Williamson or Sumner County schools? (Murfreesboro, Franklin: sales, real estate, new home)

[tuttledog]

Hello all, My wife and I are considering a move from Wisconsin to Tennessee. We have heard that schools in both counties are very good. Is there anyone that can give their "two cents" on the subject? We have a 12 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. Also, I would be interested to know if the middle schools have any kind of a feeder system into the high schools for sports.

[KC38506]

Don't know anything about Sumner, but Williamson is awesome but expensive. I'd recommend it if it's in your price range!

[tuttledog]

is the real estate expensive? schools? Is there a yearly school fee to get your child into the public schools?

[KC38506]

That I can't tell you. I'm basing what I'm telling you from our Nashville news and from talking with educators who teach in Williamson County. And I'm also basing that on my favorite money guy, Dave Ramsey, who lives in Williamson County and regularly talks about how the schools are SO good they don't feel a need to send their kids to private schools. A LOT of country stars live in Williamson County as well - Ashley, Naomi, and Wynonna Judd, Vince Gill and Amy Grant, Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman. It's a REALLY nice area.

Usually there is no yearly school fee for public schools in Tennessee other than a minimal registration fee of around $20-50.

[KC38506]

Here's the Williamson County Schools website: http://www.wcs.edu/

here's a web address for real estate from google: http://www.williamsoncountyrealestate.com/

Good Luck!

[tuttledog]

We have been doing much research on the schools in the area and heard that Williamson County has very good schools. We have also been checking on real estate, house taxes and cost of living, but we keep thinking that there is a catch...like we are missing some unseen huge cost of living thing...how do they fund the school system without the taxes on your payroll check and housing taxes....we keep thinking that we are missing something...

[JMT]

Originally Posted by tuttledog

We have been doing much research on the schools in the area and heard that Williamson County has very good schools. We have also been checking on real estate, house taxes and cost of living, but we keep thinking that there is a catch...like we are missing some unseen huge cost of living thing...how do they fund the school system without the taxes on your payroll check and housing taxes....we keep thinking that we are missing something...

I think they're able to do it because homes in Williamson County are so expensive. The property tax rate is low, but when the average home costs close to $400,000, that high value produces a lot of property tax dollars.

For example, compare Williamson County with Rutherford County (Murfreesboro and Smyrna). Both are among the fastest growing counties in the country. But Williamson County's property values are more than double Rutherford County's. Let's say there are 5,000 new homes built in Williamson County at an average value of $400,000, and there are 5,000 new homes built in Rutherford County at an average value of $200,000. Williamson County can have a lower property tax rate but still bring in more cash than Rutherford County. As a result, Williamson County schools are very well funded, and they're able to keep up with the county's rapid growth much better than poorer Rutherford County.

Williamson County also has a lot more retail than Rutherford County, and in Tennessee a portion of the sales tax receipts stays in the county where it was produced. So Williamson County receives more cash from its sales tax receipts than Rutherford County or other counties that have larger populations.

I hope all that made sense.

[akm4]

There's an extra property tax within the Franklin Special School District, but it's only about 1 tenth of the county tax. Franklin Special includes schools like Liberty El, Moore El, Johnson El, Freedom Middle and Freedom Intermediate and the balanced calendar Poplar Grove School (Pre K-8th).