[workin247]

Really leaning hard on making the move from Rhode Island to Summerlin next summer after my daughter finishes her Kindergarten year. A little background, my wife and I vacation in vegas every year, got married at the Bellagio 10 yrs ago and used to own a condo at the Signature for a few years before we sold it when our daughter was born. We absolutely love the city, weather and the taxes are night and day compared to RI. It's like getting a 25-30k a year(property taxes, income taxes, landscaping bill) pay raise moving out there for us especially if we get a house with desert landscaping that requires minimal maintenance. We currently own a well manicured acrea and a half that costs us a pretty penny each year with our landscaping company that we will be happy to exchange for a lot that is under .25 acre with simply a swimming pool and a little synthetic grass dog area for our dogs. Would like to find a nice 4 BR/3 bathroom house in a gated community in the 650k to 750k range.

Having said all that, the real and only issue for us is the public school system in Summerlin. I see these elementary and middle schools all getting 9's on greatschools.org and the high school Palo Verde gets an 8 rating. That seems really good to us especially when we are coming from a town in Rhode Island that is considered to have "very good" public schools and the elementary/middle/high school we are assigned to all have 7 ratings. So what gives? Are the ratings these summerlin schools get "overrated" compared to other parts of the country or are people exaggerating a bit? I'm not expecting the public schools to be on par with the best of the best(ie the best districts in Massachusetts) but I would hope the Summerlin public schools would be on par with other "very good" schools systems in states like Rhode Island and Connecticut. I wouldn't be opposed to going the private school route for high school but would like to keep our daughter in the public elementary and middle schools for the move out west to really be worth our while.

BTW, I work from home and my business can travel anywhere so I won't be needing a new job.

[AboveTheIce]

Originally Posted by workin247

Really leaning hard on making the move from Rhode Island to Summerlin next summer after my daughter finishes her Kindergarten year. A little background, my wife and I vacation in vegas every year, got married at the Bellagio 10 yrs ago and used to own a condo at the Signature for a few years before we sold it when our daughter was born. We absolutely love the city, weather and the taxes are night and day compared to RI. It's like getting a 25-30k a year(property taxes, income taxes, landscaping bill) pay raise moving out there for us especially if we get a house with desert landscaping that requires minimal maintenance. We currently own a well manicured acrea and a half that costs us a pretty penny each year with our landscaping company that we will be happy to exchange for a lot that is under .25 acre with simply a swimming pool and a little synthetic grass dog area for our dogs. Would like to find a nice 4 BR/3 bathroom house in a gated community in the 650k to 750k range.

Having said all that, the real and only issue for us is the public school system in Summerlin. I see these elementary and middle schools all getting 9's on greatschools.org and the high school Palo Verde gets an 8 rating. That seems really good to us especially when we are coming from a town in Rhode Island that is considered to have "very good" public schools and the elementary/middle/high school we are assigned to all have 7 ratings. So what gives? Are the ratings these summerlin schools get "overrated" compared to other parts of the country or are people exaggerating a bit? I'm not expecting the public schools to be on par with the best of the best(ie the best districts in Massachusetts) but I would hope the Summerlin public schools would be on par with other "very good" schools systems in states like Rhode Island and Connecticut. I wouldn't be opposed to going the private school route for high school but would like to keep our daughter in the public elementary and middle schools for the move out west to really be worth our while.

BTW, I work from home and my business can travel anywhere so I won't be needing a new job.

I have 3 kids and we looked hard at moving to Summerlin last year, but choose not to for a variety of reasons. We even toured some schools and had a realtor show us homes. Nevada is not known for the quality of public education and it was one of the main reasons we did not move there. That said it seems like the area has some decent schools, but certainly not New England good (its just a whole different vibe). The best option we could find was sending them to Faith Lutheran which seems like a very good school with lots of options k-12.

[workin247]

Originally Posted by AboveTheIce

I have 3 kids and we looked hard at moving to Summerlin last year, but choose not to for a variety of reasons. We even toured some schools and had a realtor show us homes. Nevada is not known for the quality of public education and it was one of the main reasons we did not move there. That said it seems like the area has some decent schools, but certainly not New England good (its just a whole different vibe). The best option we could find was sending them to Faith Lutheran which seems like a very good school with lots of options k-12.

Thanks for the info. Our daughter is our top priority so we will simply stay in Rhode Island(my bank account will not be happy with me lol) for another 12 years if we have to so that she goes to quality schools. No doubt about it. I just can't seem to figure out how all these Summerlin schools are getting 9's and 8's on greatschools.org but the opinions and chatter that I read on this site and other vegas sites is that the schools are mediocre at best. I value the opinions of people such as yourself who have toured the schools and/or have first hand experience in regards to them.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by workin247

Thanks for the info. Our daughter is our top priority so we will simply stay in Rhode Island(my bank account will not be happy with me lol) for another 12 years if we have to so that she goes to quality schools. No doubt about it. I just can't seem to figure out how all these Summerlin schools are getting 9's and 8's on greatschools.org but the opinions and chatter that I read on this site and other vegas sites is that the schools are mediocre at best. I value the opinions of people such as yourself who have toured the schools and/or have first hand experience in regards to them.

You can't compare a NV 9 with a RI 9 - greatschools ratings are based on schools within a state. You can see it in this first paragraph:

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/ratings/

A RI 5 may be better than a NV 8.

[workin247]

Originally Posted by robr2

You can't compare a NV 9 with a RI 9 - greatschools ratings are based on schools within a state. You can see it in this first paragraph:

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/ratings/

A RI 5 may be better than a NV 8.

Wow. Never knew that. That explains a lot. Thank you.

[WestieJeff]

Quick Google says Rhode Island has a per pupil spending of approx $14,450. Nevada is around $8,500. That should tell you what you need to know. You would be leaving one of the best states for education for one of the worst.

The populace here as a whole does not value education.

[airics]

Oh please...the schools around Summerlin are fine. It’s not like you’re moving into a rough area. Worst case scenario, you go private school. I rarely promote schools here but you are looking at a decent area and you won’t have an issue

Remember though Vegas is getting very very crowded. Prices are skyrocketing. We are getting out, which is sad for me, but moving closer to my in laws in Florida. I enjoyed Vegas especially the first couple years. But the fact that I can sell my house and payoff the mortgage and buy a house mortgage free in Florida was the biggest incentive

[AboveTheIce]

Originally Posted by workin247

Thanks for the info. Our daughter is our top priority so we will simply stay in Rhode Island(my bank account will not be happy with me lol) for another 12 years if we have to so that she goes to quality schools. No doubt about it. I just can't seem to figure out how all these Summerlin schools are getting 9's and 8's on greatschools.org but the opinions and chatter that I read on this site and other vegas sites is that the schools are mediocre at best. I value the opinions of people such as yourself who have toured the schools and/or have first hand experience in regards to them.

Yeah, you really need to kind of take everything with a grain of salt. Even rankings are tricky, I tend to look at the educational level of the area, test scores (to a slightly lesser extent) and general crimes rates in the general area.

Some sites use a 'grey' ranking system that takes things such as diversity, opportunity and other soft skills into account. Nothing wrong with that, but I would rather see test scores, educational offerings and results.

Ironically, we are headed your way next year and schools/ cultural environment are the main reasons why.

Best of luck.

[FML157]

if you stay in an affluent area you'll be zoned for a really nice elementary school. then for middle school/ high school you can do one of the magnet schools, which produce college ready kids who tend to do well.

the top notch summerlin schools in refer to are:
Staton Elementary School
John W. Bonner Elementary School
Judy & John L. Goolsby Elementary School

sad to say, but the schools in the central part of town seem to really drag the overall achievement rates in the district and thus the district gets a bad rep. kids in central part of town sometimes don't have the same level of parental involvement or access to supplemental resources as the kids in the affluent parts of summerlin do.

[workin247]

Originally Posted by FML157

if you stay in an affluent area you'll be zoned for a really nice elementary school. then for middle school/ high school you can do one of the magnet schools, which produce college ready kids who tend to do well.

the top notch summerlin schools in refer to are:
Staton Elementary School
John W. Bonner Elementary School
Judy & John L. Goolsby Elementary School

sad to say, but the schools in the central part of town seem to really drag the overall achievement rates in the district and thus the district gets a bad rep. kids in central part of town sometimes don't have the same level of parental involvement or access to supplemental resources as the kids in the affluent parts of summerlin do.

The houses I see online that fit my budget and look like they have what I'm looking for(pool, 4 BR, sq footage, minimal landscaping to maintenance) are in zip code 89138. It looks like all houses in that summerlin zip code are assigned to Givens, Rogich and Palo Verde. How is Givens? It gets a 9 on greatschools.org but now I question all those numbers based off the replies above on how they grade schools.

Also, what's the real deal with Palo Verde? It appears the academics are solid(is it average or above average?) but it also seems to show that athletic participation is really low especially for girls. Where I'm from, athletic participation is huge at the public school in my town and even moreso with girls then the boys believe it or not. I like that.