Cost of Living and Schools (Burlington, South Burlington: renting, crime, how much)

[vermont08]

I wanted to ask about the cost of living in Burlington vs South Burlington. I have been reading about schools and it seems that the South Burlington students test scores are higher then Burlington students. It also looks like in general the household income is higher in South Burlington thus housing is more too. Which is a big factor for us since we are moving knowing that just like right now we will be living off only my husbands income. So my questions are:

1. Is it worth paying more money to live in South Burlington just based on trying to get our kids into higher rated school? Or are the Burlington schools really fine for the most part and we could save the money by living there closer to town.

2. I also read something about the schools trying to plan a change in order to balance out the lower schools based on household income by changing bus lines. Has anything happened with that?

[chaz longue]

Vermont08 -

I grew up in South Burlington when it was simply a neighborhood within Burlington. I went to grade school there. It later became a town. I moved to Burlington as a young adult and have lived there for many years.

First - You've seen this?
Vermont Department of Education School Report (http://crs.uvm.edu/schlrpt/ - broken link)
It's the best school information I know of on the www.

Yes - There's a lot of activity around a recent proposal to advance "socioeconomic integration" in Burlington's schools. It's being debated in public gatherings sponsored by the city these days. I'm not aware of an analogous proposal in South Burlington. You can read a bit about the proposal at The Burlington Free Press online, and (I believe) at The City Of Burlington's own web page.

Finally, The answer to your question about where to move for the highest school quality isn't one I can address directly in this forum, but I can tell you that in a 20 year practice as a Realtor, this comes up frequently. One observation I have is that the schools in VT in general are likely to strike you as good (depending on where you're coming from, of course) and that the differences between particular schools are probably a more useful distinction that the simple difference between towns themselves.

I hope that helps...

David


First -

[vermont08]

Thanks for the info. I have read the basic reports. Mostly on GreatSchools.net but it is just test scores, some parent reviews and numbers of students per teacher type info. I guess I should say that more then test scores we are looking for the best well rounded education for our girls not that test scores don't matter but just that I know from where we are moving from (central MD has some of the highest test scores in the US) DOES NOT mean the schools are a place I want to send our girls. Between crime (meaning state police and metal detectors in schools and kids still being hurt/killed), pollution, and a crazy (about 180% or more the national average) cost of living it is just not worth it. If you do not think you can post a reply on list for fear of offending people or something just reply using my email address: thelipmans@earthlink.net As we really want to get an idea of which school district would be the best fit for us.

[middle-of-nowhere]

Hi vermont08,

I actually posted something similar a few months back in this VT forum:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/vermo...-district.html

From the description of where you came from, are you also from the DC area? Montgomery or Howard county in particular? I used to live in Northern Virginia. As far as schools being worth the money, I think South Burlington and Essex are good choices. They are quite competitive academically and have good sports and extra-curricular programs as well. They are no Whitman or Churchill in terms of powerhouse academics, but they certainly are in good company after that... with a whole lot less pressure on kids. So they still can lead somewhat normal high school lives.

Some people have told me good things about Burlington High, but I think I'd stick with South Burlington or Essex. Burlington High is probably above average compared with the rest of the state, but I'd still pay a premium for the two I mentioned.

[vermont08]

We are coming from the Baltimore County area in Maryland. Both sides of our family live in Baltimore, Montgomery, and Howard counties. Everyone in our generation (now that we all have kids who will start school in the next few years) are trying to get out of Maryland. It is just not worth it to and esp. our kids to try and stay. We plan on Vermont, my brother has already moved his family to Texas, my sister-in-law and her family plan to move but do not know where yet. I think South Burlington sounds like a good fit for us since both my husband and I are active and would like the girls to get into sports and have a life.

[MRVphotog]

Don't make the same mistake that many parents, including my wife and myself, have made by moving to a community based on statistics like "high test scores".

The success of a child at a particular school ends up, in most cases, having little to do with these factors, especially if they are young.

In Vermont until a few years ago there was a large gap between towns regarding how much money was spent per student. This all changed when the state was sued and resulted in the passing of Act 60 which basically means that rich towns, like Jericho and Stowe have to send money to the poorer towns in order to level the playing field.

Choose a school based on your child's preferences not statistics and the preferences your family have regarding the type of community.

Another result of Act 60 is that there is a big diference in the property tax rates between towns. In addition, in one town the same house can have a much larger value than another town which also affects the amount of property tax you pay.

After living in other places around the country, coming back to Vermont was the best decision we could ever make.

Good luck with your plans.

[vermont08]

Thanks for this post. See for us I think that renting in town would be best for a year or two to get a real good idea of where we want to buy our home. Also since we are coming from a pretty urban area it may be a too harsh of a change to jump right into the more rural towns. I think in the end we will buy in South Burlington but there are too many unknowns right now to say that for sure.