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Forgive me if this isn't posted elsewhere in this forum, but for some reason, I can get to city-data at work, but the search function is blocked.
My wife was contacted about a very good job in Tonawanda, NY. How are the public schools in the area? Going from what I see in wikipedia (not always a reliable source), the schools in Tonawanda are rated #70 and #74 out of 135 in western NY, so not all that impressive. East Amherst seems good? Any other suggestions?
We'd have a child entering high school in the Fall of 2016, so the timing of the move would be difficult for her. We've moved a few times over the years and she tends to do better when surrounded by other good students, so we'd want a school where a large majority of the kids will be college-oriented. Private schools would be an option as well.
We'd be moving from the Hartford area in CT. so I don't think budget would be an issue once we sell our home in CT. We'd prefer a newer home, if possible.
I would assume that with the amount of snow the Buffalo area gets, a long commute is probably not feasible for 4-5 months out of the year, so this would hopefully be within 30 minutes or less.
You know what the top five districts are (it sounds like if it's out of 135 you've used Business First). Anything lower than the top five and you are probably in questionable territory. Certainly 70 out of 135 would be unacceptable. Of course, you could live cheaply and buy an inexpensive house and consider private as an alternative. All depends on what you want. Of course, consider, total taxes / cost of ownership, mortgage interest, etc.
Just in case you didn't know , if you look up tonawanda schools that's the city of tonawanda and Ken-Ton schools is Town of tonawanda and village of kenmore
You know what the top five districts are (it sounds like if it's out of 135 you've used Business First). Anything lower than the top five and you are probably in questionable territory. Certainly 70 out of 135 would be unacceptable. Of course, you could live cheaply and buy an inexpensive house and consider private as an alternative. All depends on what you want. Of course, consider, total taxes / cost of ownership, mortgage interest, etc.
Why don't you tell us where the Buffalo Public Schools other than City Honors rank on that list, and why don't you explain how much "cheaper" it will be to buy in the city and send his daughter to a pricey private school? What's "unacceptable" is a school district with 5 schools in state receivership and legislators tossing around the idea of putting the schools under mayoral control because the Board of Ed spends its time undermining the superintendent.
OP, ignore our resident schools troll, genoobie. Amherst and Williamsville are both excellent school districts. Ken-Ton is a decent district. It has lots of smaller, older homes that are basically "starter homes", so its socioeconomic demographic isn't as high as Amherst or Williamsville, and demographics are strongly correlated with school ratings. The village of Kenmore and much of the KenTon district have decent urban amenities like sidewalks, street lighting, walkable neighborhoods, bus service into the City of Buffalo, etc. It also seems to be a school district where people buy and stay and where people want to live, so despite being a first ring suburb, home prices continue to appreciate.
Well Amherst is certainly not in the top five so I wouldn't even consider it. Use the Business First rankings and only pick those in the top five, anything else would be a second guess. Amherst borders on Buffalo so I wouldn't risk it. There are increasing numbers of city residents moving into Amherst and so the socioeconomics are a bit on the decline in parts of Amherst (and thus the rankings of the schools). Amherst used to be in the top five it's now 13th I think as of last ranking and declining.
I don't know how under any circumstance someone would consider a district ranked in the 50's out of 135 as "decent".
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