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Old 10-21-2010, 06:05 PM
 
Location: San Diego since 1997
126 posts, read 343,529 times
Reputation: 68

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We live in San Diego and have young kids not school age yet. I have recently been disappointed about public school funding/quality rapidly going down and teacher student ratios increasing. Though we love it here, I don't think SoCal is where we want to raise kids.

We are considering a move to a new city where my spouse's company has offices. The top choices are Dallas TX, Tampa FL, DC Metro area (near Rockville MD), NoVA, Virginia Beach or Fredericksburg VA. We have been to all places except Tampa. There are other options as well that we have not really considered yet: Iowa City IA, Tucson AZ, Buffalo NY, Macon GA.

If anyone has any insight about how good the schools are in comparison or how family friendly these places are I would love to hear your thoughts. I have done some research on Greatschools.com but not sure how to compare cities across different states.

We have lived in CA for a long time but are always thinking about finding a more affordable place to settle down and raise kids. San Diego has just gotten so expensive, we cannot afford to buy a reasonable sized house here and we feel it would not be smart to invest in real estate in a place where schools systems are in such decline.

Any help would be appreciated!
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Old 10-21-2010, 08:53 PM
 
2,502 posts, read 8,899,251 times
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Out of those choices, the DC suburbs are known for having top notch schools (especially in NOVA and the wealthier parts of Maryland). Expensive, but probably still less so than California.
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Old 10-21-2010, 09:14 PM
 
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
36,641 posts, read 67,264,742 times
Reputation: 21179
Actually schools in California are showing a marked improvement in test scores in most districts and the picture is not really as bleak as it looks. The state has some of the best public schools in the country and some of the worst, and some in the middle.

It all depends on what area you can afford-which is probably the dealbreaker in most cases.

Furthermore, I am of the belief that what happens outside of the school, at home, is just as important if not more so, then what happens at school when it comes to a child's overall K-12 education experience.
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Old 10-21-2010, 10:26 PM
 
92,405 posts, read 122,695,779 times
Reputation: 18184
Out of the cities mentioned, the Buffalo NY area and Iowa City IA are sleepers in terms of good schools and affordability. This is a great website for view schools: GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

As for Buffalo(since it is an area I'm familiar with the most), you can find some very good suburban and urban schools. It's more upper middle class communities like Williamsville, Clarence and Amherst have very good schools and most of the other suburban/small town/rural SD's are good as well. You can easily get a decent to nice home for 120k in these suburbs and get a great education. Weather will be different, but the area's location is good in terms of going to other areas for trips. In the city of Buffalo, neighborhoods like North Buffalo/Hertel Ave., Parkside, North Park and Elmwood Village are nice urban neighborhoods. There are some good public, private and charter schools in those areas too. Magnet high schools like City Honors, DiVinci, Hutchinson Central Tech, Buffalo Arts, Emerson School of Hospitality and McKinley are known for having good programs and all of those schools graduated at least 77% of their students or higher. City Honors actually is known for being one of the best public schools in the country.
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Old 10-22-2010, 08:14 AM
 
10,629 posts, read 26,660,945 times
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I agree with 18Montclair. California has some of the best, and the worst, schools in the country; I certainly wouldn't write the whole state off because of "declining" schools. You also have the benefit of in-state tuition to some of the best public universities and colleges around. That said, I also agree that cost is a big deal; living in a good school district in California is often very expensive. Living in an area with poor schools is plenty expensive, too!

The DC area has excellent schools and is family-friendly, as well as as easy access to wonderful amenities like all the museums and opportunities right in your backyard. It's expensive, though, so if you're looking for more affordable you should probably look elsewhere. I agree that it's worth looking into Buffalo or Iowa City; cost of living somewhere like Iowa is going to be far, far lower than San Diego. I don't know about Iowa City's schools, but I'd definitely consider posting something on the Iowa forum. In general, though, especially for cities, the trick is not only to look at overall district, but also specific schools; in my city our district has some of the worst AND some of the best schools in the state, for example. Looking at the average district scores wouldn't tell you the whole story.
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Old 10-22-2010, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Denver
4,716 posts, read 8,545,223 times
Reputation: 5957
NoVA has a reputation for great public schools. I think that with the larger states though, you just have to do your research because, like was said earlier, they have some of the best and some of the worst schools in the nation. Like with Dallas, the public schools within city limits tend to be pretty dismal, but suburbs like Plano, Flower Mound, Southlake, and if you can afford it, Highland Park, are undoubtably some of the best districts in the country.
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Old 10-22-2010, 09:13 AM
 
26,974 posts, read 43,502,112 times
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The DC Metro in a landslide.

The Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools and Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools have excellent reputations.

In Fairfax County look at the Langley High School, McLean High School, Woodson High School (in the city of Fairfax), Madison High School (Vienna) or Oakton High School districts.

In Montgomery County, look at either Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School or Rockville High School districts.

*** I just reread your post, obviously the two MD districts are close enough for your husband's work commute. The Langley and Mclean districts in VA would work as well too.
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Old 10-22-2010, 06:25 PM
 
Location: San Diego since 1997
126 posts, read 343,529 times
Reputation: 68
Thank you for your thoughts on this.

I do realize there are many excellent schools here but I am very concerned, this year the class size for first grade is up to 28 per teacher in one of the most sought after school dists in San Diego. My opinion is that is too high. Teachers are expecting class size to go up even higher next year. Renting here is such a drain and we, being single income, cannot afford to buy a home in the areas where the good schools are so we feel like we have no choice but to leave CA in order for me to continue being home with our small children. I wonder if other states are making such drastic cuts to education as well. It's a pity what is happening here, basically if you are a middle class single income family, your kids cannot go to a good school.

Rockville seems very nice. I'm concerned about housing prices not being much lower than San Diego but if the schools were better maybe it would feel better making sacrifices such as not having a garage, settling for older, smaller houses etc. Buffalo sounds interesting but I'm afraid that drastic of a change in weather might be too hard for us.

I don't know too much about NoVa so thank you for the tips on Langley and Mclean, I'll check those out.
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Old 10-24-2010, 07:34 PM
 
92,405 posts, read 122,695,779 times
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While weather might be an issue with Buffalo, it is still an affordable area that is close to things like Niagara Falls, Toronto, the Finger Lakes, the Adirondacks, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and some other family friendly places. Commutes are short and there's still an arts scene that is pretty good. There's still sporting events, if you like that and there are 4 seasons.
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Old 11-24-2010, 02:15 AM
 
18 posts, read 78,703 times
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I live in Florida in Northern Tampa -- we moved here about 7 years ago from Maryland. We picked a grade A school system: Trinity. Florida is not know for it's educated population - take a look at the demographics. Our son started in kindergarten when we moved here, he is now in 6th grade. I volunteered in K and 1st grades. Teachers teach to the tests -- even in those grades. Most teachers were very young with little experience. Our experience has not been pleasant. He has ADD and I eventually put him in private school where he is doing well and on grade. In all fairness, my son's last public school teacher helped us identify his ADD and did well with him. Prior to that my son was called lazy by more than one teacher. If your child is not average, s/he will have difficulties. I also found the school to be very political. This is my observation and experience.
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