NW suburb school districts (Columbus, Upper Arlington: real estate, low crime, house prices)

[Reddart]

I am thinking about relocating to the NW suburbs (possibly Dublin, Hilliard, or others nearby). I know that the Dublin schools are ranked high, and the Hilliard school are "above average" (at least for what I can find on the relocation websites). Could anyone comment about any real differences between the two school districts?

FWIW, I currently live in a district that is rated "high", and my wife is very concerned about the perceived ratings. I personally feel that how the student is supplemented at home is "more" a factor in their education than the perceived quality of the school, but it does make a difference, although mostly for home prices (gee, my house isn't going to school).

[Gee]

I agree Reddart -- The suburb school districts are fairly comparable. I believe that housing cost is the main reason for the difference. Areas with more affordable housing have slightly lower performance scores due to the fact that there will be more lower income students, and unfortunatly these students tend to perform lower, and not because the schools themselves are performing poorly.

[bgfalcons86]

Both Dublin & Hilliard are good school districts. If you're interested in performance on the Ohio Achievement Tests, below are links to the report cards for the schools in each district.

Dublin:
https://webapp2.ode.state.oh.us/repo...ASP?irn=047027

Hilliard:
https://webapp2.ode.state.oh.us/repo...ASP?irn=047019

We live in Hilliard and have been very pleased with the schools.

[from Dublin]

You can definitely get more house for the money in Hilliard. If school is important to your wife than there is another option. You can have Dublin Schools and Address for property that is actually Columbus. It is complicated but there are some win-win arrangements for schooling that the suburbs have made with Columbus to make this possible.

The only down side is that true Dublin residents will look down their nose at you. For the most part your children go to school with other "Dublin School Only" residents. If you have more questions, email me!

[bgfalcons86]

Originally Posted by from Dublin

You can definitely get more house for the money in Hilliard. If school is important to your wife than there is another option. You can have Dublin Schools and Address for property that is actually Columbus. It is complicated but there are some win-win arrangements for schooling that the suburbs have made with Columbus to make this possible.

The only down side is that true Dublin residents will look down their nose at you. For the most part your children go to school with other "Dublin School Only" residents. If you have more questions, email me!

With all due respect, if school is important to his wife, Hilliard is a very good option. If you're into looking at test scores, Dublin's are a little higher, but not much. Not long ago, a survey was done and Hilliard CSD residents are clearly pleased with their schools.

Dublin, of course, is a very good option for schools, too - but certainly not the only option. Not to mention, you just highlighted the primary negative aspect to Dublin - the attitudes that you sometimes come up against.

[from Dublin]

I didn't mean to imply Hilliard is not a good school system. I was only responding to Reddart's comments that indicated Dublin has "high" rank and Hilliard has "above average" rank. I thought it may be a good situation for him if his wife feels they are in the highest ranked school of the two yet buy a home that doesn't break the bank.

This school arrangement that allows Columbus residents to go to a neighboring suburb school is not common knowledge to people outside the area. He could even buy a Columbus home that is in the Hilliard School system.

Thanks for letting me make my

[bgfalcons86]

Originally Posted by from Dublin

I didn't mean to imply Hilliard is not a good school system. I was only responding to Reddart's comments that indicated Dublin has "high" rank and Hilliard has "above average" rank. I thought it may be a good situation for him if his wife feels they are in the highest ranked school of the two yet buy a home that doesn't break the bank.

This school arrangement that allows Columbus residents to go to a neighboring suburb school is not common knowledge to people outside the area. He could even buy a Columbus home that is in the Hilliard School system.

Thanks for letting me make my

Thanks for the clarification, from Dublin. I appreciate your response. I'm not sure where Reddart got his rankings, but I know for instance, a few years ago, Columbus Monthly did a ranking on suburban high schools and put Hilliard ahead of Dublin. So, it just depends on the source. IMHO, either school system is a very good choice and between the two it would be hard to go wrong.

[lsheicher]

Hilliard - I live here. You can't go wrong (unless you're in the select soccer program). Nice houses, nice people, great schools, low crime.

Dublin - My husband grew up here. Very nice. Houses more expensive than Hilliard. My mother-in-law used to teach in Dublin schools. Very good schools. Some Dublin teachers purposely live in Hilliard so that they don't have to live near the Dublinites. Dublin is perceived as being snotty. However, truth be told, if I could, I'd move there tomorrow. They have great schools, great sports programs and I'm sure that Hilliard has their share of snots, too. Dublin is a clean, pretty place, moreso I think than Hilliard. That being said, I'm VERY happy in Hilliard. Taxes are pretty comparable.

Upper Arlington - Can't beat their schools. However, it's an older community and it shows. It's not as asthetically pleasing as Dublin or Powell and you're land-locked so real estate is at a premium. But, a great town to live in. We go to a preschool there and the community is just full of really nice people.

Powell - Traffic is insane (but probably not too, too much worse than the other places mentioned), good schools, comparable taxes. High house prices.

Hope this helps. All are fairly accessible to downtown (but Powell is a little more difficult). Arlington would be the closest to OSU and downtown.

[Gee]

What is the problem with Dublin's select soccer program?