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Old 02-14-2011, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Lincolnton, GA
87 posts, read 137,789 times
Reputation: 50

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Hi. I live in Michigan and we've got two kids, age 11 & 13 and are planning to move to the Dallas area in about a year. My husband has been to Dallas for business a couple times but I have never been there.

Can you tell me what are the best school districts/areas to buy a home when you have children?
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Old 02-14-2011, 11:02 AM
 
419 posts, read 997,867 times
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What is your price range and where is the job? DFW is the size of state of New Hampshire... with more people.

Last edited by HOAPRESIDENT; 02-14-2011 at 11:22 AM..
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Old 02-14-2011, 11:21 AM
 
13,194 posts, read 28,280,416 times
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Find a job, then look for housing & schools. I said the same thing on another thread today: find downtown Dallas on a map. Draw a circle stretching 20 miles out in each direction. 50-75% of the areas within the circle have good public schools, a large inventory of homes under $250k, and are within 45 minutes or less to downtown. If your job is in Las Colinas or Plano or any other part of DFW, you can use the same "circle drawing" exercise and find good schools & affordable housing.
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Old 02-14-2011, 11:32 PM
 
Location: Orange County, CA
300 posts, read 1,257,725 times
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Good advice, TurtleCreek. Thanks!
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Old 02-14-2011, 11:49 PM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,827,062 times
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you can run a search for any of the school districts/towns in that area and get info about them here
and you can go on the other side of City Data to get demographic info as well

one thing to know--in TX a school district sets its own boundaries--it does not follow a town or county's as a matter of course--
so one town could have 2-3-4 different school districts in some parts of its city limits--and one district can flow into 2-3-4 towns--
It just depends--a good MLS site will give the local district/schools for a residence
Exemplary, Recognized, Acceptable, Unacceptable are the best/worst TAKS ratings--which a school and district earn based on standardized test scores of the four core subjects in different grade levels and other factors--like graduation rates, attendance rates, teachers credentials, and other stats
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Old 02-15-2011, 02:39 PM
 
2,674 posts, read 4,391,696 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jen516 View Post
Hi. I live in Michigan and we've got two kids, age 11 & 13 and are planning to move to the Dallas area in about a year. My husband has been to Dallas for business a couple times but I have never been there.

Can you tell me what are the best school districts/areas to buy a home when you have children?
Congrats to be getting out of Michigan (Liggett c/o '92). But Dallas is huge and your budget will dictate alot of where you live as well as where you'll be working with commutes. By and large, Dallas' economy is much better than Michigan's so it's a positive move.
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Old 02-15-2011, 03:02 PM
 
3,478 posts, read 6,554,400 times
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Haha, you are going to get LOTS of opinions on this when you narrow down an job area.
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Old 02-15-2011, 09:35 PM
 
Location: Plano, Texas
198 posts, read 499,277 times
Reputation: 172
West Cluster of Plano ISD has the best schools outside of Highland Park and Southlake.
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Old 02-27-2011, 09:12 PM
 
Location: Lincolnton, GA
87 posts, read 137,789 times
Reputation: 50
Wow thanks for all the replies. Actually no job as of yet but my husband most likely won't have a problem finding one. He isn't going to start looking for one until around the end of this year. He told me today he thinks it would be better to do a short term rental after we move there instead of just buying a house when we don't know much about the areas.

Yes, I have been wanting to leave Detroit almost since I got here three years ago and he finally decided that he wants to leave too. The economic downturn has not affected his job so much, but it has mine. I am going to school right now and will finish at the end of this year which is one reason we aren't looking yet. Between the crappy low-paying jobs and the weather, this place is depressing as all get-out. I had a great job for 7 years, made good money, in North Carolina and since we moved up here, it's been hard for me to find a job. let alone one that pays well. The first job I got here I was laid off from in less than 90 days.

Well I will be returning to this forum for advice in the future. Thanks for all the info!
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Old 02-28-2011, 07:08 AM
 
37,315 posts, read 59,827,062 times
Reputation: 25341
be aware that TX is facing its worst budget crisis in its history I think-
because education is such large portion of the budget, education will bear most of the brunt of the reduced funding--
many people are upset about this--cutting back on schools--which will have a significant effect beyond the classrooms as well
By the time you get ready to move many districts will likely be in the middle of the coming school year and finding out just how bad the cuts they had to make are turning out to be
some districts with good reps might have severe budget cuts if they don't have enough reserves to take up at least part of the slack
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