School District Analysis (Franklin, Hendersonville, Smyrna: houses, school districts, university)

[Big TR]

Hello,

My wife and I will probably be relocating during the summer of 2008. We are fighting over either Tucson or Nashville. We currently live in Aurora, IL. Our son will be starting Kindergarten that fall, so school district selection is important. We want to be relatively close to Nashville, as odds are we both will work in the city.

Luckily, we will be able to afford houses up to $550k. I believe that gives us the ability to live in any of the districts that the greater Nashville area has to offer, making a hurdle for most a non-issue for us.

Based on my research, this is the broad brush painted look at the school districts I could glean from test results and other information. Can somebody tell me if my information is for the most part accurate? These are listed in order from best to worst.

Williamson County - Brentwood is the gold standard. It doesn't appear that any other district comes close.

Sumner County - Hendersonville schools appear to be good overall, with the Hyde Magnet school being out of this world good. (anybody know how hard it is to get in here?)

Wilson County - Mt. Juliet schools appear to be acceptable overall.

Cheatham County - Kingston Springs looks passable, but worse than Mt. Juliet. The rest are sketchy at best.

Rutherford - Smyrna & La Vergne only qualify due to distance issues for other cities. Overall nothing special here, probably on par with Kingston Springs in Cheatham.

Davidson - Uh, no.

[alleycat]

I'm not an expert on school rankings, but your list look reasonably accurate.

A few notes:

You could also look at the Franklin schools. They should be good.

As for Davidson County . . . it's hit-or-miss. There's actually some very good schools here, and some that are really bad. If I had children, and had to sent them to public schools, I would almost definitely move out of the county.

You could also consider private schools. Many people here who can afford it send their kids to one of the private schools, which are very good.

And $550,000 will get you a house just about anywhere in Nashville except for Belle Meade. I doubt whether there's much there for that price. And in a few locations, that will be on the low end of the price range for a house of much size.

[akm4]

University School is the top choice of many. A bit pricey, but worth it. Wish I could send my kids there.

[TNSoundsGood2Me]

I believe if your information seems pretty right on, although I'm not too familiar with Cheatham and Wilson County. Since you can afford it, Williamson County, in my opinion, would be the best place to move. As alleycat says, the Franklin Special School District in the city of Franklin (seperate from Williamson Co. Schools), is also very good.

[Big TR]

Thank you for the information on Franklin. I was unaware that they had their own district. Those schools do look good. It is a bit far out from Nashville, though.

Going into this, I was dreading looking up all the information. Then I realized that each county had their own school district (except for Franklin.) This is the polar opposite of Illinois, where nearly every podunk town has their own school district.

[akm4]

I live in Franklin and make it to Music Row in 15-20 minutes.

[Big TR]

Do you make that drive during the height of rush hour?

If so, I have a disjointed notion of traffic times. Here in Chicago it takes 40 minutes to go 20 miles. (20 miles being my mapped distance between Franklin and Nashville.)

[akm4]

No- songwriters start at the crack of 10....or noon......