Manatee County - School Choice (Bradenton: real estate, 2015, rentals)

[catlady1004]

Hello
My family is relocating to Bradenton next month and we are looking for a rental for the 1st year until we get settled. My question is around school choice. My kids are in elementary school and when we move I do not want them to have to switch elementary schools twice (once when we move to FL and again when we buy a house). Is the school choice really that flexible or do I need to find a rental exactly where we want to live. Thanks!

[bbronston]

I would contact the county office (941-708-8770) to get the information you want but you can also visit the school choice page on the county website: http://www.manateeschools.net/pages/.../School_Choice

[catlady1004]

Thank you. I have already reviewed the website but was just looking for someone who may have had experience with this.

[bbronston]

Oh....gotcha. I think you are going to find that the school choice program is dependent on the number of zoned kids enrolled at the time (or expected to enroll) and that changes each year. It may be very difficult to predict what will happen next year based on someone's experience this year or a few years earlier. Did you call them to see what they had to say? If so, please share it here.

[Sunshine Rules]

The 2014/2015 open choice enrollment period (for submitting applications) will be January 28 to February 7 of 2015. Whether your student can attend a preferred school will depend on enrollment capacities, plus other weighted factors that they use. The most popular schools for open choice also happen to be districts where populations are growing, as those areas have new development subdivisions being built. Therefore, it is less likely that there will be openings for students outside of those school districst than in past years.

The only way to make sure your children can attend the school district of your choice is to find a rental within that district's boundaries.

By the way, some of the school districts do change district boundaries after the end of the current school year and before the start of the next school year. This is especially true of districts where there are significant population changes due to new construction/new subdivisions being added and therefore a spike in the number of students. For example, there have been a number of changes within zip code 34203 over the past few years. So when searching for rentals within specific school districts, parents will want to take into consideration how close a home is to the outside boundaries of that particular district.

[Luby162]

Originally Posted by catlady1004

Hello
My family is relocating to Bradenton next month and we are looking for a rental for the 1st year until we get settled. My question is around school choice. My kids are in elementary school and when we move I do not want them to have to switch elementary schools twice (once when we move to FL and again when we buy a house). Is the school choice really that flexible or do I need to find a rental exactly where we want to live. Thanks!

Not very flexible depending on which school you are looking to get into. i know Gulletts principal had put a hold on choicing into that school with all the new construction since last year and they are building another new community across from Central Park that will add even more kids to the school, my suggestion is to move into the school district, this way the kids will make friends with the same kids they will see in school anyway. You can try to choice in but i know a few families around here that were not able to choice into their zoned school, they were renting elsewhere from where they were building.

[Fl1150]

Originally Posted by Luby162

Not very flexible depending on which school you are looking to get into. i know Gulletts principal had put a hold on choicing into that school with all the new construction since last year and they are building another new community across from Central Park that will add even more kids to the school, my suggestion is to move into the school district, this way the kids will make friends with the same kids they will see in school anyway. You can try to choice in but i know a few families around here that were not able to choice into their zoned school, they were renting elsewhere from where they were building.

Do you know what that new community is going to be called ?

[catlady1004]

So, I called the school yesterday and the lady told me that school choice is closed for Gullett and I would not be able to get the kids in if I tried. She said they are at capacity and will be next school year as well. She also told me that the other schools like Witt and McNeal are also full and are not taking school choice. She also told me they are already talking about rezoning for Gullett. She said that over the summer a ton of homes in their zone sold and they took in all these new kids they weren't anticipating.

Yes, I am also interested in what the new developement is?

[Fl1150]

Originally Posted by catlady1004

So, I called the school yesterday and the lady told me that school choice is closed for Gullett and I would not be able to get the kids in if I tried. She said they are at capacity and will be next school year as well. She also told me that the other schools like Witt and McNeal are also full and are not taking school choice. She also told me they are already talking about rezoning for Gullett. She said that over the summer a ton of homes in their zone sold and they took in all these new kids they weren't anticipating.

Yes, I am also interested in what the new developement is?

I was really interested so in my doing own research their is plans for a future growth but as of now nothing has been built. So your best bet is to use the website Florida Homes - Florida Real Estate | Lakewood Ranch and call them about future plans. Sorry I could not find any information on Luby162 was talking about.

[Luby162]

Originally Posted by Fl1150

Do you know what that new community is going to be called ?

there is no name up on the signs as far as i can tell but it is buy a builder called Mattamy ? not sure of spelling... they are a canadian builder, a friend of ours looked at them and said they are some 2 story homes as well as 1 story for somewhere in the 300s i believe. Directly across from CP on Malachite...They are in process of building, i see 3 buildings already which seem to be the community center and Community pool area, not sure if any models are going up as of yet though..