Family moving to Huntsville (Decatur, Madison: appointed, new home, job market)

[FLjohn82]

Hi All! My wife and two children (elementary age) are likely moving to Huntsville within the next month or two. Of course, being in a great school district is significant - probably top of the list. Madison City Schools seems to be at the top of the list for school districts and also a great community with easy access to Huntsville. Does anyone have a differing opinion? Are there are any particularly great elementary schools and, for down the road, middle schools? Does Alabama offer the ability to "opt-in" to certain districts or schools if you don't live within a given boundary. Any other advice or insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
John

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by FLjohn82

Hi All! My wife and two children (elementary age) are likely moving to Huntsville within the next month or two. Of course, being in a great school district is significant - probably top of the list. Madison City Schools seems to be at the top of the list for school districts and also a great community with easy access to Huntsville. Does anyone have a differing opinion? Are there are any particularly great elementary schools and, for down the road, middle schools? Does Alabama offer the ability to "opt-in" to certain districts or schools if you don't live within a given boundary. Any other advice or insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
John

Are you moving from Nashville? Every other post you wrote said you were headed to Nashville in 2022. Did it not work out and now you have rocket city fever?

[David1502]

Originally Posted by FLjohn82

Hi All! My wife and two children (elementary age) are likely moving to Huntsville within the next month or two. Of course, being in a great school district is significant - probably top of the list. Madison City Schools seems to be at the top of the list for school districts and also a great community with easy access to Huntsville. Does anyone have a differing opinion? Are there are any particularly great elementary schools and, for down the road, middle schools? Does Alabama offer the ability to "opt-in" to certain districts or schools if you don't live within a given boundary. Any other advice or insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
John

John,
To get ratings information on individual schools, there are school rating websites which give the test scores, rankings (in terms of all public schools in the state) and student body info. Both high schools in Madison are ranked in the top ten in Alabama.

Here are some questions to consider:
1. Are you and your family looking for a new home (or relatively new)? The reason i ask this is that a lot of the neighborhoods in Madison were built in the period of the late 1980's up to the early 2000's. There are not many new neighborhoods being built in the Madison County portion of the city of Madison, but there are quite a few in the western, Limestone County portion of the City of Madsion. Any neighborhoods within the city limits, regardless of county, are in the Madison City School District.
2. What home price range are you considering? One can find older homes in the low 300's and homes in some of the more prestigious swim and tennis neighborhoods like Clift's Cove, and Heritage Plantation that will sell in some cases for more than $1 million.
3. Does your family want to live in a swim and tennis community? There are several such communities that include Highland Lakes, Clift's Cove, Heritage Plantation, Town Madison, and Edgewater (Note: Edgewater is in both Madison and Huntsville) as well as many smaller communities. These communities have a club house and often walking trails and small lakes.

Something else to consider is that all homes located in the town of Triana are also zoned to Madison City Schools. There are several subdivisions with new construction going on there. Triana is located several miles south of the Martin Rd. Gate 7 entrance to Redstone Arsenal. It's a bit of a drive to get there, but one can find the best new home prices in the Madison City School District. You can look at Triana's website to see where their city limits are - several of their neighborhoods are adjacent to neighborhoods in the City of Huntsville. However, the Town Madison mixed use development is just a few miles north on Zierdt Rd.

One last point, many may not realize it, but there are three neighborhoods located south of I-565 which are in the City of Madison - They are Town Madison, Mountain Brook and Edgewater. These have the quickest access to all of the major employment centers (Redstone Arsenal, Cummings Research Park, the Airport area) as well as attractions in the City of Huntsville.

[FLjohn82]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

Are you moving from Nashville? Every other post you wrote said you were headed to Nashville in 2022. Did it not work out and now you have rocket city fever?

Ha, pretty much...

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by FLjohn82

Hi All! My wife and two children (elementary age) are likely moving to Huntsville within the next month or two. Of course, being in a great school district is significant - probably top of the list. Madison City Schools seems to be at the top of the list for school districts and also a great community with easy access to Huntsville. Does anyone have a differing opinion? Are there are any particularly great elementary schools and, for down the road, middle schools? Does Alabama offer the ability to "opt-in" to certain districts or schools if you don't live within a given boundary. Any other advice or insight is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
John

Madison Schools are definitely the best public school system in the Huntsville/Decatur area and at or very near at the best in the state. There are some top notch college prep private schools as well, but come at a cost.

By opt-in - do you mean if you live, for instance, in the Huntsville School district and want to attend Madison Schools? The answer is "no" - you have to use the school system you pay taxes in, unless you want to go private. You still have to pay school taxes though. My kid's been out of school for almost 30 years now, and I still pay school taxes. I don't have a problem with it - it benefits my community.

[JoeJunior]

Yes, you will find Madison City Schools to be superior in the area.

We moved to the northwest part of Madison County 3 years ago. Had we had time to look more, we would have probably moved to Athens and/or Northeast Limestone. Limestone homes are so much better kept than Madison County's rural population where homes that should be torn down are next door to fine estates.

We're also disappointed with the lack of Madison County planning especially in the roads, etc. with only one planned 4 lane road 2 1/2 miles (Jeff Rd.)

AL DOT works in a very politically way. Hwy 53 going northwest is an extremely dangerous 2 lane road and 4 lanes will not be completed within my lifetime. The Medivac helicopter has a GPS programmed for the intersection out my back door--with all the really serious wrecks there.

We pulled our 11 year old out of Madison County Schools mid term and put her in a private school. The problem was not with the school--but with the poor behavior of the students. I guess it comes when you put so many 11 year olds together with raging hormones.

Let me say a little about homes. Around Madison, we found many nice homes but lots were a little too small for us. The new construction in Madison County has small lots until you get to $550+ homes. If you can find 10 year old existing homes, you'll get more for your money and larger lots. We paid $89K a square foot 3 years ago, and our lot is 1 acre--really nice home.

Since this is such a hot job market, its also seeing an incredible influx of new families. It's an area that's big enough but not too large. All of our needs can be met without going anywhere else. And the quality of life here is pretty great.

[Rick In Madison]

If you decide to buy in Madison City then let your choice of home be your deciding factor. All of the schools (elementary, middle, and high) are all great. We've recently had a new elementary school built and is functioning (Midtown) and will have a newly built middle school (Journey) operational for the 2023/24 school year. Another new elementary school is in the planning stages in the western part of town. There are plans/talks for our third high school.

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

By opt-in - do you mean if you live, for instance, in the Huntsville School district and want to attend Madison Schools? The answer is "no" - you have to use the school system you pay taxes in, unless you want to go private. You still have to pay school taxes though. My kid's been out of school for almost 30 years now, and I still pay school taxes. I don't have a problem with it - it benefits my community.

There are a couple of exceptions to this. If you live in an incorporated portion of Limestone County, you can send your kids to Limestone County Schools on a space available basis for a small fee. Athens City Schools also offers out of district enrollment on a space available basis for a not as small fee.

There is also Athens Renaissance School which offers remote / hybrid options for no cost.

[FLjohn82]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Madison Schools are definitely the best public school system in the Huntsville/Decatur area and at or very near at the best in the state. There are some top notch college prep private schools as well, but come at a cost.

By opt-in - do you mean if you live, for instance, in the Huntsville School district and want to attend Madison Schools? The answer is "no" - you have to use the school system you pay taxes in, unless you want to go private. You still have to pay school taxes though. My kid's been out of school for almost 30 years now, and I still pay school taxes. I don't have a problem with it - it benefits my community.

Yes, you understood the question correctly - thanks RocketDawg

[FLjohn82]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

If you decide to buy in Madison City then let your choice of home be your deciding factor. All of the schools (elementary, middle, and high) are all great. We've recently had a new elementary school built and is functioning (Midtown) and will have a newly built middle school (Journey) operational for the 2023/24 school year. Another new elementary school is in the planning stages in the western part of town. There are plans/talks for our third high school.

Thank you Rick