Minooka vs. New Lenox vs. Naperville schools (Joliet, Lincoln: real estate, how much)

[skeach101]

Quick background.

Living in Plainfield. Work in Joliet. Looking to move in 2018 to a place with better schools than Plainfield. School quality is priority #1... but we also want to get good value for our money. I understand that Naperville is the best out of these three... but I also understand it's much more expensive. I could get a much better house in New Lenox or Minooka for the same price as a house is Naperville. So here is my question:

How much better are Naperville schools (203 or 204) compared to Minooka or New Lenox (Lincoln Way)? For us, the "Naperville life" is appealing, but not really a huge draw. The quality schools are what really draw us to an area. So are the inflated home prices really worth it?

[damba]

Nobody can answer that for you, as it's mostly a personal choice to spend more $ on a higher priced home with the accompanying higher property taxes that feed towards (arguably) better schools. Some people are able to and are willing to pay the premium and others won't or cannot. No right or wrong per se.

I would also suggest you look a the overall finances of the school districts you have been considering. Lincoln Way was in the news of late in this regard...

cheers

Originally Posted by skeach101

Quick background.

Living in Plainfield. Work in Joliet. Looking to move in 2018 to a place with better schools than Plainfield. School quality is priority #1... but we also want to get good value for our money. I understand that Naperville is the best out of these three... but I also understand it's much more expensive. I could get a much better house in New Lenox or Minooka for the same price as a house is Naperville. So here is my question:

How much better are Naperville schools (203 or 204) compared to Minooka or New Lenox (Lincoln Way)? For us, the "Naperville life" is appealing, but not really a huge draw. The quality schools are what really draw us to an area. So are the inflated home prices really worth it?

[JoePO]

Originally Posted by skeach101

The quality schools are what really draw us to an area.

So you have your answer then - Naperville. Naperville schools have been top-tier for a long time now, and will continue to be so based on the stability of the suburb (and tax base).

[4122]

1. Naperville
2. New Lenox
3. Minooka

Both 203 and 204 are better, but it really is your decision if you want to spend more money to be in the Naperville school district. Even if you don't, living in tge New Lenox school district won't kill you. New Lenox has some of the best schools in the southwest suburbs. Parts of Plainfield go to 204 actually

[TheLambeauLeap]

The Lincoln-Way High School District has been in the new in the last year for a lot of negative reasons.

They opened two new state of the art high schools in 2008 and 2009 (LW North in Frankfort Square, LW West in New Lenox), expecting to accommodate a specific number of students. Since the financial crisis, enrolled has decreased, they are getting less money from the state and it has become inefficient to run four high schools, so they are closing the North high school at the end of this school year.

With that, resulted in a lot of hard feelings throughout the community, especially has news has come to surface that the district has allegedly been handling their money very poorly.

While expected growth is more likely to occur in the west end of the district (aka New Lenox), the financial stability of the district is far from certain even after the North high school closes. The district has been softly preparing the community for a worst case scenario situation that if things continue to stay bad, a second high school may have to close. Since the two older schools (Central, in New Lenox; East, in Frankfort) are also the two biggest, if a second school were to close, it's been suggested that it would be West. The end result would be two state of the art schools, mothballed.

I live in New Lenox... it's a decent town, and the surrounding area of Frankfort, Mokena and Orland makes it a nice general area. But the financial stability of the schools, in my opinion, certainly makes the LW area a wildcard as far as long-term real estate and taxes go.

[NoVA2016]

Isn't there a part of Plainfield that does to 204?

[Liledgy]

If your going to Naperville, I wouldn't even consider 204 (I don't care how much newer the HS's are). Yes Lincoln way schools have been dragged thru the coals as of late but, they are very good schools with 3 nice (4 with Manhatten)towns feeding into them. Minooka HS has 3 different grade school districts feeding into it, Channahon being the best, Troy (Joliet) being the worse and Minooka. It's a rural community that grew pretty fast (not like Yorkville though) in the 90's and early 2000's. Fortunately, they only got the tail end of the Lakewood/Neumann housing stock. And that is only in Minooka, as channahon flat out rejected it. Channahon grade school district churns out some pretty high test scores as does the Frankfort (lincolnway HS. District) grade schools.

[whakru]

Originally Posted by Liledgy

If your going to Naperville, I wouldn't even consider 204 (I don't care how much newer the HS's are). Yes Lincoln way schools have been dragged thru the coals as of late but, they are very good schools with 3 nice (4 with Manhatten)towns feeding into them. Minooka HS has 3 different grade school districts feeding into it, Channahon being the best, Troy (Joliet) being the worse and Minooka. It's a rural community that grew pretty fast (not like Yorkville though) in the 90's and early 2000's. Fortunately, they only got the tail end of the Lakewood/Neumann housing stock. And that is only in Minooka, as channahon flat out rejected it. Channahon grade school district churns out some pretty high test scores as does the Frankfort (lincolnway HS. District) grade schools.

Why?

[chicagodesi]

What's wrong with 204?

[aga412]

Nothing is wrong with it.