Another moving thread - family with kids (Lexington, Louisville: how much, house)

[AngieC]

It looks like we are likely to be moving to Louisville this summer

-Where you are working - U of Louisville
-How much you are willing to spend on housing - would be buying - prefer to spend around $250k
-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate - prefer no more than 30 mins (could go a little further though)
-If you have kids: Private school or public school? - Public
-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight? A place where our kids will have a sense of community. We're easy going and not picky, but the kids are almost 11 and almost 9 so the goal would be to make this transition as easy as possible on them.
-Community amenities important to you - Nothing is mandatory, but a pool, skating rink or community center nearby would be nice.

I've read enough threads to realize that people are going to say move to Oldham County and stay out of Jefferson County for the schools, but what about other areas? Mt Washington? It seems like there are some good schools in that area, if you choose your home carefully. My preference would be to minimize my husband's commute while getting quality schools. My son is currently in a self-contained highly/exceptionally gifted classroom and if I could find something like that (that isn't lottery based to get in) that would be a huge plus.

Thanks for any help!

[censusdata]

How much do you care about school test scores? Oldham Co as the best schools overall in the state, Jefferson Co has some of the top schools too (a couple ranked top 200 nationally) but to get in most of the top your kid has to apply and be admitted (not geography based district). I know a lot of local people that went to JCPS and send their kids there but the system and all the busing some (not all) kids have to do scare some non locals away from JCPS. I experience a similar busing centric system with constantly shifting districts in Lexington and it has it's drawbacks. I've known many people who moved to a different house within the city to keep their kid in the same school. But again I know many people who love Lexington schools.

The best public schools outside JeffCo are Oldham Co KY and Floyd Central IN (Floyd Co outside city of New Albany), Lanesvilles IN is a small rural district that ranks very high too. Shelby, Spence, Bullitt, and Silver Creek IN districts are all good but not elite per test scores. In Indiana you can send your kid to any public school if you provide your own transportation, for example you could live in New Albany and take your kid to Floyd Central.

The shortest commute from either U of L campus (unless it's Shelby Campus) to a high ranked public district would be Floyd Central. Similar mileage as to Oldham but traffic flows much better on I-64 west of downtown than east and is mostly unaffected by the construction downtown.

[AngieC]

Thank you so much, that is great information!

Test scores are not everything to us, what I am really looking for would be schools with strong honors programs and advanced classes. (Basically, I wouldn't care if the whole school was advanced as long as there are plenty of options for those who are.)

I will check out housing in IN, I haven't done any research in that area. And yes, it's the downtown main (not med school) campus.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Louisville Middle Schools - Louisville, KY | GreatSchools

You could try reading the parent reviews at Great Schools, it would probably give you much insight.

Welcome to Kentucky!