What is the best way to evaluate schools in Minneapolis / St Paul and surrounding areas? (St. Paul: bank owned)

[emilyminneapolis]

My husband and I are looking to buy a home in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area. We currently live in a small house in the Longfellow area of Minneapolis.

Our ideal next house would be as follows:
-3+ bedroom, 2 bath
-1500+ sq feet finished (not including basement)
-Fixer upper, foreclosed, or bank owned home that needs work
-Double city lot, OR over .25 acres
-Close to the city -- but we are willing to move to the suburbs
-300k or under
-Fireplace
-1945 or newer (1950s is ideal)
-Unique architectural details -- mid century modern, architect designed, big glass windows, built ins, etc.

Here is my question. We do not have children currently, but want to make sure our next house is family friendly. How do I evaluate school districts? Where do I start? Some of the areas that we have been looking in include:

-West St. Paul, closer to Mendota Heights
-Golden Valley
-Robbinsdale
-Bloomington
-St. Loius Park
-Roseville
-Arden Hills

We would love to stay closer to the city (Minneapolis or St. Paul), but we think the chances of finding what we are looking for is slim.

Any advice is appreciated.

[golfgal]

Things can change dramatically by the time your kids are in school but from your list:

West St. Paul/Mendota Heights
Bloomington
St. Louis Park

in this order for quality of schools. West St. Paul is probably going to have the most available from the 1950's. West Bloomington will have quite a bit too. St. Louis Park will have some but most of what you will find there will be a bit older--but not all that much older.

As for evaluating school districts look at graduation rates, % of students going on to college after graduation, past history for passing referendums--is the school financially well supported by the community, etc. You can look at the state education website for the 'report cards' for the schools but they aren't all that helpful. The site used to break things down demographically so you could see how the special ed kids, for example, effected the overall test scores and get a clearer picture of how the average kid does in the district, but they don't really do that any longer.

[Minnehahapolitan]

This may the the hardest question someone as asked me here. Most of the mid-century homes are in first ring suburbs. You def. won't be far from the city. Finding it for under 300,000 (due to the fact that most are in older suburbs, and older suburbs have expensive land), it tough. You will definately not find a house like that in any outer suburb for 300,000. (Those would be mostly along Lake Minnetonka, White Bear Lake, on alot of land in Wash. Co.). Most pedestrian houses from that area don't have the expensive built ins. If you are lucky you may find a corner buffet or something in the kitchen. I actually thought of the Lustron homes. They were prefabricated from metal and were somewhat of a fad in the early 1950s. There aren't many, but they were built in the utilitarian style. The metal never needed paint, the kitchen was out of the world's fair. They are on city lots, but offer the high design value to a middle-class price range. There are a few of them in the 50th and Nicollet area. The (sadly painted) black house on the west corner Cedar in the 40 blocks is one of these.
I think your next best bet is Golden Valley, as there was a prepensity for contemporary homes there. Those homes are probably not your ideal California type glass contemporary, but a little retrofitting could go a long way to make it that. Windows are pretty easy to enlarge.
This is going to be a hard one for you guys. The best of luck,
---Minnehahapolitan

[Camden Northsider]

Hi Emily, I can't talk too much about schools in the suburbs as like yourself, don't have kids yet, but considering your criteria for homes and price ranges your best bet is going to be Robbinsdale. Although it is highly unlikely that you will be finding an architect-designed home (but possible) here as most are development-style tract housing (but nice) - there are a number of late 40s/ early 50s - 60s homes in Robbinsdale and the housing seems to be much more affordable than a lot of other first-ring suburbs. I would suggest trying to find something close to Victory Memorial Parkway or on/ close by Crystal Lake - these are very nice neighborhoods with some beautiful homes, a number of which will be in your price range. golden valley seems like a neat little suburb with nice homes/ neighborhoods in these years, but you could be hard-pressed in your price range (not sure).

And, although they are few and far between, there are some 50s houses in my neighborhood as well although my impression is that they can be on the small-ish side and the older homes often times look a lot more desirable for some reason or another. However, if you're into houses built in the forties, there are beautiful homes here with great architectural details - a lot of the kind of stucco tudor-ish style homes that have kind of a gingerbread feel to them. Good schools here also. Good luck!

[Not Iowa]

West St. Paul. The district is great, and there are a ton of fixer uppers to find in the neighborhood. DO stay closer to Mendota Heights though.