Schools and charter schools (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: renting, houses, neighborhoods)
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So I may be moving down to Albuquerque for a job over the summer. I have 3 kids - 9, 5, and 2. I will probably not be moving again until the kids are out of the house/go to college.
I've lived in Albuquerque before, but that was pre-kids going to school. My concerns here are mostly with high school. So I have some questions/thoughts about schools and how that will impact my choice of where to live.
As far as public schools go, it looks like La Cueva, Eldorado, Rio Rancho, V. Sue Clevelnad are all highly rated. Cibola is pretty highly rated too. Obvi, la cueva is the rich kid school, but are the west side schools (RR, V sue, Cibola) really all that good? Personally I dont love rio rancho, and dont particularly like the far NE either, but RR is obviously cheaper. I would love to live in Corrales, but have huge reservations about Cibola. Anyone have thoughts or experiences with these schools?
Now charter schools, how hard are these to get into? My focus here is east mountain high school in sandia park. I love the area, and east mountain looks solid. But I'd hate to move there and then have my kids not get in (they have a lottery). The public assigned school is manzano, and that's a big no. Other charters in RR, like the ask academy, also look great, but again, if theres no realistic chance of getting in, it cant be a part of my plans. In addition to corrales and the east mountains, I would love to live in Placitas, but charter or private school are the only way to go for high school, as their assigned high school is bernalillo high, another huge no.
My fall back position here is to just move my family to Los alamos and commute. LA has the best public schools in the state and it seems safe enough. The commute to Albuquerque would be brutal, and LA lacks any of the cool houses or land or restaurants that Albq has, but one has to make sacrifices for the kids.
Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts, criticisms, or experiences.
I absolutely would not even think about a LANL commute, and a definite no if you're not allowed to work remotely and/or have a very liberal leave policy.
I would be the first to recommend the east mountains, but yeah - you'll have to brave the lottery process. I still think it's your best place unless you have sufficient funding to put all of your children through the academy in Albuquerque (which it doesn't sound like that's in your budget). As far as ABQ public schools are concerned, Manzano surely isn't the worst of them.
My wife and I came from very poorly rated schools with a high poverty rate in other states growing up, but turned out just fine. Most of the issues relating to student success stem from their parenting/home life and financial stability.
I would definitely choose an area you don't love (RR or NE Heights) over a horrific commute that will negatively impact your ability to spend any time with your family during the week. I can't speak to your chances on the lottery, but I would encourage you to explore the school districts you are comfortable with in the hopes that you can find a neighborhood in one of them that you actually like. What is your house budget?
So I may be moving down to Albuquerque for a job over the summer. I have 3 kids - 9, 5, and 2. I will probably not be moving again until the kids are out of the house/go to college.
I've lived in Albuquerque before, but that was pre-kids going to school. My concerns here are mostly with high school. So I have some questions/thoughts about schools and how that will impact my choice of where to live.
As far as public schools go, it looks like La Cueva, Eldorado, Rio Rancho, V. Sue Clevelnad are all highly rated. Cibola is pretty highly rated too. Obvi, la cueva is the rich kid school, but are the west side schools (RR, V sue, Cibola) really all that good? Personally I dont love rio rancho, and dont particularly like the far NE either, but RR is obviously cheaper. I would love to live in Corrales, but have huge reservations about Cibola. Anyone have thoughts or experiences with these schools?
Now charter schools, how hard are these to get into? My focus here is east mountain high school in sandia park. I love the area, and east mountain looks solid. But I'd hate to move there and then have my kids not get in (they have a lottery). The public assigned school is manzano, and that's a big no. Other charters in RR, like the ask academy, also look great, but again, if theres no realistic chance of getting in, it cant be a part of my plans. In addition to corrales and the east mountains, I would love to live in Placitas, but charter or private school are the only way to go for high school, as their assigned high school is bernalillo high, another huge no.
My fall back position here is to just move my family to Los alamos and commute. LA has the best public schools in the state and it seems safe enough. The commute to Albuquerque would be brutal, and LA lacks any of the cool houses or land or restaurants that Albq has, but one has to make sacrifices for the kids.
Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts, criticisms, or experiences.
You are right, the commute from Los Alamos wound be brutal especially in the winter with snow!
The entire area not the best but not the worst and for the first year may just to see what happens! Changed a lot since I lived there and do not know if I could return. Wondering where you might be working? I was at Sandia when there.
I can telework two days a week after a year or so. If I lived in LA I'd drive to the train and take it, as I would be working in down town Albuquerque.
I can pretty much afford to live in any of the these areas. Could go up to 500k on a house, maybe more. I could probably afford to send my.kids to private school, but I would have to go lower on the house for sure. I'm sort of against private school on principle (read: I'm cheap).
I agree that a school being rated such and such is overblown, and im not really worried about how many kids are in AP classes or whatever, I'm sure my kids will do fine academically. I worry more about safety/bad influence/etc. That said, NM is dead last in education, so being an average school in NM is still not a great thing.
With your housing budget (good), concerns about good school districts (legitimate), and aversion to paying for private school (understandable, especially with three kids!) I would strongly recommend that you consider the La Cueva school district. What about the NE heights do you not like? The La Cueva school district spans a fairly large area of town with diverse neighborhoods in terms of aesthetics, topography, architectural styles, amenities, etc. If you give more details on what you like/dislike, you might get good suggestions on where to look. Since you mention liking Corrales and Placitas, I am guessing you would be more interested in an acre property rather than a house in a more suburban feeling neighborhood. These homes are just examples of what you can find in the La Cueva school district:
My fall back position here is to just move my family to Los alamos and commute. LA has the best public schools in the state and it seems safe enough. The commute to Albuquerque would be brutal, and LA lacks any of the cool houses or land or restaurants that Albq has, but one has to make sacrifices for the kids.
Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts, criticisms, or experiences.
You are correct, your commute would be brutal. You would have to drive Santa Fe and catch the Rail Runner. That's 45 minutes on a good day, and probably 1 1/2-2 hours on days following measurable snow (many more than in ABQ). There used to be bus that did that, but I don't know if it still runs. Then take the Rail Runner into ABQ, at least another hour. Then find a way to get to your job from the train station. That's a commute of at least 2 hours each way in good weather, more in bad weather, which is probably no faster than driving the entire commute.
I would closely look at ABQ schools and neighborhoods. LaCueva is generally considered the best public high school.
You are correct about Placitas. The Placitas elementary school goes through grade 6, and gets great reviews. After that, many Placitas students go private (or parochial) and the rest go to Bernalillo schools. The Bernalillo schools have improved over the last few years, but I don't think they yet measure up.
Yeah, I would like a more rural feel. I've got a whole list of things I'd like tho! My deal with the far NE/la cueva is mostly just that it's more expensive. You can get ruralish, but you pay through the nose. In RR you can get an acre, nice house and a pool for 400 ish. Now IF I have to pay for private school, then yeah la cueva area pays for itself pretty quick. But I am looking for that sweet spot of good schools, and still getting some bang for your buck.
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