Where to send kids to school for best public school football program?

[5stones]

I don't know anyone who DOESN'T own an iPhone

I don't! A data package is just not in the budget... my girls wish we had data package! But I already pay 140.00 per month for cell phones... and now our TV/internet went up when we finally upgraded TV's this year!

But even though we adhere to a budget and my husband is not a techie etc... we would be considered affluent in many other cities...but here we are avg. We carry no debt except our Mortgage. (just paid off new van in 1.5 yrs.!)

yes there are pros an cons to the mega schools...pro are facilities etc... BUT it'a pretty daunting to alot of kids, ESP kids that are not from this area and the BIG HS in thier vacinity had 1800max.
The one thing my daughter doesn't like aobut school here (2800) is that there are sooo many kids she doesn't know, has never heard of etc... Her old HS in VA the senior class as a whole is very close etc...

[usc619]

Originally Posted by Macbeth2003

Ok, I have to jump in (wearing my asbestos suit) on the issue of defining "affluent." If Allen has a median household income of $100,000 dollars that is twice the national average. I think any reasonable measure has to be that twice the average is affluent. Just as if the average shoe size for a man is a 9 and mine was an 18 if someone said I had big feet I couldn't say "Well I have a different definition of big"

For some reason no one in the USA wants to be considered affluent or wealthy anymore, or lower middle class. The truly rich are ok with being rich, the truly poor accept their lot, but everyone else wants to be solidly middle class. Those making $100k a year - generally speaking - worked hard to get there. They either have more education than the average, worked harder than the average, longer hours than the average, etc. They made an economic decision to swap something (free time, a few years of life staying in school instead of out in the world, etc) for a higher income. Good for them. Those of us who consciously made another decision, deciding to live below the average mark but work less, work in an underpaying field, spend more freetime with families etc... good for us too.

What a long way of saying twice the average income is affluent.

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Great post. I read an interesting stat yesterday: 6% of Americans own an iPhone. Only 6%. I thought about my life, friends, coworkers, family members, etc. I don't know anyone who DOESN'T own an iPhone except those who could afford one but choose to stick with Blackberry or something else. But 94% of Americans don't have one- and the vast majority of that 94% probably can't afford one. It hit me- I'm doing a heck of a lot better financially than probably 90% of Americans....even though in my Dallas life, fiancé and I joke that we're "poor" because we still can't swing the HPISD housing costs yet.

$100k is absolutely affluent, upper middle class, etc. If you have money in your 401k/IRA for the future, own a home in a safe/ clean neighborhood with better than average schools, don't worry about putting food on the table, take a family vacation once a year, and can find a way to pay for a child's competitive athletics program ($$$$), then YES- by all means- you are affluent and are living better than 90% of your fellow Americans.

I need to show this to my wife, neighbors and co-workers every time we sit around and complain about our schools taxes, jobs wages(dual income above 100k), neighborhood(above the median price), property taxes, gas prices, preschool cost, and etc.... lol. I really don't think we're affluent at all.

[Macbeth2003]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

$100k is absolutely affluent, upper middle class, etc. If you have money in your 401k/IRA for the future, own a home in a safe/ clean neighborhood with better than average schools, don't worry about putting food on the table, take a family vacation once a year, and can find a way to pay for a child's competitive athletics program ($$$$), then YES- by all means- you are affluent and are living better than 90% of your fellow Americans.

It is a funny effect, and it swings both ways. I remember some tv show a year ago where they pointed out that most people making 25k a year defined themselves as middle class, and most people making 250k a year defined themselves as middle class. They pointed out this made something like 85-90% of America "middle class"

[OpenBook777]

Originally Posted by 5stones

I don't! A data package is just not in the budget... my girls wish we had data package! But I already pay 140.00 per month for cell phones... and now our TV/internet went up when we finally upgraded TV's this year!

But even though we adhere to a budget and my husband is not a techie etc... we would be considered affluent in many other cities...but here we are avg. We carry no debt except our Mortgage. (just paid off new van in 1.5 yrs.!)

yes there are pros an cons to the mega schools...pro are facilities etc... BUT it'a pretty daunting to alot of kids, ESP kids that are not from this area and the BIG HS in thier vacinity had 1800max.
The one thing my daughter doesn't like aobut school here (2800) is that there are sooo many kids she doesn't know, has never heard of etc... Her old HS in VA the senior class as a whole is very close etc...

I like the way you live 5stones! We are working towards a similar lifestyle.

Y'all have touched on some interesting points and raised issues my spouse and I have been considering. Our long term goal is to live way below our means, preferably live on only 1 of our incomes and save the other. This puts us in a smaller home in a different neighborhood than what we *want* but don't *need*. One big reason I don't enjoy Dallas is the pretentious air around here (mixed with smog ) . It's clear to me that a lot of people try to look rich by the car they drive. A 50K car parked in an apartment community screams backwards thinking. Sinking $$ into a depreciating asset rather than saving or investing it is asinine.

In NC where we moved from, I served a lot of C-Level executives in million dollar neighborhoods. The attitude in NC was much different, with very average and even below average/old cars in the driveway of beautiful homes.

My mom works at a law firm here in D, and there's an attorney there (he's in his 80's but still a hard working spit fire!) that resides in Highland Park. While all the homes around him have remodeled or McMansioned the lots, he never gave in to the pressure to do so. His house is tiny and quite honestly, has terrible curb appeal. But he doesn't care. It's still in good condition and he has maintained it, but what I admire is his decision to not 'keep up with the Joneses' even though he could afford to do so.

[loves2read]

it is all perspective and percentage--
many people live in houses--but there is wide diversity in what they look like, what people paid for them, where they are located...
someone making 1MM a year is not likely to live in house that costs 150K--and someone who makes 45K is not going to live in house that someone making 150K lives in either--

some people making more than the US average might choose to spend discretionary income on high-dollar jewelry and some might indulge with private schools for their children--both are consumption items--but one probably carries more negative impressions of indulgent behavior than the other

most people don't want to acknowledge the fact that they are making more money than the "average" in America because they don't want to be labled with all the negatives that being "rich" gets you--
some including that you are "selfish", "elitist", "shallow", "undeserving"

and everyone knows that your capacity to spend money amps up with the more money you have to spend--
there is always a way to justify spending money vs saving it (which is just a less-flashy way to spend money) and living a "reduced" lifestyle

the fact is that probably 90% of the people ON this forum at any given time are likely affluent to certain degree and in someone's perception because they are posting on a computer with Internet access and doing it when most people are at work--on topics that aren't that germane to anyone's livelyhood or home sitautions--
not saying they are Mark Cuban rich--just that they have an awareness and lifestyle that sustains posting on forums like this--which is certainly not designed to make anyone any money or enhance your work performace or clean your house...
even the info that people ask for and that is given (gratis) could likely be found already on the Internet if someone wanted to look for it

[loves2read]

there's an attorney there (he's in his 80's but still a hard working spit fire!) that resides in Highland Park. While all the homes around him have remodeled or McMansioned the lots, he never gave in to the pressure to do so. His house is tiny and quite honestly, has terrible curb appeal. But he doesn't care. It's still in good condition and he has maintained it, but what I admire is his decision to not 'keep up with the Joneses' even though he could afford to do so.
I bet I know that guy--I think his son lives in my old neighborhood

[Lakewooder]

My kind of guy!

Incidentally greatschools.org puts WW at 54% economically disadvantged, LH at 33% - Texas average is 55%.

Washington Post rankings show WW at 58% subsidized lunch, LH at 38%.

This doesn't reflect the recent influx of private school kids into WW for IB - it will be interesting to see if the numbers change in the next few years.

I know some po' people, not everyone around me is rich - I did have that experience at SMU where most people were pretty well off - but since I also went to high school with rich people I didn't have any trouble dealing with them.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by usc619

I need to show this to my wife, neighbors and co-workers every time we sit around and complain about our schools taxes, jobs wages(dual income above 100k), neighborhood(above the median price), property taxes, gas prices, preschool cost, and etc.... lol. I really don't think we're affluent at all.

I googled your zip code - looks like you're in Katy, TX. I'm certainly not going to tell you how to live your life (not my place), but next time you complain you could ask yourselves if there would be an easier/alternate solution to you complaints to use your $100k+ dual income differently.

For example:
PROPERTY TAXES- Katy has one of the highest ISD and city tax rates AND one of the worst ISD homestead exemptions (no 20% deduction in taxable value like Houston ISD, Cy-Fair ISD, etc). Could living in a different ISD or city/suburb/neighborhood reduce your property taxes significantly?

NEIGHBORHOOD- The median sales price in your neighborhood is nearly $400k. Most of the homes have been built since 1990. Could you live somewhere else and have a lower mortgage and lower carrying costs (electricity, etc) by living in a smaller home?

GAS PRICES- Not sure where you work, but your zip code is 25 miles from the Galleria area and 35 miles from downtown. I believe commuting on toll roads too, right? Could you live somewhere closer to your job and cut down on the exhorbidant gas prices & toll expenses?

Preschool costs you can't really do much about, but they're temporary if you plan to go public in Kindergarten.

Just trying to make the point that it is possible that your life choices and "expected" standard / quality of living is making your $100k++ income seem paltry. You make 2.5 TIMES the median income in Houston, so from a percentile ranking, you ARE affluent. Try living on $40k next year and see what you have to cut out to live like an "average" Houston area family and then come tell me that $100k isn't affluent.