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I'm currently in NYC with plans to move to GA. Over here the school districts and assigned schools are pretty straight forward, but I'm not sure that's the same in Georgia. I'd like some help to clarify if what I'm doing is right.
I'm pulling demographic, school and housing data from this website. I then look at school grades to check school ratings and finally I use Zillow to find rental and properties on sale by zip code. However, when I get the results from Zillow, I only see a handful of assigned schools, not the ones I found originally on city-data (at least not all of them)
Example, I found Marietta to be a good diverse neighborhood, part of COBB county with great schools and housing that is not too expensive.
The Question:
Based on this example, if I find a property in Marietta (zip 30062), is it safe to assume that I will be eligible to apply to ALL schools in COBB county for my kids, or is there any other restriction I need to pay attention to related to housing zones? Please advise.
In some ways it is more complicated than you think and it other ways it is more straight forward.
There is a City of Marietta school system. If you live within the city limits, you children will attend City of Marietta schools.
If you live in unincorporated Cobb, even with a Marietta mailing address, your children will attend Cobb County Schools. For the most part, your kids will attend the schools assigned to where you live "their school district". Cobb has a small number of schools of choice.
Wow. I don't know just where to start, but here are a few pointers.
First, figure out if the house you are looking at is within the city limits of the City of Marietta, or is elsewhere in Cobb County. The City of Marietta has its own school system, separate from Cobb County Schools.
For Marietta City Schools, there is one high school, one middle school, one 6th grade academy and about 8 elementary schools, all of which have a particular magnet focus; if you do not live in a particular City of Marietta elementary school's attendance zone but want your student to attend it, if there's room at the school and the child meets any admission requirements for that specific program, then you're in. Otherwise you can get on the wait list.
If the property is NOT within the City of Marietta but IS within Cobb County, then Cobb County Schools would be your system. There are many different schools at all levels within the Cobb County Schools system. Generally you have to attend the one you're zoned for, though if you are interested and can get admitted to a particular school's magnet program (mostly located only at high schools), you might be able to attend it rather than the school for which you are zoned.
Forget about zip codes as their borders usually have nothing to do with the borders of various attendance districts. You can see rough maps of the various school attendance zones here:
However, to be certain of the zoning of an particular address, you should instead use the databases at the following links, as they're the most accurate :
Finally, take any info regarding schools in real estate listings with a very large grain of salt. I have seen plenty of listings that had the wrong schools listed, and while this is often an innocent mistake, I am afraid that sometimes it is not. Use the databases above and you'll know the correct zone, at least for the current school year.
I believe NYC does it like Queens, where a child can go to any school in the district correct? It's not really that way with Cobb. One can go to any school in the district with a special waiver approved by the school, not too easy to get. Typically a child has to go to the schools assigned to their residence.
One thing to be mindful of, wish I had, is in Cobb most schools do not move up together. For example, your child may go to Kincaid for elementary but not all of Kincaid moves up to the same Middle School and so on. It makes it very hard for kids to keep friends as they get split up with each advancement (elementary to middle to high school).
some schools do move in unison, or close to it, with the majority moving up to the same MS and than HS. I'd definitely try to stay in those districts. Some good ones in East Cobb, the zip you mentioned, plus on Johnsons Ferry rd there are some good "tastes of home" with some NY delis, pizza, jewish bagel store, and lots of transplanted New Yorkers. I'm a Long Island guy myself and have several neighbors from NY/NJ.
In some ways it is more complicated than you think and it other ways it is more straight forward.
There is a City of Marietta school system. If you live within the city limits, you children will attend City of Marietta schools.
If you live in unincorporated Cobb, even with a Marietta mailing address, your children will attend Cobb County Schools. For the most part, your kids will attend the schools assigned to where you live "their school district". Cobb has a small number of schools of choice.
Are you looking to rent or own?
Thanks so much for your help. Would you know if this example applies to other cities and counties, or Marietta is an exception? It seems to me that I'd better check properties and schools assigned to them rather than the opposite.
I'm looking to rent for a few months (3-6) and then buy when I get employed. Thanks again !
Wow. I don't know just where to start, but here are a few pointers.
First, figure out if the house you are looking at is within the city limits of the City of Marietta, or is elsewhere in Cobb County. The City of Marietta has its own school system, separate from Cobb County Schools.
For Marietta City Schools, there is one high school, one middle school, one 6th grade academy and about 8 elementary schools, all of which have a particular magnet focus; if you do not live in a particular City of Marietta elementary school's attendance zone but want your student to attend it, if there's room at the school and the child meets any admission requirements for that specific program, then you're in. Otherwise you can get on the wait list.
If the property is NOT within the City of Marietta but IS within Cobb County, then Cobb County Schools would be your system. There are many different schools at all levels within the Cobb County Schools system. Generally you have to attend the one you're zoned for, though if you are interested and can get admitted to a particular school's magnet program (mostly located only at high schools), you might be able to attend it rather than the school for which you are zoned.
Forget about zip codes as their borders usually have nothing to do with the borders of various attendance districts. You can see rough maps of the various school attendance zones here:
However, to be certain of the zoning of an particular address, you should instead use the databases at the following links, as they're the most accurate :
Finally, take any info regarding schools in real estate listings with a very large grain of salt. I have seen plenty of listings that had the wrong schools listed, and while this is often an innocent mistake, I am afraid that sometimes it is not. Use the databases above and you'll know the correct zone, at least for the current school year.
I can't thank you enough for this valuable information. It is truly appreciated !! I will reference to those databases to be more precise. I've been using this website for a lot of my searches, but it's good to know that real estate listings may not be 100% accurate in regard to school zones, etc. !!
I believe NYC does it like Queens, where a child can go to any school in the district correct? It's not really that way with Cobb. One can go to any school in the district with a special waiver approved by the school, not too easy to get. Typically a child has to go to the schools assigned to their residence.
One thing to be mindful of, wish I had, is in Cobb most schools do not move up together. For example, your child may go to Kincaid for elementary but not all of Kincaid moves up to the same Middle School and so on. It makes it very hard for kids to keep friends as they get split up with each advancement (elementary to middle to high school).
some schools do move in unison, or close to it, with the majority moving up to the same MS and than HS. I'd definitely try to stay in those districts. Some good ones in East Cobb, the zip you mentioned, plus on Johnsons Ferry rd there are some good "tastes of home" with some NY delis, pizza, jewish bagel store, and lots of transplanted New Yorkers. I'm a Long Island guy myself and have several neighbors from NY/NJ.
George, I'm truly amazed by all the support and great advice from this forum. Thanks for the tips which are extremely valuable. It's hard to move out of NY, but the weather and high rents are driving crazy. Good to know I can get some NY style pizzas there ... I'm in Woodside, Queens and one of the places I will miss the most is the pizza joint from the neighborhood ...
Hillgrove high school district, includes Kemp, Still and some of Cheatham Hill Elementary, and Lovinggood. Some of McEachern (namely Varner elementary district).
Harrison is great but it's not diverse. It's mostly white. My children are right now at Vaughan Elementary in Harrison district. My daughter was at Varner last year and Nickajack (Smyrna) the first three years of grade school before that.
ALL Cobb schools other than Marietta are the same district, and pretty much identical academically. HOWEVER, depending on the affluence of the district and size of the school, there will be differences in how much attention your child receives.
If you want to pick a school district that handles diversity well, then I'd honestly look at the West Side elementary zone of Marietta school district (mostly around Polk St in Marietta)
Last edited by netdragon; 08-09-2016 at 10:58 PM..
George, I'm truly amazed by all the support and great advice from this forum. Thanks for the tips which are extremely valuable. It's hard to move out of NY, but the weather and high rents are driving crazy. Good to know I can get some NY style pizzas there ... I'm in Woodside, Queens and one of the places I will miss the most is the pizza joint from the neighborhood ...
Carlos.
There was a change period moving from NY to GA but I would do it again in a heartbeat!!! The weather is better down here, even though July/Aug can be hot, the other 10 months are great. Cost of living is night and day. It did take some time to get used to the slower pace, people walk slower here and talk more with cashiers so the lines move a little slower. It drove me nuts at first, but now I prefer the slower pace much more than NY.
The food was the biggest change. Pizza is defined as "good for Georgia" as are bagels and italian food However, if you look around there are some hidden gems that remind me of home:
La Bellas pizza (Sandy Plains Rd Marietta) is in my opinion the best NY style pizza. He's from Levittown.
Bagelicious on Johnsons Ferry rd is a kosher bagel store, guy is from Brooklyn
E. 48th St Market in Dunwoody: great italian food as well as Italian grocery store. has some things you can't find in GA but were easy to find in NY
Hillgrove high school district, includes Kemp, Still and some of Cheatham Hill Elementary, and Lovinggood. Some of McEachern (namely Varner elementary district).
Harrison is great but it's not diverse. It's mostly white. My children are right now at Vaughan Elementary in Harrison district. My daughter was at Varner last year and Nickajack (Smyrna) the first three years of grade school before that.
ALL Cobb schools other than Marietta are the same district, and pretty much identical academically. HOWEVER, depending on the affluence of the district and size of the school, there will be differences in how much attention your child receives.
If you want to pick a school district that handles diversity well, then I'd honestly look at the West Side elementary zone of Marietta school district (mostly around Polk St in Marietta)
Thanks for the helpful information. This questions has brought me some many more questions and a lot of homework to do. Since I don't know the areas well, I'm relying on maps and other information to make an informed decision. I will look into West Side Elementary, although I was told that there is only one middle and one high school in the Marietta School District, in addition to 6 elementary. My goal is that my kids could start in Elementary and end up with most of their friends up until High School.
Do you know if the entire GA State is like this, or only in Marietta/Cobb District? I mean the way things are segmented by county and geographic areas? In NYC, where I currently live, things are pretty much based on the zip code, so you type in a zip code and you know which school belong to. However, there it seems to be a bit more complex. Thanks again.
CL
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However, if you look around there are some hidden gems that remind me of home:
