HELP NEEDED - Where should we live in Austin (Round Rock: renting, new home)

[COCUE]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

We have a child in Austin ISD that is in the special education program for several learning issues and is receiving (among other assistance) speech therapy from the school district as part of the program. It has proven to be very beneficial; however, you will need to qualify under the special education program to get the benefits, so the language/speech issues will have to be shown to cause a learning disability/barrier. We are relatively new to the program, but while you do need to spend a lot of effort/time working with the system, it is a very good system once you are in it.

I can't remember the exact schedule right now, but I believe she has 2x 45 minute sessions a week currently in a 1 on 1 setting. The schedule is a little odd, because they have switched to a 3 weeks with the therapist, 1 week with the teacher/family program.

Trainwreck..thanks. Do you think Austin ISD is particularly good at this? Not sure how old your child is but perhaps you've had experience with other ISDs or have heard comparisons from other parents in similar situations? The reason I'm asking is that we may have some flexibility to leave closer in to my husband's job as I can work from home up to 3 days a week as my whole team is here in the BA.

Also hoping that we will still qualify in Tx given that we did in CA and have an IEP which by law TX has to honor and provide comparable service till such a time as they either ratify and make it theirs or conduct their own evaluation to create a new one

[COCUE]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

The metro rail location in downtown Austin is very walkable, only 4 blocks from 6th and Brazos. http://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFile...p_downtown.pdf

Looks like a good solution for your husband. Given that you should concentrate on those rail system locations. Riding MetroRail - Capital Metro - Austin Public Transit

I believe the neighborhoods you mentioned are very good ones, but I live in SW Austin so will let others who are more familiar with them respond to your questions about neighborhoods in NW Austin. However given the distance and traffic I would not pick Steiner Ranch. Avery Ranch and Brushy Creek are good neighborhoods and much better areas for access to Metro Rail.

CptnRn
Thanks for the response and links. I could potentially work from home up to 3 days a week as my whole team is here in the BA. The folks in the Austin office are in a different BUs. I would go to the office because I prefer going to the office to work and also utilize some of the resources that I don't have at home especially on days that i have meetings that need those resources. Given this, are there other neighborhoods that could fit us that would be an easier commute for my husband who has to go to the office every day?...

[Melissa78703]

To the OP:

Yes, my best half used to live out near Steiner Ranch. I don't drive (I live in town and take public transit everywhere), and even finding a bus line that went out there was impossible. I would definitely avoid that area, if your husband plans to commute into Austin.

Riata Office Park and downtown Austin are pretty far away from each other -- don't get me wrong, it could always be worse! You might look in the Allandale area which is somewhat between these two areas of town. It's not quite in North Austin, and it's not central; it's sort of in between, and it's a really nice neighborhood. Older, but nice and very, very safe.

Good luck, and welcome to Austin -- it sounds like you and your husband can definitely afford to live here comfortably! It's always nice to hear of two people who actually have decent-paying jobs in the bag before they move here -- that's not always the case. The two of you were smart.

[hound 109]

I'm getting confused. What are:

- "BUs"
- the "BA"
- an "IEP"
- "PPCD"

Also.....I think you should post again & ask specifically about your Speech (or special) needs & which ISDs deliver the goods. Once you get that very important info, then lots of us can help out on neighborhoods when you've narrowed down the ISD or specific school.

Northwest Austin is served by AISD, RRISD & LISD. All have good to great schools & good school tracks, but I'm not familiar with which district or schools would be a fit for your kid's needs. But I bet there are many that would post about the "special needs" info if you had it in the Title. Once you know which schools (or districts) are fits, then post again with the narrowed down options & you'll get lots of opinions on good neighborhoods near the desired schools (or districts).

My gut is that the area within 2-4 miles of the Lakeline station (with a dozen or more neighborhoods served by RRISD to the south & east & LISD to the north & west) would deliver all the items on your checklist. Good to Great Schools, less than 6 miles from Riata, a 40 min. train ride downtown, 350K & less, fairly diverse & welcoming area, etc. etc. but I don't know if schools in the Vista Ridge, Cedar Park, Westwod or McNeil HS tracks have the speech offerings you need.

Good luck.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by COCUE

CptnRn
... Given this, are there other neighborhoods that could fit us that would be an easier commute for my husband who has to go to the office every day?...

I can't imagine an easier commute then riding the MetroRail and walking 4 blocks to work. All other commutes will require driving, including parking problems and expense downtown. I worked downtown most of my career and had to commute 45- 60 min during rush hour to get there. But my job required that I have a car to visit constructions sites all over the area so there was no viable alternative.

Riding MetroRail into downtown would be a pleasure over the stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic many here have to put up with.

I would focus on housing within a reasonable distance to the Lakeline MetroRail station as I do not consider the other neighborhoods closer into downtown to be the kinds of places you would want to live and raise a family.

[COCUE]

Melissa - thanks for the response and DM. We most definitely prefer to move anywhere with jobs whenever possible in our case, it's the only thing that makes sense given that we both have good jobs here and we are making the move for primarily cost of living reasons. Will look into Allandale and surroundings as per your suggested.

Hound - thanks and sorry about the acronyms. I got away from myself. BA is Bay Area. BU is business unit and IEP and PPCD are specifically special education acronyms that school districts use that other parents or people involved in the system would know. I forgot that not everyone would know. And your suggestion to start another thread has merit.

CptnRn - I understand what you mean about driving vs. trains. When we moved to the Bay Area was my first time in my working career driving to work...albeit a 15 minutes or less drive with parking provided or everyone in the building. It was very weird in the beginning to do this. My husband actually prefers sitting on the train. He says its his only " me time"
The metrorail website says its a 40 or so minutes ride from lake line to downtown. Is this correct or do they end up having frequent delays etc...once again, thanks

[EzPeterson]

That's pretty dead on for the train. Delays are very very infrequent.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I would focus on housing within a reasonable distance to the Lakeline MetroRail station as I do not consider the other neighborhoods closer into downtown to be the kinds of places you would want to live and raise a family.

Correction, any neighborhoods around the Howard Lane station and Kramer Lane Station are decent. Just stay away from Rundburg Lane.

[COCUE]

EzPeterson - thanks

CptnRn - Is this in addition to the Lakeline station i.e. Look for homes around Lakeline, Howard Lane and Kramer Lane Stations?

[sua2017]

High schools for the Northwest Austin are normally considered Anderson High, McNiel High, Westwood High School, and Vandegrift High School. Anderson being in Austin ISD and the middle two being in Round Rock ISD and Vandegrift being Leander ISD. Based off what you are looking for Anderson would not be a good fit because the prices in that area would be out of your price range in most of the areas for the size of house you want, or simply not available, though the location would be best (much closer to halfway between jobs and a lot more commuter options. Vandegrift would be out of the way for both of your jobs and be the 2nd most expensive of the four when it comes to cost per square feet. Avery Ranch, Spicewood Estate, the area around Anderson Mill, and Canyon Creek would keep you in Austin, big enough house, and in budget with great schools.Any area zoned to Westwood and McNiel would fit the bill for you but the northern sides of their zoning area would be closer to the metro station.

If you don't mind an address that says Cedar Park on it your options will skyrocket. With your budget you could get easily a 3,000 sq/ft home with a big back yard close to Lakeline Station zoned to either Cedar Park High School or Vista Ridge High School. I do believe some of Vista Ridge does go into Avery Ranch and by default has areas with an Austin Address, but don't quote me on that for I could be wrong.

In recap if you find a house zoned to ending with McNiel, Westwood, Vista Ridge, or Cedar Park I think it would be a good option for you and like the above keeping close to Lakeline station would be ideal. When it comes to your daughter I have no experience and can speak none to it, I would suggest contacting RRISD or LISD and inquire what sort of help they may have. Austin ISD will have plenty of options just because of the amount of kids that are in the district (around 90,000) and they have faced everything before and the other two together are not even as large as Austin ISD, though growing fast and having to face every issue anyway.