Good public or private schools in area? (Sarasota, Bradenton: school districts, college)

[DrWorm]

We might be moving to the Bradenton/Sarasota area reasonably soon (possible job relocation). We have two boys, ages 8 and 3. I've been doing a bit of research and my impression is that most of the public schools in the area are, well, less than fabulous. We're willing to put our boys in private school, although it would stretch the budget quite a bit (most private schools seem to run $7,000/year and upwards). Any insider advice re: decent public schools/school districts, decent private schools (secular or Catholic), and schools/school districts that we should avoid? (If the school situation is truly horrible, we may have to reconsider our job offer.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

[LIFL]

The schools bomb. Budgets get slashed often, especially Manatee.

[TamRE]

Sarasota Schools are higher ranked than Manatee. Just do your research on the individual schools and their ratings. Talk to some of the parents through the PTO groups. Make phone calls, send emails and have some discussions. That will help ease your mind and help you to make a better decision.

Sarasota County Schools - Sarasota County Schools, Home
Manatee County Schools - School District of Manatee County Florida

[Sunshine Rules]

The Manatee county school board has a user friendly website for parents with a wealth of information about the school programs in general and links to each individual school website where you can find test scores, school information, school activities, etc. The website is: http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/
On the front page there's a special tab for new residents, which has a lot of useful info for parents moving into the Manatee school districts. Manatee county has some excellent schools and some that struggle more to achieve ratings for a variety of reasons, not all related to the school system.

Manatee county is going through some financial issues at the moment thanks to actions of the previous administrator that started hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes below state requirements -- but without properly budgeting for the salaries and benefits of those teachers. The newly hired administrator is working to address the financial shortfalls. The school system just sold over 50 school owned vehicles at auction that were determined to be unnecessary, and some of the extra teachers hired are being let go. Other actions are also being taken to improve teaching standards. There have been several articles about both of these topics (budget shortfalls, improving classroom teaching standards) in the local newspaper, the Bradenton Herald at www.Bradenton.com.


The Florida Department of Education now ranks of all of the state's 3078 schools, based mainly on FCAT scores. Elementary & middle school rankings also included factors such as whether schools helped struggling students progress. High School rankings also included graduation rates & how many students passed college level courses such as Advanced Placement. Of course, FCAT scores are not the only criteria parents consider when selecting school districts, but it is an important factor.

You can review the rankings of all FL schools by county on the FL Dept. of Education web site at:

https://app2.fldoe.org/Ranking/Schools/Default.aspx

[DrWorm]

Thank you! The links and specific information are particularly helpful.