Single Teacher, Considering Move

[Rae']

By smaller district, I really meant anything that wasn't AISD, although RR is growing verey rapidly. I noticed Pflugerville felt a lot more like a small town district 4 years ago, but they are dealing with rapid growth, too. People that I know that teach in RR and Lake Travis seem to be very happy with their districts. I would definitely consider the starting pay and the pay scale. When I applied a few years back there was a big difference in pay in the surrounding districts.
I think getting in the district of your choice should be a higher priority than teaching the AP. You can always try to get those classes once you are in a district you love, especially if you develop a good relationship with your principal.
New school's seem like a good opportunity, but a lot of times the principal that will be opening the new campus will bring a lot of teachers with them, which will open up more opportunities at already existing schools. I would search the job opportunities sites on each district and make phone calls to the school to see if they have those positions still open, sometimes those were out of date as soon as they went up.
Also, if it gets to be difficult to find a teaching position, you may consider subbing in different schools and/or districts. This gives you many resources to meet and impress the people that do the hiring, as well as gives you a better idea of the differences in schools and districts.
A lot of schools have student teachers from Texas State and end up hiring them, so that is a lot of the new teachers you will be competing with, along with many newer alternative certification programs that have become more popular recently.

[umgoblue80]

I work for Fairfax schools as well and my mom has lived in Austin for the past 25 years.

Believe me, traffic in Austin, while bad at times is nowhere as insane as it is in NOVA. Good thing about Austin is that even in high traffic times you can still take the side roads. There aren't rivers all over the place that are only crossed by two or three bridges.

I am ready to move back to Austin and will be doing so this upcoming summer. If you have never lived in Tx, you will get a year to take your TeXes tests, so make sure ya get on that.

From what I know, I prefer the NW part of Austin over the south. Dell has really brought a lot of changes in the North.

For info on districts put "Texas Regional Educations Service Centers" in Google and go to region 13 (I think that's Austin)

if you need anything else drop me a line at: umgoblue80@yahoo.com

[Melissa78703]

You might like Georgetown, San Marcos, Taylor, or Granger a little bit better than Austin. You can get out in the Austin suburbs, but there's still a lot of traffic and congestion, especially in Round Rock.

[LuvNLakeLivN]

Cedar Park would be a great fit for you. The area is relatively safe for a single gal and the Leander school district has 21 elementary schools and probably a couple more under construction. There are very affordable properties to buy such as a brand new condo in the very low $100K's or if you prefer to rent first, plenty of rental property to choose from. Cedar Park is centrally located to provide access to great medical care, numerous shopping opportunities, close proximity to Lake Travis recreational amenities and just a hop, skip and a jump down the brand new toll roads to downtown Austin for those occasional nights in the Live Music Capital of the World. Call the chamber of commerce or go to their website and request some info. Oh, and they have just approved a huge sports complex that will house the professional ice hockey team. You can't hardly lose if you LAND in Cedar Park.