San Francisco Schools (Oakland, Fremont, Richmond: real estate, transfer, neighborhoods)

[niko2010]

Hi,

We live in NYC, with 3 elementary age kids. Public schools here are AWESOME and we live very nice and we love NYC. We are CONSIDERING a job offer in SF where we used to live when young and single. While potential move to SF brings back all the good times I've had over there while in my mid 20's, considering a move now with family freak me out a little.

Can somebody give me a "readers digest" version on public schools in San Francisco? While considering placing 3 kids in private schools what should we expect to pay in tuition?


Thanks

[GoldenTiger]

I've been researching the same stuff, and consensus has been that unless SF changes its "lottery" system (which I believe they plan to after a couple of years from now) of assigning children to schools that may not be near your area of residence and may not be a desirable school, it's better to raise school children in the suburbs.

From reading here and researching at GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community, cities with the best schools are: Lamorinda (Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda), San Ramon, Pleasanton, Piedmont, Fremont, Mill Valley (and the smaller neighboring cities in Marin County), Millbrae, Hillsborough. Might have missed a few, but in general, almost without exception, the most expensive places in the area.

Unless you're making much, much more in SF compared to NYC, I would say sending three kids to private school is just not worth it.

[clongirl]

Originally Posted by niko2010

Hi,

We live in NYC, with 3 elementary age kids. Public schools here are AWESOME and we live very nice and we love NYC. We are CONSIDERING a job offer in SF where we used to live when young and single. While potential move to SF brings back all the good times I've had over there while in my mid 20's, considering a move now with family freak me out a little.

Can somebody give me a "readers digest" version on public schools in San Francisco? While considering placing 3 kids in private schools what should we expect to pay in tuition?


Thanks

Private independent schools run about 26k and up per child a year. From personal experience there isn't any reduction in fees over having more than one in the school. Primary private Catholic school generally run less...but getting in is highly dependent on many factors (like being Catholic, "knowing people", and feeling pressure to show up to mass/pay extra fees, etc) A good deal overall, but keep in mind that the schools are highly academic- so don't think arts and crafts..gardening/fun.

Public schools are (or have been based on a lottery system). Things may have changed recently (so you'll want to investigate) but you won't necessarily get into your neighborhood school (which might be across the street). Your child may get into a school across the City- with more safety issues (generally more so in high school). They often bus children from one end of the City to the other to "make it even"...or whatever excuse they're using.

[mayorhaggar]

I would definitely look into the suburbs. SF and even Oakland are supposed to be ok for elementary school kids, but when they get older they might have to go to the bad schools. SF has some really good high schools but with the lottery you have no idea if they'll go there or not. Many burbs like Albany and Orinda are not that far from SF and have some of the better public schools in the bay area, plus they are cheaper to live in than SF, so you'd be saving on private tuition and real estate.

[uptown_urbanist]

San Francisco has some great public schools, but the lottery system makes it very difficult to navigate that system. If you want to live in the city and can afford private there are a lot of options; not sure of price, though. I like some of San Francisco's suburbs, but others are pretty non-exciting, at least when compared to either to parts of SF or NYC; I don't know if I'd think it worth a move just to live somewhere in the 'burbs. (although I do really like some of them, like Alameda)

Lots of school information and discussions here:
The SF K Files

[batransplant]

Aside from the difficult and confusing public school system, San Francisco is not really a "kid friendly" city compared to other metropolitan cities like LA or NY, for a variety of reasons I won't go into, but you can research it in the forum as it has been discussed in many threads.

Most parents get fed up w/ SF after a few years of living there with kids and will move to the burbs if their child doesn't get into a good public or private school, or just frustrated w/ the difficulty of living there in general post kids. You really don't see very many children who are older than around age 4...though there are tons of infants in strollers in certain neighborhoods.

I'm a transplant here on a career relocation also, but from what I've observed, many, many families from San Francisco suck it up and move to Marin County if they can afford it, or the east bay burbs once their kids are school age. If they are commuting to Silicon Valley from SF, they move south.

If you are really happy in NYC w/ your kids schools, routines, etc. and want to live in a city, IMO unless you are getting an enormous incentive to move, I would probably stay put.

[jimnor1713]

If you don't need the city life style but want to be close with better schools. Move to Millbrae, Burlingame , San Mateo, Fostor City you won't regret it. foget the other city's people mention except Marin but you have the G.G bridge toll

[uptown_urbanist]

For what it's worth, let me just toss out there that there are some neighborhoods of San Francisco that are VERY child-friendly; we lived in the Richmond, and it was wonderful with kids. Our landlords had older kids and were happy raising them there; we would have stuck it out there, even with the lottery, if it wasn't also for the high cost of living. A lot of the people I know with younger kids (including us) ended up moving due to cost; they either wanted to buy, or wanted a bigger space, and couldn't afford it in the city. The stress of the lottery system certainly didn't help, though, for those who wanted to go with public schools. I know it's undergoing changes, though, so it might be much easier this time around. (I think they made some big changes last spring that were intended to make neighborhood a bigger factor in school assignment)

San Francisco overall isn't as kid-friendly as most places, but if you did want to live in the actual city then know that there are some wonderful neighborhoods for families, too. (the Richmond also has some very good schools; I know there's been some talk about revisions to the lottery system, and I think proximity to school MIGHT also be factored in now, so if you want to move to the city itself and have your eye on a neighborhood like the Richmond it might be worth investigating your options a bit more. Getting into a school as a transfer student may be different than coming in as a kindergartner.

If you don't care about being in the actual city, then I agree with the others that it would be easier just to move to a suburb with a decent neighborhood school.

[18Montclair]

Generally speaking, elementary schools are very good everywhere. As far as test scores, San Francisco has plenty of high scoring elems.