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Hi my husband will be working in Albany but travelling a lot and I will be working in Troy, we have a 4.5 years old and a toddler. Which school districts are the best? I gathered from other threads that Delmar/Bethlehem are good? it would be nice to know good inhome/daycares as well...Thanks in advance
Bethlehem, Niskayuna, and North Colonie usually get the highest scores, and, not coincidentally, also are the wealthiest school districts. I know your kids are young, but do you know what sorts of things you are looking for in a school district?
Like you guessed I don't know yet but safety, 1-1 attention from the teacher so I guess the the student ratio, if they offer other languages that's a plus! good physical activities is important...so do you suggest an elementary school? thx
Welcome to Upstate NY. I currently live in Albany, and am actually looking to move out of NY but that being said: I grew up in Delmar and it's a wonderful town, but it's pricey. Taxes run about 3800-6000/year but you get what you pay for. It has a great village, many services close by and the school district is great. Voorheesville, which is slightly more rural is an even better district. Bethlehem is much larger than Voorheesville. Other good schools: North Colonie, Guilderland etc. If you are working in Troy, the communte from this side of the river over isn't bad since traffic goes in the opposite direction.
I would stay away from Albany schools, Troy, Lansingburgh etc. They aren't bad schools, but they are city schools so some elementary schools are wonderful, some not so much. The middle and high schools are more like institutions than schools. There are just TOO many children packed into one building. Bethlehem has a ton of extracurricular activities, a great Town Park, dog park etc. It's suburbia for sure. If you are looking for arts and culture and diversity you won't find it there. The rents in Delmar are high, you can find homes for under $200,000 but they will be smaller and older, and probably need work.
As for in-home childcare, check the Spotlight newspaper for New Scotland and Bethlehem, I know they exist. I was in an in-home daycare before I entered kindergarten (I'm 30 now). Bethlehem also has full-day kindgergarten while Voorheesville does not.
Some others to consider are Guilderland, East Greenbush, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, Voorheesville, Shenendehowa and Averill Park, among some others.
I agree that most of these are OK. I recommend that anyone stays far away from Shenedehowa (Clifton Park.) It's a very large and very crowded school system. I hear a lot of stories of children getting lost in the shuffle.
Out of these I'd say that Guilderland and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake are the best.
As someone already pointed out - the best schools in this region are Niskayuna and North Colonie. I'd rank Niskayuna as the winner here.
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