it work in your school district/area? If you were stuck in a less-than-desireable "base/home" school, would it be easy to get in a better school within the district? Does your locale have such a thing as houses in "good school" areas or "bad school" areas?
I've read about systems like what Texas has, where districts are very small and primarily funded by local property tax revenue. As a result, there are extreme disparities btw the good (read: rich) school districts and the bad (read: poor) school districts. Is this how most states organize their school districts/funding? I can understand buying into a good school district in systems set up like Texas.
Here's how our system works: You are assigned to a school or two based on your address (your "base school(s)"). Most people can choose between a year round school (9 wks on/3 wks off), or a "traditional" calendar school with the summer vacation of 2-3 months. Then there is a dozen or two other options throughout K-12 called "magnet" schools, where, by application and presumably lottery drawing, you can send your kids.
In practice, this means that you have a slate of at least 4 elementary schools that you can send your kid to that will pick up/drop off via school bus essentially in front of your house. And then there are another 5-10 magnet schools that provide limited bussing, or parent pick-up/drop-off only. In other words, a pretty wide selection of schools with various specialties and strengths (academics, performing arts, culture, foreign language immersion, International Baccalaureate, etc.).
I have a two daughters a few years away from entering kindergarten. The school in our neighborhood within walking distance that is the "default" school seemed pretty decent when I checked it out a couple years ago.
I checked today, and wow! The neighborhood school was the worst performing elementary school in the entire school district (out of ~130 elementary schools). 59% of students are performing at or above grade level. It has been named the county's only "priority school". It is listed as a "high poverty" school where 65% of the kids are "economically disadvantaged". Predominantly minority - only 17% white students. I know, this probably looks like a junior Harvard or Yale compared to the "real" rough inner-city public schools that many have access to.
A few years back, it wasn't quite this bad, performance-wise. After controlling for things like economic advantage, race, parental education levels, etc. it seemed like non-poor kids of white or asian descent with educated parents did pretty well at this school. But now I'm wondering if I want to send my kids to a school where 50-60% of kids are performing below grade level in some grades and subjects. I have no clue what kind of "advanced track" programs they offer, but I assume they would be limited and the main focus would be getting the 50-60% of underperforming kids trained enough at test-taking in order to increase the pass rate. I'll have to investigate, but the severe drop in test scores seems like either "white flight" or maybe they stopped teaching the test?
Bottom line, I have plenty of viable alternatives (although slightly less convenient). The default "magnet" school has incredible academic stats on paper - 91% of white/asian students above grade level and 8% at grade level (1% performed below grade level). The comments I have seen about this school compare it very favorably to all local private schools (which may be a comment on the caliber of local private schools...). Guess I'm lucky.
Regarding paying a premium to buy a house in a "good school" area - in our district they re-district annually. Probably 10% of folks are affected each year. You may buy into a neighborhood that gets sent to the school you wanted. Then the next year, your kid is getting bussed across the county to a different school (that could be much less desireable).
A question for you: How does it work in your school district/area? If you were stuck in a less-than-desireable "base/home" school, would it be easy to get in a better school within the district? Does your locale have such a thing as houses in "good school" areas or "bad school" areas?
I've read about systems like what Texas has, where districts are very small and primarily funded by local property tax revenue. As a result, there are extreme disparities btw the good (read: rich) school districts and the bad (read: poor) school districts. Is this how most states organize their school districts/funding? I can understand buying into a good school district in systems set up like Texas.