What's the best public school district in/around Austin? (Liberty: how much, new home)

[love roses]

But you might also be surprised at what 200K on up will get you size wize. 800k will get you a pretty massive house.

[horsel8y]

Howdy....I grew up in Northern Virginia, Burke to be exact....so I understand about concern for great schools. My husband and I came to Dripping Springs last summer (suburb of Austin...) and have been very happy with the school district. We have 2 kids in elementary school. Property taxes out here are high, but the school system gets a nice cut. And the weather down here isn't nearly as humid as it is on the east coast!!

[hts]

Hi and thanks!! I understand that Dripping Springs is a very desirable community. How did you land there, as opposed to another town/subdivision in/around Austin? Is yours or your husband's job located near Dripping Springs?

I just went to DSISD's web site, and it appears that most of their schools are recognized, not exemplary. We're still struggling between Leander (which appears to us to be the up-and-coming school district) and Eanes (which appears to us to be very well established).

[LEFT][SIZE=2]From the DSISD web site:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Dripping Springs ISD is located at the gateway to the Texas Hill Country. Under the state accountability rating system, the District is "Recognized" with the High School, Middle School and Walnut Springs Elementary (previously DS Intermediate) as "Recognized" campuses and the Dripping Springs Elementary (formerly DS Primary) as an "Exemplary" campus. The many academic, fine arts, and athletic accomplishments of students and staff bring great pride to the school and community. [/SIZE]

I would love to hear about your experiences (via PM if you prefer) as a N. VA transplant. We now live in Sterling (formerly Reston), and in between, both Chapel Hill and Phoenix![/LEFT]

[horsel8y]

Wow...my husband & I are here via Raleigh....small world, huh? Last year, the Dripping schools (elementary especially) were way overcrowded due to the influx of people moving here....so, the school was "downgraded" to recognized, but it was exemplary the year before. Now there is a new elementary, so the pressure of having too many kids has been lifted. I think that the schools will improve their ratings this year...
As for moving here and being a native Virginian...this part of Texas is as close to Virginia Hunt Country as you'll get. I miss the beautiful old historic farms, but the Austin/San Antonio area has it's own charm about it. The weather is not too much different than Virginia...you are in a sauna in the summer time up there, and down here, it's more like an oven. BUT, there is almost always a breeze blowing. Everyone down here says that this area is so humid...but they've never lived in VA or NC. We are renting a place right now, but have started the real estate hunt. You should be able to find something very nice in your price range....you will get A LOT more bang for your buck down here (especially in the SW side of Austin, Dripping Springs, Driftwood). I know that the house that I grew up in was sold by us in 1991 for $225K. It had 2 acres of land. Now, it sells for over a million.....crazy how much NOVA has grown up!
Between Leander and Eanes, I would say the Eanes seems to be better, and closer in to Austin. Not sure where you will work, but my husband commutes to Congress & 6th Street every day, and it takes him 35-50 minutes. We are on the NW side of Dripping Springs. Lots of retail going up out here...so we are having to drive less to get places!
Hope this helps.
Stephanie

[gigi927]

Originally Posted by hts

We now live in Sterling (formerly Reston), and in between, both Chapel Hill and Phoenix![/LEFT]

I'm a Phoenix transplant as well! One of my good friends here is from Richmond, and another friend is from Raleigh and they all love Austin!

[traceyr13]

Ditto to all the pp about Eanes, but I would also put in a plug for Round Rock, in my opinion, over Leander. I am an educator, and also have a child in the RRISD. I agree that Leander is up and coming and who knows what will happen with all the growth and new schools going in - but for right now, I personally prefer RRISD over LISD.

[IC_deLight]

Instead of trying to identify the school districts and then visiting their sites to get information, you could go to the database provided by the Texas Education Agency. This database identifies school districts and individual schools by any number of types of queries. In addition, you can compare individual schools. Here is a link to the 2007 database:
2007 Accountability Rating System

Eanes definitely has a recurring positive reputation to most of those that live in the area. However, there are many schools with "exemplary" status in the surrounding areas.

Regarding your options in housing, I am definitely no fan of master planned communities and Texas has some of the most homeowner unfriendly laws on the books to benefit management companies and HOA attorneys rather than the homeowners. In Virginia the FDCPA applies in HOA land. In addition, I think private fining is unconstitutional in Virginia. In Texas, you will find that these master planned communities create private fining powers. In addition, they will recharacterize your assessment payment to be applied to fines, management co. fees, etc. against your will because the industry has been successful so far at preventing the FDCPA from applying in HOA land. The result is that the more equity you have in your home, the greater the target you become for the management companies and Board members. Finally, there is no minimum amount that the HOA can foreclose on. So the bottom line is that you can be accused (no court, etc), have a fine placed upon your property, and then be threatened with foreclosure unless you pay the money. This leads to real problems in these HOAs with ego-challenged board members who can't do you any good, but they can threaten you with incredible financial harm. Some say this rarely happens. I say, it happens often enough to have made zillionaires out of these management company owners. Regardless of who you talk to, ask yourself whether it is worth jeopardizing the amount of money you are talking about by putting it into a "master planned community".

Now on another note, as other posters and you now recognize - there is no individual income tax in Texas, but the property taxes are fairly insidious. In addition, the property taxes recur every year and tend to rise over time without regard to your income.

One thing you might consider is seeking a larger parcel of property with agricultural or wildlife-exempt status. Such properties pay a much, much lower property tax than similarly sized properties that do not have such exemptions.

As someone who spent several years in Portland, I think you have identified a concern that may be pertinent to your family. Austin is further south latitude-wise than Los Angeles. Austin does get lots of sun and is often reputed to have 300+ days of sun per year. (I think that includes any portion of the day that is sunny). If I recall, Portland receives something like 147 days of sun per year. The first year, it was a novelty. Successive years resulted in dreading the approach of October. The summer is absolutely beautiful and you will enjoy vibrant foliage color changes in Portland. The winter season is fairly mild, but the darkness may prove pertinent to your decision.

Another interesting thing about Portland. When I first moved there I thought people were demented. People were mowing in the rain, construction continued in the rain, and people walked around in the rain without umbrellas. The rain, however, is very light. You can also experience a wide range of weather conditions in a very short drive, but even the hail is very small and mild. This weather was so prevalent that people just went about their regular activities instead of letting the mild weather stop them. To give you some idea, however "sunbreaks" actually make the news in Portland.

In Texas, if there is a hint of rain you won't see construction workers showing up nor do you see people walking around in anything other than sudden spring showers. Texas gets some monster rains like several inches in a few hours. Texas also gets great lightning storms. The rain here varies in extremes rather than the light rainfall you see in Portland. Lightning or thunder will make the news in Portland because it is rare.

Austin does not experience great color changes in foliage. Although I'm sure I'll get some flack for this, you have no change for the evergreen trees and not a wide range for non-evergreens. The others range from green, to a little red, to brown, to bare limbs in the wintry season. You will not experience the color changes you are used to. However, perhaps this gives a heightened appreciation for the color change. This is not a huge price to most to forgo snow, ice or to have extended spring and summer.

One other concern you might have in Austin is allergies. Apparently a lot of people have problems with "cedar fever" and there is a lot of "cedar" in the Austin area.

Hope this provides some information you are looking for.

[markstrub]

I agree with Atlanta Hope. Don't let the property taxes be weighted more heavily than the other factors. Crunch the numbers as an overall picture of total cost of living and what you get for the money. You can get more house here than a lot of places- so maybe just decide what you want your total monthly housing payment to be and back into the price range from there. You will be surprised. And don't forget that the property tax you pay is usually deductable from your taxable income...
Austin is awesome. If the rain factor of the NW is possibly a problem for you- I'd say that's a HUGE plus sign in the Austin column. I love it here.

[JimmySkis]

High Property Taxes? YES, relative to most areas of Texas, Austin has very high property taxes. Why? Because of a relatively unknown fact about Austin - at least unknown to non-Texans. For the most part, Austin is a LIBERAL island in a conservative state. Almost without exception, when liberals "control" spending, there is actually little or no spending control. Austin has rarely met a tax, entitlement, welfare payment, or "publics" work project it has disliked. Please be well aware of this FACT before you relocate here.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by hts

We're looking to relocate from N. Virginia (DC suburb) this summer. Right now, we're looking at Portland (if we can get past the 9 months of dreary rain) and Austin.

I don't have a preference right now, as we're still in the fact-finding stage, but my wife seems to be leaning toward Austin ("better weather, no state income tax").

I've done some preliminary research and it appears that both the Eanes and Leander school districts are pretty good. Round Rock also looks decent. Our top three priorities are schools, schools, schools, as we have 6 & 7 year old sons that require an academically-challenging environment (we're not interested in private schools).

I've been to great schools, just for kids, read the recent Texas Monthly article, etc., but would appreciate some local anecdotal insights from those of you that live in/around Austin. Is there one district that is generally recognized as the best all-around school system in Austin? Is there one that levies additional taxes and is therefore funded at a significantly higher level (in terms of $ per student) than the others?

Can you also please recommend some master planned communities with amenities (country club, golf, etc.) that we might consider? I've read about Steiner Ranch on here and it looks fine. Any others to consider? We're probably looking to spend between $750k-$1m on our next home.

Not all the RR schools are equally good. The good high school is westwood, middle school canyon vista and several elementary (laurel mountain is good). Our neighbors kids went to laurel mountain and they moved to steiner and they said the school is significantly easier and the kids are now bored.

If you buy in the great hills area I dont think it is possible to spend more than 650K.

1M will buy you a really nice house in eanes.

There are schools in AISD that are also excellent, but you have to go by the school rather than the whole school district