Oklahoma City vs Tulsa - moving to Oklahoma; desire best schools (living, state)

[ChewyCarmel]

We're moving to Oklahoma and have never been there before. We have 3 children and would like to live where the schools are best. Would it be better to live in the Oklahoma City area, or Tulsa? My initial research seems to indicate OKC has the best school district in Edmond, but Tulsa seems to have a lot of great individual schools. Any advice or suggestions?

[flyingcat2k]

There are big battles brewing over public schools in Oklahoma. By and large, the best public high schools in the state are Jenks, Edmond (4 HS) and Booker T. Washington in Tulsa. All schools in Oklahoma are open enrollment except for magnet programs, which Booker T. is, so where you live in town doesn't necessarily determine where your children attend school.

OKC schools are terrible. I wouldn't recommend any of them. The 'burbs have the better districts in that MSA. I can't say for certain but it appears Edmond Memorial is run for the benefit of the foo'ball team. That's a minus for me but for others its a plus. I would rank Edmond's high schools higher than Norman which is higher than Moore, Choctaw and Yukon. I don't know where Putnam (NW OKC) falls in the mix but probably would put it with Moore. Anywhere near Tinker is full of Air Force brats so that's a mixed bag. Midwest City and Del City have VERY high crime rates and are not safe.

Tulsa has a big range from Booker T and Edison which are top 100 to Hale and East Central which are horrible. Edison is often seen as the "safety" school for those who can't get in to Booker T but want to remain in Tulsa Public. Usually, they live in midtown Tulsa where the school is located but not always. Some students who can't get in to Booker T go to Jenks, Union or private/charter schools.

Jenks is good but your students will be subjugated to the whims of the foo'ball and cheer squads which run the school district. Even elementary schools have tackle foo'ball and cheer so the pecking order starts early. Some parents are ok with it. I'm not thus I don't live in that district. Union (SE Tulsa) has some major gang issues that their management will not address so I wouldn't recommend it.

As far as other Tulsa suburbs (Jenks is a suburb but the district extends into southern Tulsa), Bixby is likely your next best option with Owasso and Broken Arrow right behind. From there it gets a little fuzzy. Sand Springs and Catoosa are ok but I haven't had much experience with Collinsville. Bad suburbs are Glenpool (lax teaching) and Sapulpa (drugs, primarily meth).

As for the battles, you should know that it was OKC area legislators that wanted to ban hoodies, ban AP classes and are pushing to put state funding on a debit card for parents to spend on education but can be spent at such fine establishments as casino ATMs and liquor stores. Tulsa legislators are unanimous in opposing this idiocy. You may want to think about that when picking a city.

[ChewyCarmel]

Thank you flyingcat. That's a lot to digest. One question though. If most schools are open enrollment, how would we go about ensuring our kids get enrolled in a good school? Do the schools at least give preference to those living nearby?

[flyingcat2k]

Originally Posted by ChewyCarmel

Thank you flyingcat. That's a lot to digest. One question though. If most schools are open enrollment, how would we go about ensuring our kids get enrolled in a good school? Do the schools at least give preference to those living nearby?

If you want to ensure your kids are enrolled in a good school, you should try to live in the district. Open enrollment, in OK, means that if you enroll your child from out of district, the parent is responsible for transportation to and from school. Most parents don't have time to drive kids to and from school every day so this lowers the elementary school transfers. It is usually a bigger issue at the MS and HS level as the athletic departments get involved and more parents are willing to put their kids on city busses.

For Tulsa, to live in Booker T. district, that means living in the worst part of Tulsa. Not just north of Admiral/I-244 but in the worst part of North Tulsa. The campus is very safe so the atmosphere is like what you would find at USC. A very, very safe campus but you don't want to cross the street. I can't recommend living in that district but the Edison district is Midtown Tulsa which is one of the best areas in the state. Both Edison and Booker T. have "Magnet" and "Community" tracks. Magnet is for college-bound students while community is for non-college students. The students will have common teachers and some common classes like gym. Given I have 2 special needs step-children, I like this.

As far as purchasing, Edmond had a serious drop off in home sales this winter while the rest of OKC metro was up. I think this has to do with the Edmond city council and competition for mid-to-upper end housing than schools. The traffic in Edmond is terrible and the council seems bound and determined to make things worse. The other cities in OKC metro, including OKC, are making inroads in building more upscale housing and Edmond, for a long time, was the "premier" place to live. You might be able to find a deal there if you can put up with the traffic.

If you can hold off on purchasing, you may get better deals. Both Tulsa and OKC have large energy sectors that are laying off workers so more homes will be up for sale this summer. OKC is on the "watch" list for real estate prices dropping due to this. Tulsa isn't in the top 50 (just outside) so it hasn't been discussed by Case-Schiller but it could take a hit here as well. Tulsa hasn't seen as many layoffs and office closures as OKC and the economy is more diversified. If Sandridge Energy goes bankrupt, OKC housing will take a hit (~10%) and you will get a deal then.