How does the school system work? (Columbus, Westerville: transfer to, neighborhood, school districts)

[Mulva]

If I move to a suburb of Columbus, like Westerville or Dublin for example, would my child just start at the closest elementary school? Or is there a choice? Or a lottery?

Thanks.

[Dewddd]

School districts in Ohio are usually by municipality. For example, Westerville City Schools is a seperate entity from Columbus City Schools. If you were to move to Westerville, typically they would place your child in the nearest school or the dictrict selected school for your neighborhood.

This isnt always the case, however. In some school districts like Reynoldsburg, there are STEM schools within the district that you can select to go to, as long as you live within district boundaries. But most of the time, the schools are preselected based upon where you live.

[Mulva]

Thanks! Do you know if my child got into a low rated school, could we change schools within the district?

[Dewddd]

Im not sure about that. If it was a school within suburbs like Westerville or Dublin (pretty much any suburb besides Whitehall), I wouldnt be too worried about the schools. The bad schools in the area seem to be in Columbus (not all are bad), Whitehall and some small rural districts. But if you're still concerned, I would stop by the school district office and see what you can do. Selective schools vary within the district.

You can also go to the Ohio Department of Education Website and they have school report cards you can look up to see how good the schools in the area are.

[Mulva]

Thanks again. I appreciate the info.

[wrightflyer]

Here is the report card information. Requires Adobe Reader. Ohio Department of Education Interactive Local Report Card

[Oneswiftmom]

Most school districts in the Columbus area offer some type of intradistrict transfer option. So if your child was districted to a school that you prefer he/she not attend you could apply for an intradistrict transfer to the school fo your choice within the district. Approval is based on several factors but often lies with the capacity of the desired school and whether or not there is room for your child. The downside of intradistrict transferring is that usually you need to apply each year and busing is often not provided.