Plano ISD/ Frisco ISD or Allen ISD..Locals pick frisco (Dallas: loan, how much)

[PISDstudent]

Originally Posted by thalman

That website means nothing for the comparison because it could come down to the personal preference of the student + ranking of the major/degree + where they got the scholarship, right?

Oh, I didn't intentionally link to that page on where Vals/Sals are going to college; the website has a lot of other information too. But that list can be interesting - ideally, you would want to see a school's top grads going on to the country's best colleges; it's pretty hard to turn down Harvard or Stanford, even if you got a scholarship somewhere else. That Allen High School's number two student is going to community college gives me pause.

Originally Posted by thalman

But since you were a student at Plano west, you probably have some good info on comparing Plano west vs frisco and what ur fellow students have to say about that. It will be great to get your feedback. I am also planning to move to Plano west also but second choice is Frisco. Even though my kids will not be going to high school for another 8 years or so, I still want to ensure that I pick the right place right from the very start.

I actually know people who have moved from Liberty high school in Frisco to Plano West, and from Plano Schools to Frisco Schools, so I have a decent idea on the differences.

In a nutshell, there's a very high-achieving top segment of the class at Plano West that isn't found in Frisco. This means that getting a top rank is more competitive, but it also means that the classes and teachers in the AP/Honors classes have higher expectations of the students, and in general do a great job of preparing the kids for college. You'll see kids from Plano win science fairs, make all-state band/choir/orchestra by the dozens, and get into top colleges; this doesn't really happen so often in the Frisco schools, or at least, not yet. The main con for Plano West is that it will be more stressful; the main pro is that you're in stronger classes with brighter students than you would be otherwise.

Another difference is the size- people coming to Plano West from Frisco have found it to be more "collegiate", for lack of a better word- the campus is a multi-building complex, the graduating classes are substantially larger, and Plano West offers many more clubs/classes/activites, because it has the enrollment to support it. Do note that Plano West is only grades 11-12; Jasper and Shepton High Schools house the 9-10 students that will end up at Plano West.

I hope this helped...I know that different people focus on different things in schools, so I tried to keep this pretty general.

[Keepingitsimple]

Originally Posted by thalman

That website means nothing for the comparison because it could come down to the personal preference of the student + ranking of the major/degree + where they got the scholarship, right?

In any case a good website.

But since you were a student at Plano west, you probably have some good info on comparing Plano west vs frisco and what ur fellow students have to say about that. It will be great to get your feedback. I am also planning to move to Plano west also but second choice is Frisco. Even though my kids will not be going to high school for another 8 years or so, I still want to ensure that I pick the right place right from the very start.

My 2 cents are that from sixth grade kids should be in middle school feeding to their target high school. Good middle schools are competitive and they put a kid on high school track years before he/she ever puts foot in his high school.

[thalman]

Originally Posted by PISDstudent

I hope this helped...I know that different people focus on different things in schools, so I tried to keep this pretty general.

Absolutely helps. Thanks a bunch for the info.

[thalman]

Originally Posted by Keepingitsimple

My 2 cents are that from sixth grade kids should be in middle school feeding to their target high school. Good middle schools are competitive and they put a kid on high school track years before he/she ever puts foot in his high school.

Thanks. Great point.

[sonika1976]

Originally Posted by PISDstudent

Oh, I didn't intentionally link to that page on where Vals/Sals are going to college; the website has a lot of other information too. But that list can be interesting - ideally, you would want to see a school's top grads going on to the country's best colleges; it's pretty hard to turn down Harvard or Stanford, even if you got a scholarship somewhere else. That Allen High School's number two student is going to community college gives me pause.





I actually know people who have moved from Liberty high school in Frisco to Plano West, and from Plano Schools to Frisco Schools, so I have a decent idea on the differences.

In a nutshell, there's a very high-achieving top segment of the class at Plano West that isn't found in Frisco. This means that getting a top rank is more competitive, but it also means that the classes and teachers in the AP/Honors classes have higher expectations of the students, and in general do a great job of preparing the kids for college. You'll see kids from Plano win science fairs, make all-state band/choir/orchestra by the dozens, and get into top colleges; this doesn't really happen so often in the Frisco schools, or at least, not yet. The main con for Plano West is that it will be more stressful; the main pro is that you're in stronger classes with brighter students than you would be otherwise.

Another difference is the size- people coming to Plano West from Frisco have found it to be more "collegiate", for lack of a better word- the campus is a multi-building complex, the graduating classes are substantially larger, and Plano West offers many more clubs/classes/activites, because it has the enrollment to support it. Do note that Plano West is only grades 11-12; Jasper and Shepton High Schools house the 9-10 students that will end up at Plano West.

I hope this helped...I know that different people focus on different things in schools, so I tried to keep this pretty general.

Thanks so much. We come from a very small town and though the newness in frisco sometimes blinds us...we are much more open to the idea of a used home now. We want our child having that competition rather than just clearing grades. We were looking for something "extra" in the previous school, something which makes him work harder to feel challenged. Maybe plano is the way to go for us. Thanks again!

[Funtastic44]

Who are these people spreading misinformation ? Builders & realtors who need to sell properties or people who already bought there? Allen performs lower than Frisco and their high school population is at least two times larger than Plano schools and probably 4 times bigger than Frisco high schools.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by Funtastic44

Who are these people spreading misinformation ? Builders & realtors who need to sell properties or people who already bought there? Allen performs lower than Frisco and their high school population is at least two times larger than Plano schools and probably 4 times bigger than Frisco high schools.

Allen has to pay for that 60 million dollar stadium and its 4 million a year upkeep cost. In terms of a per varsity athlete outlay, that is $20,000 a year. That works out to around $2,000 per home in Allen.

What do you think the priority is in Allen?

A smart man would have gotten the businesses in Allen to pay for a stadium and put that bond money into academics that would benefit all students not just a handful of kids.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TX75007

Allen has to pay for that 60 million dollar stadium and its 4 million a year upkeep cost. In terms of a per varsity athlete outlay, that is $20,000 a year. That works out to around $2,000 per home in Allen.

What do you think the priority is in Allen?

A smart man would have gotten the businesses in Allen to pay for a stadium and put that bond money into academics that would benefit all students not just a handful of kids.

You know better than anyone else - selling $60M in bonds for academics would have been a non-starter for all kinds of reasons but the most important is that sports produce a predictable non-tax income stream. Predictable enough that investors bought the bonds.

[Big G]

There's no way that stadium is even close to self-funding.

They sell about 8500 season tix at $40/season, for about $350k. The place can be rented for $5k +20% of the gate. Neither of those revenue streams are going to even cover the upkeep, let alone the debt service.

Yes, the bonds were marketable. But that's because they're general obligation bonds, not revenue bonds. In other words, they are backed by the taxing ability of AISD, so working it out on a per- house basis is appropriate - because the citizens of AISD are on the hook for this.

This isn't a Cowboy Stadium setup, where the stadium has to produce the cash flow for the bonds.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Big G

There's no way that stadium is even close to self-funding.

They sell about 8500 season tix at $40/season, for about $350k. The place can be rented for $5k +20% of the gate. Neither of those revenue streams are going to even cover the upkeep, let alone the debt service.

Yes, the bonds were marketable. But that's because they're general obligation bonds, not revenue bonds. In other words, they are backed by the taxing ability of AISD, so working it out on a per- house basis is appropriate - because the citizens of AISD are on the hook for this.

This isn't a Cowboy Stadium setup, where the stadium has to produce the cash flow for the bonds.

So you are predicting the stadium authority will default on the bonds and the School District will have to back stop them?



ETA - you are grossly underselling the stadium's revenue. The place holds 18K people and for football all of the seats minus about 1,000 generate revenue. The school gets a rake from concessions, parking and special events.

The district predicts the stadiums share of the bonds will be paid off in 15/18 years.


ETA II - SRO capacity is 22,000.

ETA III - gate alone for Allen football, no soccer, no other schools playing games there last year was over $1M with only 6 home games.