Help-- Upper Valley Schools-- Husband Offered Job at Dartmouth! (Concord: sales, car registration)

[cabbatiello]

It looks as though my husband is being offered a job at Dartmouth-- which is a good thing! But...my main concern for relo is school districts. Children are now 7 and 8 and in a great district in CT. Hanover is lovely but VERY PRICEY as I understand. We are open to any towns within 30 minutes. Thus far I have heard Woodstock, Hartland and Thetford are good as well. Any help or tips would be wonderfully appreciated as I am starting at square one!!!

[buck naked]

you'll be fine no matter where you go - NH provides funding to the towns that can't afford it on their own


hard to find a "bad" school anywhere - the exception may be the larger cities where the budgets can't keep up with maintenance

[newhampshiregirl]

Why leave "the free, most livable state" and go to Vermont? Stay right in NH. Hanover school system is excellent.

[buck naked]

true - why pay more taxes than you have to? especially if the living conditions are the same

[vter]

For what it is worth, there is a fairly frequent poster on the VT board who lives in the Upper Valley who has lived on both sides of the river and said that for them, there is very little difference in the cost of living between living in VT vs. NH. I believe the user name is "sporin" if you'd like to search on that to see if you can get in contact with them. You'll have to do the math for yourselves to see if there would be an advantage to live in VT vs. NH. Vermont has income & sales tax (food and clothing are exempt), but NH has other fees (such as a much car registration cost) that VT does not have. Anyway...different strokes for different folks. Do your research and see what would be a better fit for you, like anywhere. If was THAT much cheaper to live in NH, you wouldnt have any population of any kind in VT along the border
For school districts, the ones mentioned above are with what I would suggest. Thetford or Woodstock on the Vermont side and Hanover on the NH side. Orford (NH) is a really nice small town but have not heard much about the local schools. You may want to look into Sharon (VT) as there is a new "pseudo private" (don't really know how to explain it) high school there that local Sharon kids go to...The Sharon Academy.
Good luck and congrats on the new job!

[nhfinehomes]

I would suggest checking out Schooldigger.com -- Search and compare elementary, middle, and high schools. to see how some of the surrounding towns rank. Lebanon is right next to Hanover and has quite good schools. If you want to be a little closer to Concord, Kearsarge Regional covers New London and Sutton which also ranks quite well.

[AngelaK]

Hanover School District, in many ways, is considered the best district in the state, with Hanover High School being the best high school. HOWEVER, if either of your kiddos need special education, I would avoid Hanover. They are a great district for your average to above average kiddos, but not so for those who need special instruction and services. And I also disagree that any school district in NH would be fine...........there are very good districts in this state, average districts, and very poor districts when it comes to the public education system. DM me with any other specific questions. Good luck!!

[Sporin]

VT income tax or not, it's still WAY cheaper for me to live in VT then in NH. My property taxes are less then half here in Windsor then they would be in Lebanon or Hanover, not to mention the houses cost half as much. That savings more then makes up for VT state income tax.

Sales tax is mostly a nonissue as it doesn't effect food and clothes and you do most of your shopping in West Lebanon NH if you live in this area anyway.

The only time I notice sales tax is when I get a car and then you pay it once, then pay a minimal yearly fee to re-register. Plus you transfer plates from one car to the next and get a credit for taxes paid on the last one. In NH you pay a BIG reg fee each year and it's pretty rough unless you only drive older cars.

I'm sure someone is going to link to that "lowest taxes by state" list soon but in my real-world experience, that chart just doesn't tell the whole story.

Living on the river gives one the best advantages of each side. Really it's up to you and your finances.

If you look at the national sites that rank schools, there isn't as much difference between the public schools up here as local legends might imply. Each has their strengths and weaknesses, Hanover is great if your kid is a bright learner and athlete, but bad if your kid has special needs. Hartford has an excellent school system, the elementary schools are top notch and the HS has solid academics and great athletics. Woodstock and Lebanon lies in between. The only town I don't recommend in the area is Claremont. Don't let the low home prices fool you, the property taxes are some of the highest in the state and the schools are very low rated.

Overall, it's a great area, reasonably diverse, with a lot of options on both sides of the river. I've lived here for 20 years and settled my family here after college by choice. No area is perfect but the Upper Valley has a lot to offer.

[notdancingqueen]

We moved recently from Annapolis and looked everywhere from Hanover to Warner (DH works in West Leb.) We found that Hanover schools were known to be quite excellent but many people also told us they had a huge snob factor and had a disproportionate of over-privileged kids because of Dartmouth. Housing prices were high - true that. They were as much or more as Annapolis per sq. ft.

We ultimately wound up in the New London area in the Kearsarge Regional schools -- it is also a *great* district.

We found that towns have a very distint feel to them -- even ones close by to each other -- so spend some time driving around and seeing whats what. Seriously - that's the best thing you can do for yourselves when deciding on a town -- take the time to get a feel for each one. Get comfortable enough driving around so that you know where you are in relation to other towns and roads...it will help you decide whether you'll be ok with the distance from your house to <insert amenity here...gas station/grocery store/preschool/recreation/highway...>

On the VT side (which was not an option for us because of where I work) Norwich and Windsor came highly recommended.

Good luck -- Jackie

[nhfinehomes]

I too have heard good things about Kearsarge Regional. Have you or anyone else had first hand experiences with the various elementary schools in the KR school district, namely Sutton?