Anyone heard of the Buford school system? (Atlanta, Marietta: home, schools)

[Lizzy5]

I heard you can pay to go to the Buford School System. Why would one do that? Is it that much better than other schools in that area?

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Lizzy5

I heard you can pay to go to the Buford School System. Why would one do that? Is it that much better than other schools in that area?

It is known for its small, community schools...a la the City Schools of Decatur.


Small, city school systems are one the best things going on in education right now. More and more people are realizing this.

For comparison, you might want to look into other small, city school systems in the Metro Atlanta area:

City Schools of Decatur
Marietta City Schools
Cartersville City Schools
Social Circle City Schools
Gainesville City Schools
Carrollton City Schools

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by aries4118

It is known for its small, community schools...a la the City Schools of Decatur.


Small, city school systems are one the best things going on in education right now. More and more people are realizing this.

For comparison, you might want to look into other small, city school systems in the Metro Atlanta area:

City Schools of Decatur
Marietta City Schools
Cartersville City Schools
Social Circle City Schools
Gainesville City Schools
Carrollton City Schools

I don't know much about the Buford or Decatur schools, but I would not hold the Marietta City Schools up as examples of superior education when compared to the Cobb system. I live 1/2 mile from the Marietta city limit, and home values increase at the line as you enter the unicorporated area, just because people want to send their kids to the Cobb system and not the Marietta system. This was a point that was made to us several times while looking for our home.

Although not related to GA, in Massachusetts, there are no counties or county schools. Each town/city has its own schools. This leads to lack of resources and duplication of effort with more than 100 school systems in a small state, and in many cases now the trend is for 2 or 3 towns to band together to maximize resources and eliminate duplication moving away from smaller school systems.

[MSLM]

I live just north of Buford in Hall county and I have heard that Buford schools
are very good. We live in Flowery Branch and I find this area to be very safe.
I have a 4 1/2 yr old girl and being from Miami, it was very important for me to find someplace friendly and safe.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Although not related to GA, in Massachusetts, there are no counties or county schools. Each town/city has its own schools. This leads to lack of resources and duplication of effort with more than 100 school systems in a small state, and in many cases now the trend is for 2 or 3 towns to band together to maximize resources and eliminate duplication moving away from smaller school systems.

Try NJ, where the same absurd town/city school system has resulted in over 500 districts in the state. The difference is, they're all so hung up on "home rule" that non of them would be willing to band together to maximize resources. And they wonder why they've got a $30 billion budget deficit........

[neil0311]

In fact Bob, another town near where I lived just announced they are looking into regionalization. The trend is moving away from "small city school systems" not towards it. And yeah, Jersey is just as wacked. My aunt lived in Monroe Twsp.

Lunenburg weighs regionalizing schools - Sentinel & Enterprise