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Old 07-07-2014, 02:17 AM
 
21 posts, read 25,513 times
Reputation: 10

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We are considering moving to Texas. We live in Maine. So cold and not the perfect place to raise kids. What we are looking for is, an excellent elementary school and a nice house in a small twin on the border of the big city. My husband is a pharmacist and I am in my way to get my license and start my career as a pharmacist to. Advice please. We have a 5 years old boy. Schools is our priority now. We are thinking of renting for a year then we will purchase our first house.
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Old 07-07-2014, 05:37 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park, Texas
320 posts, read 485,289 times
Reputation: 294
There is a ton of info on this forum about schools. Just use search above on right. (Have to be in main list to see search tab)

"good schools" is a relative term and is hard for anyone to quantify for you. What is it that you don't like about schools in Maine? We moved here from Cary, NC and I felt the schools were much better there.

Renting first is definitely a good plan.

As you will read in many posts here, you will have to heavily consider commute times in your decision in where to live. Austin metro is vast and spread out, there are options in most any direction. Homes get more expense the closer you get to Austin and for outlying areas S, West, N and NW of Austin would be more expensive, but offer what's considered better
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Old 07-07-2014, 07:04 AM
hts
 
762 posts, read 2,155,853 times
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Where do you live here that you think Cary (Wake Cty) schools were better? Although I didn't move from the Triangle to here directly (we had a stop in Phx first), I lived in Chapel Hill (for the public schools, not the politics) and thought that their schools very very good, but I never had a very high opinion of most of Wake County schools.
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Old 07-07-2014, 07:07 AM
 
2,283 posts, read 3,842,816 times
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The definition of what a "good school" is to each person is completely different - just as each child is completely different. One person's "great school" is another's terrible experience.
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Old 07-07-2014, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park, Texas
320 posts, read 485,289 times
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Leander ISD. In my case I was comparing Farmington Woods to Grandview Hills, both IB schools. Granted FW was a magnet school. Next year we will be at Nauman, so will see. I think Chapel Hill schools are better than Wake, but it didn't fit our budget/commute, so Cary was next best.
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Old 07-07-2014, 08:14 AM
 
21 posts, read 25,513 times
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Schools in Maine are not challenging enough. They don't give individualized attention to the kids. My son is pretty smart but teachers spend more time dealing with problematic kids leaving the good kids behind thinking that they will do fine by themselves. They don't take them to the next step. They don't offer aftercare and extra curricular activities. We are thinking of moving into Texas because it's cheaper and much much warmer with lots of out door activities. We are in Maine are looked in for 5 months a year. We don't do snow skating or any wintry sports.

We love to get a larger house 2000 sq ft with a yard in decent neighborhood with good schools, our budget is 350 k.
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Old 07-07-2014, 08:20 AM
 
269 posts, read 427,247 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lovelyza2zo3 View Post
Schools in Maine are not challenging enough. They don't give individualized attention to the kids. My son is pretty smart but teachers spend more time dealing with problematic kids leaving the good kids behind thinking that they will do fine by themselves. They don't take them to the next step. They don't offer aftercare and extra curricular activities. We are thinking of moving into Texas because it's cheaper and much much warmer with lots of out door activities. We are in Maine are looked in for 5 months a year. We don't do snow skating or any wintry sports.

We love to get a larger house 2000 sq ft with a yard in decent neighborhood with good schools, our budget is 350 k.
Texas Public Schools in general are worse than schools in Maine. Elementary schools simply do not offer either free aftercare or extra curricular activities so I am not sure what the motivation is to move to Texas.
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Old 07-07-2014, 08:50 AM
 
Location: The People's Republic of Austin
5,184 posts, read 7,256,521 times
Reputation: 2575
Quote:
Originally Posted by ppp38 View Post
Texas Public Schools in general are worse than schools in Maine.
I'm interested in what you are basing that on. Texas' NAEP scores are higher than Maine's - despite sharing a 1250 mile border with a third world country and a 15% higher number of students getting free lunches.
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Old 07-07-2014, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Cedar Park, Texas
320 posts, read 485,289 times
Reputation: 294
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovelyza2zo3 View Post
Schools in Maine are not challenging enough. They don't give individualized attention to the kids. My son is pretty smart but teachers spend more time dealing with problematic kids leaving the good kids behind thinking that they will do fine by themselves. They don't take them to the next step. They don't offer aftercare and extra curricular activities. We are thinking of moving into Texas because it's cheaper and much much warmer with lots of out door activities. We are in Maine are looked in for 5 months a year. We don't do snow skating or any wintry sports.

We love to get a larger house 2000 sq ft with a yard in decent neighborhood with good schools, our budget is 350 k.
Sounds like public schools in general. That's my frustration here. There are good private schools here, but expensive. Would have to sacrifice some of your housing budget for that. Maybe think about moving someplace where you can get a house for less, so you can pay for private school.
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Old 07-07-2014, 09:04 AM
 
772 posts, read 1,055,239 times
Reputation: 985
This seems to be the frustration for many public school parents. Been hearing this from folks in districts considered some of the best in the country. I guess that's why those that can afford it go to private schools. Looking forward to making own assessment when our oldest start K. Having said that, I wonder if there are any public schools that really are able to tailor services to each individual child.

I do think that there are quite a lot of excellent to good enough schools across Austin and suburbs. You just have to figure out where at least one of you will be working
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