Are schools really that bad in CO?? (Denver, Colorado Springs: low income, houses)
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So I'm having trouble grasping what the school situation is really like in CO. We're from MN and admit to being fairly spoiled when it comes to schools. We've been looking at relocating to a few areas within CO but one thing we don't want to budge on is making sure our children have access to a great school system. We are also looking at other states with CO being our first choice.
There are quite a few areas and homes we can afford, however the schools are ranked anywhere from 2-6 on GreatSchools website and this troubles me, as when I look at similarly ranked schools where we live now (ones I am very familiar with) they're schools I would NEVER want my children to attend. When I also consider other states (northern GA, Western NC, Raleigh) I'm blown away by the amount of highly rated schools available. This makes me confused.
It's like the areas where schools are ranked higher than a 7 are COMPLETELY out of our price range. It just seems odd that I have so much trouble finding areas where the schools are any good! I always thought CO had a very strong education system similar to ours, yet the "good" schools seem so far and few between. They're basically clustered in small areas very close to major metros, and the vast majority of "rural" Colorado has poor to average schools. Is this really the case?
We are basically considering any area in Denver/CoSprings and westward that has a population of at least 5,000 people. We have a budget of $240k for a 3-4 bedroom home on at least .25 acres. Finding tons of options in Pueblo West, Grand Junction/Fruita, Fountain, Security, Greeley, Co Springs, Florissant, Divide, etc but the schools are all so "meh"!
Is GreatSchools even accurate? The entire state can't possibly be this bad for an average income. Are there any other statistics I should be looking at when it comes to schools/districts? And yes I know I should tour the school and see it firsthand, this is a given and will be done. But what am I missing?
Yes you're missing something. You're thinking that at your price point, you're finding areas where people with average incomes live.
I was in San Diego over the weekend and for fun stopped in an open house near Carlsbad a few block walk from the beach. $1,000,000 for a 4 bedroom. I told the realtor that I was from Denver and just looking to see how far money went here. She laughed and said probably not as far as I was used to. I laughed and told her that house would be $1.2M in my neighborhood. It's admittedly not average for the area, but helps add perspective.
I was there for a wedding and at the wedding was a childhood friend of mine who now lives in Durham, NC. She said that she was considering a move back to Denver, but after looking at what the $370K that her beautiful home with great schools in North Carolina is worth would get her in Colorado, she pulled the plug on that idea.
Bottom line, there are plenty great schools in Colorado, but finding a 1/4 acre 3-4 BR at your price point that has them is going to be really difficult.
Yes you're missing something. You're thinking that at your price point, you're finding areas where people with average incomes live.
I was in San Diego over the weekend and for fun stopped in an open house near Carlsbad a few block walk from the beach. $1,000,000 for a 4 bedroom. I told the realtor that I was from Denver and just looking to see how far money went here. She laughed and said probably not as far as I was used to. I laughed and told her that house would be $1.2M in my neighborhood. It's admittedly not average for the area, but helps add perspective.
I was there for a wedding and at the wedding was a childhood friend of mine who now lives in Durham, NC. She said that she was considering a move back to Denver, but after looking at what the $370K that her beautiful home with great schools in North Carolina is worth would get her in Colorado, she pulled the plug on that idea.
Bottom line, there are plenty great schools in Colorado, but finding a 1/4 acre 3-4 BR at your price point that has them is going to be really difficult.
Well given all the areas I mentioned above, I definitely consider these "average income" locations (in comparison to Denver, I know we cannot afford Denver, not even bothering to look) and we have found plenty of homes we can afford in these locations (plenty = more than 15). But I'm just trying to figure out why all of these areas have such poorly rated or completely average schools, nothing special... so what do people in these areas do? Do they just settle for substandard? Do they go with private or home schooling? I'd like to think that moving to a more rural setting doesn't mean completely forgoing quality education although I could be wrong there. Hoping the ratings are just skewed and really the schools are at minimum average, if not "good"
Well given all the areas I mentioned above, I definitely consider these "average income" locations (in comparison to Denver, I know we cannot afford Denver, not even bothering to look) and we have found plenty of homes we can afford in these locations (plenty = more than 15). But I'm just trying to figure out why all of these areas have such poorly rated or completely average schools, nothing special... so what do people in these areas do? Do they just settle for substandard? Do they go with private or home schooling? I'd like to think that moving to a more rural setting doesn't mean completely forgoing quality education although I could be wrong there. Hoping the ratings are just skewed and really the schools are at minimum average, if not "good"
The anti tax crowd got some legislation passed a while ago that makes it very hard to fund anything unless the majority of the population in an area wants to see it funded. This makes it very bad if you live in an area where the majority don't have kids in school, school funding never happens. See Colorado TABOR for more info.
View the demographics and rating info of the schools you are looking at on the link I provided. It should paint a more complete picture for you of what the residential make up of the areas you are looking at are like. I expect that you will find a very high percentage of "low income" students at the schools you are looking at. Not average incomes.
We moved from New Mexico to Colorado so just about any school district is going to be better compared to where we came from. However, we had to adjust our idea of what type of home and neighborhood we needed to buy into to get into a "really good school district" that had the type of program we needed for our kids. A $250K home got us into the best schools in Albuquerque. We had to up that by another $100k here just to get into a great school district here in Co. We had to buy an older and smaller home than we had in New Mexico for more money. Money doesn't go as far in Colorado. That's just the reality. In our district you would be hard pressed to find a home that you are looking for at a $240K price tag. We live far north Colorado Springs bordering Monument. And I agree with SkyDog, the best schools are in the most expensive areas. I have not researched Pueblo, only CoS and Denver and this holds true.
In MN, the rural population is nearly half as large as the urban population so the density of people in rural counties means they can leverage themselves to a greater degree for good teachers and admin. By comparison, in Colorado, there is less than a quarter of the population that is in rural settings so they lack the population density to provide the tax base that allows them to pursue the best teachers and when bridled by the aforementioned TABOR limitations, have a double whammy to stellar public education.
I'm interested in looking through the link provided by skydog. I know on greatschools, the school my kids are in doesn't seem to rate very highly using their criteria, but I also notice there are considerable populations there that are getting stellar grades, winning awards, and getting scholarships for academics, so I have to question how exactly those ratings are determined.
Kat, Doodlemom is in either D38 or D20, both in northern El Paso County or city of Colorado Springs and both districts are considered very good to excellent, as are a few other districts here. Look at ppar.com to find houses in these areas and see if they fit your budget, there may be some at your price point.
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In MN, the rural population is nearly half as large as the urban population so the density of people in rural counties means they can leverage themselves to a greater degree for good teachers and admin. By comparison, in Colorado, there is less than a quarter of the population that is in rural settings so they lack the population density to provide the tax base that allows them to pursue the best teachers and when bridled by the aforementioned TABOR limitations, have a double whammy to stellar public education.
I'm interested in looking through the link provided by skydog. I know on greatschools, the school my kids are in doesn't seem to rate very highly using their criteria, but I also notice there are considerable populations there that are getting stellar grades, winning awards, and getting scholarships for academics, so I have to question how exactly those ratings are determined.
This is a great point re: rural versus urban populations.
In MN, the rural population is nearly half as large as the urban population so the density of people in rural counties means they can leverage themselves to a greater degree for good teachers and admin. By comparison, in Colorado, there is less than a quarter of the population that is in rural settings so they lack the population density to provide the tax base that allows them to pursue the best teachers and when bridled by the aforementioned TABOR limitations, have a double whammy to stellar public education.
I'm interested in looking through the link provided by skydog. I know on greatschools, the school my kids are in doesn't seem to rate very highly using their criteria, but I also notice there are considerable populations there that are getting stellar grades, winning awards, and getting scholarships for academics, so I have to question how exactly those ratings are determined.
I had not considered that! Very good point indeed. I was hoping to find a small town (5k-40k) within 1-2 hours of an airport, on the western side of the state that had access to some amenities and decent-good schools, I was thinking Woodland Park or Divide, or some of the smaller towns south of Co Spgs but it's just not going to happen it looks like. I either sacrifice my yard, my budget, my schools or my safety. Or all. Back to the drawing board!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Currently a high price of admission for CO, especially acreage / larger lots with good schools. (very limited qty).
Schools do not have to be a deal breaker, and yes, ratings are skewed / focused on test scores not necessary the core learning's / Quality of EDU. You can find great schools / opportunities by being engaged. We did the unschool thing. Lived internationally and came back to USA so our kids got free college instead of having to sit through High School. (WA and HI). Ours have survived 10+ yrs post college and doing fine, and NEVER a school 'drama' / relationship issue.
How old & how many are your kids? There are many great options.
Some of our CO friends moved to Singapore during grades k - 8, specifically for their kids to go to public schools. Thy are doing well in excellent international jobs 10+ yrs post college.
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