Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 03-08-2019, 08:25 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,815 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Anyone with little kids, that moved from Chicago suburbs? Because of a job change, we are considering relocating to Austin. Our kids will start 1st grade Aug '19..
We are wondering how do the school districts compare? What about the extra offerings , like spanish/dual language enrichment/immersement programs in schools? Do school districts generally have school buses - like for a monthly payment for those who do not qualify based on distance? Are there equivalent programs/ facilities to the park district programs? (Or should we expect any MAJOR life/ quality of life changes?)

Also, can anyone provide an idea what will private school kindergarten cost per year.. Our youngest will need it.

Last edited by nk90; 03-08-2019 at 08:42 PM.. Reason: more details
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-08-2019, 08:41 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,604,320 times
Reputation: 5701
Austinisd.org

https://www.ltisdschools.org

Pflugerville Independent School District / Homepage

https://www.dsisdtx.us

https://www.leanderisd.org

Those are the most popular districts. There are good and bad with all the districts. AISD had dual language classes. Where is the potential job? What is your budget? What do you want to be by? All this is important for us to know to offer appropriate reccomendations. Austin is a large area and traffic sucks. I know, “I’m from Chicago, I can do a commute.” Come and visit before commiting to one area, please.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-09-2019, 09:32 AM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,038,189 times
Reputation: 3915
Why will your youngest need private kindergarten? Most private schools are not set up for special needs. Catholic parish schools are the cheapest about $8K per year for elementary, all the way up to $20K+ at the high end.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-09-2019, 06:26 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,815 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by centralaustinite View Post
Why will your youngest need private kindergarten? Most private schools are not set up for special needs. Catholic parish schools are the cheapest about $8K per year for elementary, all the way up to $20K+ at the high end.

Her birthday is in September, so she falls off the cut-off date for kindergarten admission in public schools in TX. In our school district in Chicago suburbs, she qualified for the 'early entry' program based on some evaluation they did. (a program available for kids who just missed the Sept. 1 cut off)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-09-2019, 06:31 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,815 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by ashbeeigh View Post
Austinisd.org

https://www.ltisdschools.org

Pflugerville Independent School District / Homepage

https://www.dsisdtx.us

https://www.leanderisd.org

Those are the most popular districts. There are good and bad with all the districts. AISD had dual language classes. Where is the potential job? What is your budget? What do you want to be by? All this is important for us to know to offer appropriate reccomendations. Austin is a large area and traffic sucks. I know, “I’m from Chicago, I can do a commute.” Come and visit before commiting to one area, please.

Ashbee, right.. I agree.. plan is to come in May and then find out a neighborhood/school system that work and is good commute wise to Mopac/290 .,,..Lets say, Near 5700 S MoPac Expy, Austin, TX 78749.

Like someone said; would like to find the best schools near to it and a neighborhood that feeds into there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-09-2019, 06:48 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX via San Antonio, TX
9,843 posts, read 13,604,320 times
Reputation: 5701
Quote:
Originally Posted by nk90 View Post
Ashbee, right.. I agree.. plan is to come in May and then find out a neighborhood/school system that work and is good commute wise to Mopac/290 .,,..Lets say, Near 5700 S MoPac Expy, Austin, TX 78749.

Like someone said; would like to find the best schools near to it and a neighborhood that feeds into there.
The schools in that area are fine, actually, best in the area. Please search for "Bowie" and you should come up with appropriate responses. FWIW, she should qualify for pre-k, although, it would be a cost. Baranoff, in the area, will start a pre-k program. With your daughter being an older pre-k, that would be a good fit. That's the shady hollow area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2019, 08:23 AM
 
390 posts, read 668,046 times
Reputation: 299
We moved from the Western suburbs of Chicago in 2010 when my oldest was entering 1st grade. We chose to live in SW Austin which would be a convenient area for you to look at considering the job location, but it sort of depends on your budget.

We came from a desirable school district in IL and we've been quite happy with the schools and level of education that our kids have received in TX. At the time we moved, our district in IL offered full day kindergarten for an additional fee. The standard kindergarten was half a day though. I'm not sure if that's still how it is (although I think it is because my brother elected to put his son in a private school this year because his son was placed into afternoon kindergarten), but the standard here is full day kindergarten. What my oldest did in kindergarten in IL is starkly different than what my youngest did in kindergarten in TX. She's in high school right now, but she clearly remembers feeling "behind" when she moved here.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything like the park district programming that we had in suburban Chicago here. I really missed that when we moved here! We did a ton of classes through our park district in IL and through our local library. There is the new central library in Austin. It's fine. Some people love it. I'm not crazy about it and it doesn't have the community programming that our library in IL had. I still found plenty of things for my kids to do once we moved here, but it was a disappointment to lose those type of offerings that we had in IL.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-10-2019, 09:31 AM
 
895 posts, read 1,233,389 times
Reputation: 610
We moved from a very good school district in the Chicago burbs around 5 1/2 years ago. The schools in that district are top notch not only for the state but for the country. After a year we ended up purchasing a home in Leander and absolutely love it here. There is indeed a lot (probably more then we’d like to admit) that we miss from Chicago (beyond the obvious of family). Food options pale in comparison to what was available in the burbs of Chicago, entertainment options pale in comparison, drivers here are insanely aggressive and **** poor in skill, traffic obviously isn’t the best due to the rate of people moving here and the unwillingness of the city’s residents to actually approve a plan of action instead of complaining about it. But all in all the area has been great to us. Those other things (food and entertainment) should continue to grow with the growth of the city. As far as the school district.. Leander is where we are and it’s great. It’s not nearly as good as where we came from especially test wise but we’re in Texas and the diversity of the populations speaking greatly impacts the scores (when a chunk of the school has grown up at home speaking strictly Spanish..). Plenty of good schools west/southwest/northwest. Find somewhere you feel comfortable living before you just move next door to where you work. Everyone’s different but 98% of the recommendations that come on here will be to just live where you work. That’s a great idea if it’s somewhere you WANT to live, and feel good about with the schooos etc. Do your research and I’m sure you find plenty of fits in the area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top