Are the Madison schools REALLY worth paying more for a house? (Huntsville: apartment, lease)

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by HB2HSV

You know, there is a benefit not going to top schools.... you don't have to study as hard to get all A's and still have time for club/teams, you look great "on paper" by the time to apply for college. What's not to like?

Kinda like same strategy at work, be glad to have STUPID coworkers so when it comes time to lay-offs you know they're way ahead of you in the firing line

Can you tell that I had a bad day at work?

Lots of seniors and juniors left Bob Jones and came over to James Clemens just to up their class position.

[FatTails]

That's kind of silly. It's your percentile rank that matters, not the raw number. Unless the batch of kids at James Clemens is dumber than the batch at Bob Jones, I doubt switching will up their (percentile) rank.

[RocketCityMama]

Even though I would move to Madison schools if I could, I am probably 75% happy with HCS, there is always room for improvement but overall I feel my children are being educated by wonderful teachers. My oldest was accepted into New Century and obviously her education at the "not so great" but not a failing school either worked just fine for her. Now I will say, being an involved parent, having a child motivated to work and want good grades and to go to college helps, but it also says that being in a school that is often looked down on, doesn't mean a bad education.

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by nerdtron

That's kind of silly. It's your percentile rank that matters, not the raw number. Unless the batch of kids at James Clemens is dumber than the batch at Bob Jones, I doubt switching will up their (percentile) rank.

JCHS only started with a full sophomore and freshman class.....the juniors and seniors came over from BJHS on a "voluntary" basis....it was a VERY small senior class, so its pretty plausible this did help many of them move up in the rankings. Many moved over for sports as well, some that didn't make the teams at BJHS went to play at JCHS.

[TC2coolmom]

I live in Madison City, and I moved here for the schools and yes some say there are expensive homes, but there are lots of afforable home in our area. There are plenty of subdivisons that are under 200,000 that are awesome in the area. If you want to keep up with the jones, live in a house that is too big for your small family, and then by all means by a huge house for a huge price. I have several friends that bought in the new subdivisions that are popping up and they are not satisfied with what they have, said the workmanship is not as nice at it was made out too be. There are great homes for the right price in plenty of areas that are top billing here in Madison. If you want your tax dollars to go to well maintained roads, schools and quality shopping area's and a great working Police, fire stations and ambulance service and we have a great new hospital, that gave me excellent service when I had my knee replacement this past September then by all means buy in Madison. You do not get the kind of service in the surrounding area's. I have a major heart condition and other medical problems that need regular doctor visits, They opened a heart center at the Madison hospital here with several of the doctors from the center in Huntsville and it has be a blessing. There are lots of doctors that come to Madison offices several times a week. We have new shopping centers, new services opening up all the time and we have the new Don kins Donuts and I hear it is awesome.

[NoleFanHSV]

Originally Posted by TC2coolmom

I live in Madison City, and I moved here for the schools and yes some say there are expensive homes, but there are lots of afforable home in our area. There are plenty of subdivisons that are under 200,000 that are awesome in the area. If you want to keep up with the jones, live in a house that is too big for your small family, and then by all means by a huge house for a huge price. I have several friends that bought in the new subdivisions that are popping up and they are not satisfied with what they have, said the workmanship is not as nice at it was made out too be. There are great homes for the right price in plenty of areas that are top billing here in Madison. If you want your tax dollars to go to well maintained roads, schools and quality shopping area's and a great working Police, fire stations and ambulance service and we have a great new hospital, that gave me excellent service when I had my knee replacement this past September then by all means buy in Madison. You do not get the kind of service in the surrounding area's. I have a major heart condition and other medical problems that need regular doctor visits, They opened a heart center at the Madison hospital here with several of the doctors from the center in Huntsville and it has be a blessing. There are lots of doctors that come to Madison offices several times a week. We have new shopping centers, new services opening up all the time and we have the new Don kins Donuts and I hear it is awesome.

After spending several months looking at houses, you'd be correct if we are talking older homes. Some of the ones we looked at in the 150-170 range had been neglected, but still could ask what they wanted because of the Madison school district. Some were kept up but need serious updating. We were looking at madison for a short time mainly due to proximity of research park.

There isn't much in the way of new homes less than 200K. I think Breland in Ashbury is about it.

[FatTails]

There is a difference between actually living in Madison and living by Madison. You can enjoy the hospital, shopping, etc. without living in city limits. To get the schools you have to actually live in city limits.

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by TC2coolmom

You do not get the kind of service in the surrounding area's.

Again, while I do really love living in Madison, let's not go overboard here acting like we have the market cornered on shopping and services because we don't and never will. We are a bedroom community and still very dependent on HSV. As goes HSV, so goes Madison is the mantra. Madison's economy is DIRECTLY impacted by Huntsville as the majority of residents work in HSV. Madison, without HSV, would more than likely collapse, it cannot sustain itself. That's why IMO its crucial that Madison residents pay attention and involve themselves as much as they can in HSV politics. We can't vote, but we can support candidates.

We have a good police force, but again....on extreme situations they call in Madison County to assist. When the Discovery shooting happened, Madison Cty Sheriff's department played a BIG role in that situation at the request of Madison city. Those people live two doors down from me and there was more Sheriffs Department than Madison cops there. Same when the woman set herself on fire and killed her daughter over off Steele. Our police force, however, is extremely versed in handing out tickets, they need no assistance there. I got one on Balch for going 3 MILES over speed limit and was pulled over two weeks ago for not using a blinker in my neighborhood.

I think its great that we have the new hospital, but they do not provide near the services HSV Hospital does and they never intended it to. Severe traumas still have to go to HSV because the trauma unit at the Madison location is not equipped to handle Level 1 as HSV is. In fact, HSV Hospital is the only level one trauma center in the region. My broker's daughter had a ruptured appendix last year and she had to go to HSV Hospital for a 10 day stay as the Madison hospital felt they could provide better care in that circumstance (hers was pretty severe). The Madison Hospital is merely an extension of the Huntsville Hospital system.

Our ambulance service is HEMSI....that's Huntsville Emergency Medical Services. Madison does not have its own ambulance service.

I live off County Line. Well maintained roads? I could write a book at how long it took them to finally DO something about it. Thankful I no longer have to dodge potholes and hopefully this set of tires will last a bit longer

I do however think Madison overall does a decent job maintaining their budget and using tax dollars in the best ways, especially where the schools are concerned.

[r x f]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

I think its great that we have the new hospital, but they do not provide near the services HSV Hospital does and they never intended it to. Severe traumas still have to go to HSV because the trauma unit at the Madison location is not equipped to handle Level 1 as HSV is. In fact, HSV Hospital is the only level one trauma center in the region. My broker's daughter had a ruptured appendix last year and she had to go to HSV Hospital for a 10 day stay as the Madison hospital felt they could provide better care in that circumstance (hers was pretty severe). The Madison Hospital is merely an extension of the Huntsville Hospital system.

Huntsville Hospital has been designated a Level 1 trauma center by the state, but hasn't been verified by an independent entity. Verification is the "gold standard" for trauma centers. UAB (in Birmingham) is the only hospital in the state that has been verified as a Level 1 trauma center. When the two guys on Redstone were injured in that explosion a while back, they were flown directly to UAB's burn center because they have the State's best burn unit.

Mostly useless personal anecdote: I've been unlucky enough to have stayed at UAB and HH a couple of times each. The doctors at HH were repeatedly blind to my somewhat unique GI anatomy. Had a HH ER doc ask if I had an organ I'd already had removed and a doctor on rounds with her resident minions ask to see something I didn't' have. Never got that kinda stuff at UAB, I think mainly because it is a teaching hospital.

[CoreLysium]

I think the core question is, is it worth it to pay more for a house to have a good school?

I'd answer yes, regardless of where the house is. And the prices reflect this, inside Huntsville, inside the county, and Madison.

We were able to sell our house at the height of the Providence Elemetary hype for 50% more than we bought it for 10 years before. So, it works both ways. You'll eventually sell a house in a good school zone. My house off Slaughter, however, was rezoned from Morris/Westlawn/Butler to Providence/Providence/Columbia. That was about $20k, that announcement.

And that's why the DoJ rezoning of Blossomwood into Lee is such a big deal. That's be twenty plus in the opposite direction.