Why house hunting in DFW is so difficult (Dallas, Plano: for sale, apartment)

[loves2read]

There are teachers and admins working in GCISD and Southlake Carroll who probably hate their district as well...
The fact is that demographics drive most school districts' data around here and data drives reputations...
I think 5 yrs ago it was possible to get a great education at Bell HS in HEB in the IB program...but now I know teachers in that IB tract who are not good teachers...
They don't demand much of their students because they don't demand much of themselves...
So it will take a while but the scores that so many teachers and students worked so hard to earn in the IB program are going to slide and sooner rather than later the achievement record won't be something to boast about...
Partly that is the fault of the admin staff at Bell who hired those teachers and put them in positions that have that type of leverage....and failed to make them either produce or leave...

Believe me--if poor, lazy teachers are held accountable they will either step up their game or move someplace less stressful...but there is only so much a district can do when it has tax money siphoned off by the state because the state is too cheap to tax businesses enough to pay more than 9500 per child for a year's worth of instruction...That is our state's average...
And districts that used to be able to supplement that money from their own tax base, where homeowners voted to pay higher taxes to ensure quality education for THEIR children see their money sucked away to other districts and programs that may not benefit (and likely don't) their children or neighborhoods at all...

In districts like HEB and Irving and Carrollton and FTW and Dallas where demographics show large numbers of minority students, lower-income/lower-educated parents and often single family homes, where English may not be the first language, and where there are social dynamics that mean kids come to school ill-prepared, unmotivated, hungry, and without the support network that students in more wealthy districts take for granted the entire process of education is so much more difficult...

It is not that teachers or admin don't care but why teach a child about Mesopotamia when that child doesn't even know his own personal address...
Our state legislature doesn't care--it is trying to privatize education so big business can profit (and maybe skew lot of the instruction toward religion) and the legislature can shelve the responsibility for oversight onto someone else's shoulders...Texas has sued the Federal government more times in past 10 yrs than probably any other two states combined---that takes MONEY out of state coffers that could be used for better options...
But it is a real political vote-getter for people like Perry and Abbott...
Playing politics with tax dollars is not smart government to me...
But what do I know--I voted Democratic...

[Wrecked]

I'd just like to point Las Colinas is not zoned Irving ISD. The vast majority of Las Colinas is Coppell ISD or CFBISD. Irving ISD is somewhere around 78% hispanic/latino and 89% low ses.

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by Wrecked

I'd just like to point Las Colinas is not zoned Irving ISD. The vast majority of Las Colinas is Coppell ISD or CFBISD. Irving ISD is somewhere around 78% hispanic/latino and 89% low ses.

The most expensive real estate in Las Colinas actually IS in Iving ISD

Cottonwood Valley in Las Colinas is zoned to Iving ISD
Fox Glen in LC is in IISD
Windsor Heights is in IISD
University Hills is in IISD
The Enclave is in IISD

[WorldKlas]

Originally Posted by Wrecked

I'd just like to point Las Colinas is not zoned Irving ISD. The vast majority of Las Colinas is Coppell ISD or CFBISD. Irving ISD is somewhere around 78% hispanic/latino and 89% low ses.

NONE of Las Colinas except Only a teeny section (about 10 houses) in Hackberry Creek is in the Coppell attendance zone. Some of Las Colinas is in Carrollton/farmers Branch ISD. The rest is Irving.

But Valley Ranch is in either Coppell or CFISD

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by WorldKlas

The most expensive real estate in Las Colinas actually IS in Iving ISD

Cottonwood Valley in Las Colinas is zoned to Iving ISD
Fox Glen in LC is in IISD
Windsor Heights is in IISD
University Hills is in IISD
The Enclave is in IISD

The different in Las Colinas schools in Irving ISD and most of the other areas of IISD is all about timing of construction...newer construction even with smaller sq footage/smaller lot Sz is usually more expensive than older construction in same town/area...Much of Irving developed along Airport Frwy and Las Colinas was developed much later...makes big difference in overall viability...
Newer, more expensive construction--including expensive apartments--brought in people with higher income/education, better support network for school age and pre-school kids...than areas with aging demographics (neighborhoods where families bought/stayed and kids graduated) and aging housing...

And areas IN ANY DISTRICT that have gone to more rental homes vs owner-occupied usually have struggling schools...areas with high numbers of apartment-housed students have schools that struggle...

Just the facts that socio-economic factors have tremendous effect on education process...
IF you want children to succeed in school, just as many positive factors need to be generated outside the classroom as inside...

[ImpartialBias]

Back on topic... It's interesting to see the divide between "affordable" housing and the price differences between areas and the minimum buy-ins.

The fact of the matter is, a $350k home is starter home territory now. With interest rates as low as they are, even first time buyers don't have too much trouble with a $300k mortgage. When I bought my first home, interest rates were ~8%. Now they're ~4%. Having a $360k mortgage payment at 4% is cheaper than a $260k payment at 8%.

That's why we're seeing this big shortage of homes in the $200k - $350k range... they're affordable for almost everyone. It's a little scary to think about what will happen to the overall market if rates go back up to 7 or 8% in the future, and the people who are able to buy homes in this area now are priced out 10-15 years from now.

[NoClueWho]

Originally Posted by Aceraceae

If ISDs like Irving and Mesquite would step up their game it would open up a lot of areas for young, educated, but not financially ready for a 300k+ home many more options.

True. Or even Dallas ISD. Mayor Rawlings has been pretty vocal about Dallas city proper getting beat out for all the new businesses relocating to North Texas by Plano and other suburbs, due to Dallas ISD being so crappy.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Aceraceae

If ISDs like Irving and Mesquite would step up their game it would open up a lot of areas for young, educated, but not financially ready for a 300k+ home many more options.

Mesquite ISD USED to be excellent. Back in the 1980s (when I was a kid), it was one of the best school systems in DFW. Then the city built a ton of cheap apartments, and the schools got overcrowded with lower income kids. Of course, their performance suffered. At this point, I think Mesquite is too far gone to ever get back to what it once was.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Mentallect

True. Or even Dallas ISD. Mayor Rawlings has been pretty vocal about Dallas city proper getting beat out for all the new businesses relocating to North Texas by Plano and other suburbs, due to Dallas ISD being so crappy.

It's not only the district's fault. DISD has been a pretty mediocre district as long as I can remember (I grew up in Dallas), but the schools lost support from affluent parents a long time ago. They have so many private school options in north Dallas that if they can afford to go private, they usually do.

I grew up in Preston Hollow and knew kids who went to DISD schools, but for the most part my kid neighbors went to private or religious schools (myself included). As the neighborhood was transformed by teardowns & McMansions, the number of kids at the local schools dried up. When I was a kid I could tell what school a kid went to just by looking at the uniform from across a room. Most of those kids now have kids of their own, many stayed in the Preston Hollow area or other areas of Dallas proper, and among those in Dallas proper...without exception...they send their kids to private school. The only ones sending their kids to public school are the ones living in the Park Cities, Plano, Frisco, and Richardson.

This kind of self-segregating behavior is a contributing factor to the low quality of DISD schools even in wealthy areas of Dallas.

Another contributing factor is the built-in poverty in some areas of Dallas and the relative lack of easy, reliable public transportation from nice suburbs with good schools to Dallas itself, plus the cost of owning/renting in those areas. High real estate prices in other areas also drive low school quality in Dallas, since low-income families will cluster in areas they can afford. Gentrification is another factor, since as areas are gentrified low-income families are pushed out and into low-income areas, increasing density and concentrating poverty.

We could also open the Pandora's Box of illegal immigration, which is another factor. DISD is majority Hispanic and a significant percentage of those students are children of illegal immigrants or are themselves illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are usually unskilled, under-educated, poor, and speak limited English if at all. That's another big factor. ESL programs are expensive and it almost always holds kids back since those classes do move more slowly than grade-level programs in English in a classroom full of native English speakers.

So there's that too.

It's not just the DISD being crappy. There's a lot more to it than that.

JMHO.

[4Movingeast]

Great post BigDGeek, but I do think there is a real movement for change in DISD (I know, I'm being optimistic).