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Does anyone get to attend the schools in NC you've listed, or does a family have to buy a house in an area zoned for a particular school? My sister is in Florida and paid a premium to live in an area zoned for the better county HS. Is it the same there?
The answer to that is very topical in Wake County right now! There is a new "choice" program that does give parents some flexibility. However, the general trend is a move towards "neighborhood schools" so, generally speaking, you need to live in close proximity to these schools to go to them. And yes, there is a premium attached to these areas. Chapel Hill especially is very expensive and one of the main reasons is the incredible schools there.
However, Apex and Cary are more affordable and if you are prepared to buy an older home then there a lots of options in the 200-250K range.
One of the biggest differences here is that the school system is County wide - so there is much more parity between the different schools. So you don't have situations like on Long Island where you have a top school like Garden City HS a couple of miles away from the warzone that is Hempstead HS. It's socialism!
Oh, here's the 2010 census.gov (factfinder2) numbers on household incomes---that compare site you're using is bogus.
(Garden City??? You're not even close to Massapequa )
Quote:
Originally Posted by SaucyAussie
One thing that is a lot cheaper on Long Island is manual labor. I nearly fell over when I had a guy come and quote me to paint the house. And our house cleaning service was much cheaper on Long Island.
The whole school discussion is silly. I posted SAT scores awhile back that should put the debate to rest. Here they are again -
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools East Chapel Hill High 619 599 1,218
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools Chapel Hill High 593 572 1,165
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools Carbaro High School 592 591 1,183
Wake County Schools Apex High 576 538 1,114
Wake County Schools Green Hope High (Cary) 600 563 1,163
Wake County Schools William G Enloe High 594 587 1,181
Wake County Schools Cary High 559 535 1,094
Jericho Senior High School 568 630 1,198
Garden City High School 555 572 1,127
Great Neck North High School 576 620 1,196
Syosset Senior High School 557 598 1,155
Massapequa High School 501 513 1,014
Manhasset Secondary School 575 607 1,182
Cold Spring Harbor High School 580 599 1,179
I would say that good schools are far more accessible in North Carolina. Anybody can afford to live in Apex or Cary. The same can't be said for Garden City, CSH, etc.
Umm on the SATs, I asked you for a source if I remember correctly.. Those numbers do not look like the ones I saw last. And how do you not know the whole flaw with SAT's by now?? Colleges in the midwest and even in your area hold back some kids from taking it--which artificially inflates the school's score. Whereas pretty much everyone here takes it. No turdpolish.
The answer to that is very topical in Wake County right now! There is a new "choice" program that does give parents some flexibility. However, the general trend is a move towards "neighborhood schools" so, generally speaking, you need to live in close proximity to these schools to go to them. And yes, there is a premium attached to these areas. Chapel Hill especially is very expensive and one of the main reasons is the incredible schools there.
However, Apex and Cary are more affordable and if you are prepared to buy an older home then there a lots of options in the 200-250K range.
One of the biggest differences here is that the school system is County wide - so there is much more parity between the different schools. So you don't have situations like on Long Island where you have a top school like Garden City HS a couple of miles away from the warzone that is Hempstead HS. It's socialism!
Devils advocate -- if the move is toward neighborhood schools, won't that create a similar situation (albeit within one centralized county school district as opposed to umpteen districts) as we have here on LI? Granted, the money will be evenly distributed among schools, but if you have areas of the the haves (Chapel Hill/white collar professional/college education/wealthy) and have nots (insert downtrodden community here/blue collar/ HS education/poor) where education is valued differently, will it make any difference in the long run?
I am not trying to start any argument. I would like to learn more about a different system than what we have on LI.
Oh, here's the 2010 census.gov (factfinder2) numbers on household incomes---that compare site you're using is bogus.
(Garden City??? You're not even close to Massapequa )
Umm on the SATs, I asked you for a source if I remember correctly.. Those numbers do not look like the ones I saw last. And how do you not know the whole flaw with SAT's by now?? Colleges in the midwest and even in your area hold back some kids from taking it--which artificially inflates the school's score. Whereas pretty much everyone here takes it. No turdpolish.
Many colleges and universities are phasing out the relevancy of SATs -- just a heads up.
NC is not in the midwest.
But your point is valid. However, it does not address the point I made about the accessibility of good schools in NC. I would concede that the elite schools on LI are better than most NC schools however very few can afford to go to them. Look at the ranking of schools on LI and then look at housing costs and incomes in those school districts - it's about the money. Segregation is alive and well on Long Island.
Most of what you're talking about on LI is knockdowns....people don't do that here. So I'm looking for new construction in developments. It hasn't exactly been boom years for new developments.
But as more universities downplay the SAT or drop it from consideration altogether, colleges are making it known that GPAs are more important than ever before...
Devils advocate -- if the move is toward neighborhood schools, won't that create a similar situation (albeit within one centralized county school district as opposed to umpteen districts) as we have here on LI? Granted, the money will be evenly distributed among schools, but if you have areas of the the haves (Chapel Hill/white collar professional/college education/wealthy) and have nots (insert downtrodden community here/blue collar/ HS education/poor) where education is valued differently, will it make any difference in the long run?
I am not trying to start any argument. I would like to learn more about a different system than what we have on LI.
As a parent, I want my kid to go to the nice school in the nice neighborhood that I paid to get into. As a human being, I want all kids to have an equal opportunity for a great education.
With all the talk about high taxes, auto insurance and gas costs here...What costs less on LI than other areas?
Here are a few I can think of:
1. No Vehicle Property Taxes
2. Health Insurance
3. Water - and no shortages here
4. Generally no HOAs to worry about here
5. No need laying out for private school as most of the schools are good
My experience is just #3... that's it.
#1 is a mind trick since you pay so much more to register a vehicle annually in NY and you pay tax on the purchase itself. You pay way more in NY over the life of the vehicle.
#2 is basically a wash.
#4 is not much of an impact to the bottom line considering that HOA dues will include amenities like a community pool, tennis courts, clubhouse, etc... and at the end of the day you're talking less then the cost of a family Y membership.
#5 is deceiving... areas of LI you still need to send your kids to private school with 8,9,10k+ annual taxes.
I'd also suggest that you don't use Cary exclusively as your end all be all comparison for Tarnation... You can find new affordable (<100/sqft) tract built construction options in most decent NC areas.
Chapel Hill is not part of Wake County schools. It's in Orange County. SO let's take them out of the equation.
Yes, the fear is that we are going to go back to schools that are divided racially and socio-economically. Only time will tell how that will play out. But we had about 20% of our student body bused in from Raleigh last year and these kids were exhausted from getting on the bus at 6 a.m. Yes, 6 a.m., and they get to school around 7:30 between the commute and all the stops the bus makes. These kids were exhausted in school all day! So, is that really the solution? Most of them are now in suburban schools that are closer to their homes but still too much of a commute for my blood.
One of the ways they are trying to remedy this is thru the magnet schools. If you are in a high performing area, they make it much easier for you to get your child into a magnet, so that your child's seat then becomes available as a "choice school" for a child from a low performing school. The question is, how many people really want to send their child on that 1 hour bus ride to the better school? It's more of a win for the kid going to the magnet because they get the benefit of what the magnet offers and probably have parents who can get them there in a timely manner.
The people who are the unhappiest are those uppermiddle class folks who ended up in a middle performing node - they dont' get the best neighborhood schools, but they aren't getting into the magnet either because no one wants a seat at their school.
This is all very confusing even if you live here. I'm realizing now that because we live in a high performing node, my kids pretty much have carte blanche for magnet high schools, which we'll look into when the time comes (we'd rather do Catholic, but we'll see).
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You're not even close to Massapequa 
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