[NatsMartin]

Again me with some more questions before moving to CT from Germany....
I know public schools are excellent but are there school taxes you have to pay? And who pays the property-taxes if you rent a house? The houseowner or us? And how much aproximately is the cost for phone/mobile/month? We need to make long-distance-calls as well.....
And how much is daycare/kindergarten/preschool? We have two girls age 4 and 2? At what age do they attend wich kind of daycare?
thanks for any answers,
NatsMartin

[JayCT]

I can answer some of your questions. Schools are supported by property taxes so the owner of the home pays for them. As a renter, you normally do not pay any taxes except for taxes on your car. Kindergarten is part of the public schools so you wouldn't pay for it unless you wanted to send your child to private schools. Many towns also offer preschool programs as well.

The normal age for Kindergarten here is 5. If you child turns 5 within the calendar year, she will be able to start kindergarten in Connecticut. Private preschool can start as early as 3 years old here, but I believe the public school program starts at 4 years old. It has been years since we had to pay for preschool or daycare so I do not know how much you will pay. You can check the cost of cell phone service with one of the service providers like Verizon or AT&T. Jay

[notjustamom]

I can help with a few of your questions. For kindergarten, your child must turn 5 by December 31 to be eligible to begin at the start of the school year in September. So there are some 4 year olds in kindergarten at the start of each kindergarten school year, but they must turn 5 by December 31. However, many people keep a child back one year if they have a "late" calendar birthday, preferring their child to be 5 1/2 by the start of the school year instead of 4 1/2. And I believe all children must begin kindergarten by the age of 6, that is the law, so you can only hold them back one year. Some towns in Connecticut have all day kindergarten, others have half day kindergarten.

For preschool, the December 31 rule also applies. The 3 year old program is generally held two mornings a week from September -May. The 4 year old program generally meets three mornings a week. The following year you could choose a five day "pre-kindergarten" program that generally meets 5 mornings a week, or send your almost 5/5 year old to kindergarten. My 3 1/2 year old goes to preschool two mornings a week, and the tuition is $135.00 a month. Prices and programs will vary, you can find different days/hours/tuitions tailored to your specific needs, but the above schedule and price is pretty typical. A full day in daycare would be a lot more expensive.

A basic landline phone for us is about $20.00 a month, but we have a few extras like caller-Id, and it totals more like $45.00 a month. A cell phone will run you anywhere from about $25.00 a month for 60 minutes, on up. We have the Verizon Family Plan which is rather costly, but we have four of us sharing the same plan and 500 minutes, free evenings and weekends, and free calls to other Verizon users, all totally about $100.00 a month. I think ours is about as expensive as you can get, yours would likely fall closer to $25.00-$50.00 a month. There are many different plans and carriers for you to choose from.