Moving from Chicago to California, Florida, Arizona, or? (Highland Park, Gurnee: school rankings, college)

[helena101]

Originally Posted by 4122

Illinois' public schools have suffered from budget cuts, meaning many bad things for schools including, laying off teachers, bigger class sizes, less course options, less extracurriculars, and also the amount spent per people. Arizona has a bad economy too, actually even worse than Illinois', Florida also has the same issues, but AZ has it much worse.

America's biggest losers: 5 worst state economies - Jun. 12, 2014

I agree about Illinois schools, the school system (especially in the Chicago area) seems to be going downhill unless you can afford to be in one of the most expensive suburbs. And I don't really know anything about Arizona's schools, my point is more that there numerous cities that have equally good (or better) schools than Chicago, with much more affordable area housing.

[helena101]

Originally Posted by allsunny

4122 comments were not for you. It looks like that but were not meant for you. Interesting article.

Take a look, here's an article where Illinois and Arizona are ranked together in the bottom 5 worst run states in the country!! I don't know why you're so focused only on Arizona, my point is that there are many, many states and cities out there that are better run, more affordable, with great amenities and great schools (and some better than IL schools)

Illinois Ranks as Worst-Run State in the Country | NBC Chicago

[allsunny]

Helena101 Please see my comment above in regards on "top excelling" az school and the need for tutors here to catch up to not a top. school. I dont think any amount of hypothetical post can change my mind about my own life experience. I dont need luck I am satisfied with school my children are in now, staff support and communications with school are great. Hope before next year starts they will be where they should.
Somewhere this conversation took wrong turn so I would really like to hear what you have to say on the topic of OP, and please be specific because im easily confused so when discussing az which is south of IL but not south instead its southwest, and school zones which I assume you mean districts can you be more specific as to name them? So between moving to CA, AZ, and FL what information can you share to its advantages and disadvantages. And I will go read a book or something as not to continue to move further from original topic. Sorry OP for turning this into something it was not supposed to be.

[allsunny]

I am focused on az is because if you would read the posts that you quote you would have noticed that I am speaking about my personal experience in az .....buy the way if you ever need a re agent there let me know, and im not being sarcastic.

[helena101]

Originally Posted by allsunny

Helena101 Please see my comment above in regards on "top excelling" az school and the need for tutors here to catch up to not a top. school. I dont think any amount of hypothetical post can change my mind about my own life experience. I dont need luck I am satisfied with school my children are in now, staff support and communications with school are great. Hope before next year starts they will be where they should.
Somewhere this conversation took wrong turn so I would really like to hear what you have to say on the topic of OP, and please be specific because im easily confused so when discussing az which is south of IL but not south instead its southwest, and school zones which I assume you mean districts can you be more specific as to name them? So between moving to CA, AZ, and FL what information can you share to its advantages and disadvantages. And I will go read a book or something as not to continue to move further from original topic. Sorry OP for turning this into something it was not supposed to be.

When people choose a great school for their kids, they aren't interested in what you think about your kid's school. They want to know how the school compares to other schools. And every single state in the country has good schools and bad schools. US News ranks schools nationally. It doesn't matter how the entire state does, unless you're concerned about future budget/funding issues due to state debt or mismanagement, and both Illinois and Arizona are doing pretty badly there. What matters is the individual school, and I provided national rankings for reference (for the OP or anyone else interested).

[allsunny]

OP does not have kids, school topic came up from you and what op asked for is personal opinion of people on forum which included mine on Az and yours on IL

[helena101]

Originally Posted by allsunny

OP does not have kids, school topic came up from you and what op asked for is personal opinion of people on forum which included mine on Az and yours on IL

No, you're the one who brought up schools, you said that schools in other states are "the best of the worst." I was pointing out that you are wrong about that and there are plenty of schools in other states that outrank Chicago schools (per US news national rankings).

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by helena101

No, you're the one who brought up schools, you said that schools in other states are "the best of the worst." I was pointing out that you are wrong about that and there are plenty of schools in other states that outrank Chicago schools (per US news national rankings).

Generally speaking, the suburban Chicago schools are *significantly* better than their counterparts in Arizona and Florida. I've seen people from even the most affluent places in those states (such as Scottsdale) move here and they've noted specifically that their kids are behind by comparison. Note that places like Arizona and Florida are filled with retirees without school-age children that don't vote in favor of property tax increases to fund schools, whereas many of the Chicago suburbs have a history of strongly funding their school districts.

As a result, suburban Chicago schools as a group are among the best public schools in the country. Northern Virginia, Orange County and Silicon Valley also have very good public schools in general (as they are affluent educated areas with lots of school age children while also not having the pervasive private school culture that the NYC and Boston areas have). Sure, other metro areas might have a handful of schools that are elite in national rankings, but I don't think many people realize that the fact that the Chicago suburbs have 50-plus public high schools (beyond just New Trier, Hinsdale Central, the Naperville schools, etc.) that would be considered upper tier nationally is NOT the norm across the country. The depth of quality in Chicago suburban schools is very strong compared to other large metro areas.

The flip side, though, is that the poorer districts in the Chicago area are among the very worst in the country. We have an extremely stratified school scenario in Illinois - we have a lot of great public schools and a lot of bad public schools, with very little in between. Places like Arizona and Florida have more "in between" places, but fewer "great" places.

[helena101]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Generally speaking, the suburban Chicago schools are *significantly* better than their counterparts in Arizona and Florida. I've seen people from even the most affluent places in those states (such as Scottsdale) move here and they've noted specifically that their kids are behind by comparison. Note that places like Arizona and Florida are filled with retirees without school-age children that don't vote in favor of property tax increases to fund schools, whereas many of the Chicago suburbs have a history of strongly funding their school districts.

As a result, suburban Chicago schools as a group are among the best public schools in the country. Northern Virginia, Orange County and Silicon Valley also have very good public schools in general (as they are affluent educated areas with lots of school age children while also not having the pervasive private school culture that the NYC and Boston areas have). Sure, other metro areas might have a handful of schools that are elite in national rankings, but I don't think many people realize that the fact that the Chicago suburbs have 50-plus public high schools (beyond just New Trier, Hinsdale Central, the Naperville schools, etc.) that would be considered upper tier nationally is NOT the norm across the country. The depth of quality in Chicago suburban schools is very strong compared to other large metro areas.

The flip side, though, is that the poorer districts in the Chicago area are among the very worst in the country. We have an extremely stratified school scenario in Illinois - we have a lot of great public schools and a lot of bad public schools, with very little in between. Places like Arizona and Florida have more "in between" places, but fewer "great" places.

I'm definitely not saying that Chicago schools are bad as a whole. My points were that 1) the best Chicago school districts are for the most part in areas that are very difficult to afford for the typical middle class family, 2) most people don't care how the whole city or the whole state does, all they care about is the specific school their child attends and there are excellent schools in every large metro area (with students scoring highly on AP and SAT tests, per the US news rankings), and 3) Chicago schools have a higher chance of decline than schools in a number of other areas, due to the awful budget situation coupled with the fact that Chicago & IL have been shrinking in population.

[4122]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Generally speaking, the suburban Chicago schools are *significantly* better than their counterparts in Arizona and Florida. I've seen people from even the most affluent places in those states (such as Scottsdale) move here and they've noted specifically that their kids are behind by comparison. Note that places like Arizona and Florida are filled with retirees without school-age children that don't vote in favor of property tax increases to fund schools, whereas many of the Chicago suburbs have a history of strongly funding their school districts.

As a result, suburban Chicago schools as a group are among the best public schools in the country. Northern Virginia, Orange County and Silicon Valley also have very good public schools in general (as they are affluent educated areas with lots of school age children while also not having the pervasive private school culture that the NYC and Boston areas have). Sure, other metro areas might have a handful of schools that are elite in national rankings, but I don't think many people realize that the fact that the Chicago suburbs have 50-plus public high schools (beyond just New Trier, Hinsdale Central, the Naperville schools, etc.) that would be considered upper tier nationally is NOT the norm across the country. The depth of quality in Chicago suburban schools is very strong compared to other large metro areas.

The flip side, though, is that the poorer districts in the Chicago area are among the very worst in the country. We have an extremely stratified school scenario in Illinois - we have a lot of great public schools and a lot of bad public schools, with very little in between. Places like Arizona and Florida have more "in between" places, but fewer "great" places.

Very true. Quite a bit of my family lives in Florida and they said that the schools aren't good out there and would not live there with kids. All of my family that lives out there moved there after their kids graduated high school. They all love the weather though except for in the summer when it can get humid.