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My family is potentially moving to the Miami area from Ohio. Our biggest concern is for our children's education. Our oldest is in first grade. The youngest has not entered school yet (2 years old).
I have looked at the map pinned in this forum at the safer areas, so that's a start. But I'm confused about the schools in this area in general. It looks like there are many charter schools and magnet schools, and I keep seeing statements like, "Just because you live near school 'x' doesn't mean your kid will go to school 'x'".
I read on some older threads to look at places like: Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Coral Gables, Miami Lakes, Doral, Aventura, Surfside, North Bay Village, and Miami Beach. But I've also noticed through realtor.com that many of these schools rate very, very low (at least through greatschools ratings), so I'm not sure how accurate such a list still is.
So how do I go about finding good schools for our kids in this area? I'm assuming private school is not an option because a) they're usually quite expensive and b) my husband in general doesn't want to pay for private when we pay taxes for school already.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Any particular areas you would recommend for young families? Thanks in advance.
My family is potentially moving to the Miami area from Ohio. Our biggest concern is for our children's education. Our oldest is in first grade. The youngest has not entered school yet (2 years old).
I have looked at the map pinned in this forum at the safer areas, so that's a start. But I'm confused about the schools in this area in general. It looks like there are many charter schools and magnet schools, and I keep seeing statements like, "Just because you live near school 'x' doesn't mean your kid will go to school 'x'".
I read on some older threads to look at places like: Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Coral Gables, Miami Lakes, Doral, Aventura, Surfside, North Bay Village, and Miami Beach. But I've also noticed through realtor.com that many of these schools rate very, very low (at least through greatschools ratings), so I'm not sure how accurate such a list still is.
So how do I go about finding good schools for our kids in this area? I'm assuming private school is not an option because a) they're usually quite expensive and b) my husband in general doesn't want to pay for private when we pay taxes for school already.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Any particular areas you would recommend for young families? Thanks in advance.
Everyone is confused about the schools in this area in general, even those of us who have lived here with school-age children for years, and we will continue to be confused.
In fact, even after some 5,000 years of civilization, human beings are still confused about how to educate their children, and they will continue to be confused for the next five thousand, if we get that far.
There is no simple answer.
Having said that, very roughly speaking, you can distinguish among district public schools, magnet public schools, and charter schools (private management under public charter and funding).
In most cases, the place of residence determines your district public school. However, certain districts or municipalities, like Coral Gables, have what they call controlled choice, which means the child could go to any one of three district public schools, but they soon may do away with that system.
Attendance at magnet schools is determined by exam and, generally speaking, any student resident in the county is eligible.
A single public school could be operating under public district, controlled choice, and magnet rules all at the same time. There are also different kinds of exceptions to all the rules.
Your surest bet is to call each school individually and ask about the specific rules for that school: I once met a lady who had a binder full of hundreds of pages that she herself compiled on the entrance rules for several dozen schools.
Attendance at charter schools is determined either by first-come first-served or by lottery. Any student resident in the county is eligible. Some charter schools are better than others, you have to perform your own due diligence on a case-by-case basis. Then, if you identify one that seems suitable, good luck getting in.
Back to public district schools, there are several with 10 ratings at the elementary level, which is k-5. I know of two k-8 public district schools which are rated 10. I do not know of any purely middle schools, which is 6-8, with a 10 rating in Miami-Dade County, or at least my section of it. I do not know of any public district high schools with a 10 rating in Miami-Dade County, or at least my section of it. There are several 10-rated magnet high schools.
As you mentioned, you can find these ratings on greatschools.com. You have already seen for yourself which schools they are and their location.
Good luck as to whether these ratings and any reviews have real meaning in terms of what your actual experience will be which first and foremost depends on the quality of the student. After that, the second most important thing is for the child to be in a non-violent environment. Third, the quality of the teachers and curriculum. Fourth, the quality of the facilities. At least by my measures. For others, priorities will vary.
I expect that this only continues to confuse you, but it may help a bit too.
I'm sure you're aware that home prices in "good" school zones in the Miami area can be 2-3 times as expensive as the same house in a less attractive school district. As a fan of private education in general, I always question how much it really makes sense to commit to the higher mortgage, insurance, and taxes for life all in an endeavor to save the cost of a private school. I mean, if you really love the neighborhood and it's a convenient location for your commute and recreational activities, great, but I'd be hesitant to pay those prices for a home just because of the public school. Especially given our traffic situation.
I don't have children yet and thus have not had reason to inquire as to private school tuition rates, but Google tells me it should come in at around $1k/month. In terms of property tax ~2%+insurance ~2%, it's equivalent to roughly $300K in assessed home value but much less if you also account for the higher mortgage payment and interest cost (assuming you are financing). To me it just seems like if you can afford a $500-700K home, you can probably afford a $250-300K home with private school. Of course, you don't want to live in the ghetto (and even still, consider renting first and make sure you're comfortable with the neighborhood!). Another thing to keep in mind is most elementary schools are relatively fine, so it's really only the middle and high school years that you would need to pay the private school--and that's assuming that you're even still in South Florida (presumably you could move by that time as well).
I'm sure you're aware that home prices in "good" school zones in the Miami area can be 2-3 times as expensive as the same house in a less attractive school district. As a fan of private education in general, I always question how much it really makes sense to commit to the higher mortgage, insurance, and taxes for life all in an endeavor to save the cost of a private school. I mean, if you really love the neighborhood and it's a convenient location for your commute and recreational activities, great, but I'd be hesitant to pay those prices for a home just because of the public school. Especially given our traffic situation.
I don't have children yet and thus have not had reason to inquire as to private school tuition rates, but Google tells me it should come in at around $1k/month. In terms of property tax ~2%+insurance ~2%, it's equivalent to roughly $300K in assessed home value but much less if you also account for the higher mortgage payment and interest cost (assuming you are financing). To me it just seems like if you can afford a $500-700K home, you can probably afford a $250-300K home with private school.
I generally agree with, and implement, your concept, but I believe your absolute numbers may be off by a certain magnitude, at least in some cases.
Most of the storied private schools are located in the communities off northern and central Biscayne Bay (Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay) where SFH prices start around $800,000 (some exceptions here and there, and lower in some parts of Palmetto Bay) but most nice ones are $1.2M and up, and stand-alone private school tuition starts at $1,000+ at the pre-k to elementary level, then gradually increases to around $2,000 in the high school years, and Ransom Everglades approaches $3,000 or more. To stay in the around $1,000 range, it generally has to be a Christian parish school but which usually do not go beyond 5th or 8th grade.
In mostly the central and western parts of the County, there are some new franchise private/charter schools like SmartStarts and Bridgepoint (or some such) where tuition may indeed be around $1,000 or less and a relatively nice SFH may cost $250-300k.
My family is potentially moving to the Miami area from Ohio. Our biggest concern is for our children's education. Our oldest is in first grade. The youngest has not entered school yet (2 years old).
I have looked at the map pinned in this forum at the safer areas, so that's a start. But I'm confused about the schools in this area in general. It looks like there are many charter schools and magnet schools, and I keep seeing statements like, "Just because you live near school 'x' doesn't mean your kid will go to school 'x'".
I read on some older threads to look at places like: Pinecrest, South Miami, Kendall, Coral Gables, Miami Lakes, Doral, Aventura, Surfside, North Bay Village, and Miami Beach. But I've also noticed through realtor.com that many of these schools rate very, very low (at least through greatschools ratings), so I'm not sure how accurate such a list still is.
So how do I go about finding good schools for our kids in this area? I'm assuming private school is not an option because a) they're usually quite expensive and b) my husband in general doesn't want to pay for private when we pay taxes for school already.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Any particular areas you would recommend for young families? Thanks in advance.
Traditional American schools are the best option (Public schools)
I'm sure you're aware that home prices in "good" school zones in the Miami area can be 2-3 times as expensive as the same house in a less attractive school district. As a fan of private education in general, I always question how much it really makes sense to commit to the higher mortgage, insurance, and taxes for life all in an endeavor to save the cost of a private school. I mean, if you really love the neighborhood and it's a convenient location for your commute and recreational activities, great, but I'd be hesitant to pay those prices for a home just because of the public school. Especially given our traffic situation.
I don't have children yet and thus have not had reason to inquire as to private school tuition rates, but Google tells me it should come in at around $1k/month. In terms of property tax ~2%+insurance ~2%, it's equivalent to roughly $300K in assessed home value but much less if you also account for the higher mortgage payment and interest cost (assuming you are financing). To me it just seems like if you can afford a $500-700K home, you can probably afford a $250-300K home with private school. Of course, you don't want to live in the ghetto (and even still, consider renting first and make sure you're comfortable with the neighborhood!). Another thing to keep in mind is most elementary schools are relatively fine, so it's really only the middle and high school years that you would need to pay the private school--and that's assuming that you're even still in South Florida (presumably you could move by that time as well).
In theory sounds great but your kid will be the poor kid of the school living "in that part of town". I'm not sure that's healthy for a kid. I wouldn't put a kid through that. I went myself to Palmetto high and some kids there were very wealthy, I cannot imagine the kids I will find in a private school. We had excellent classes, as long as you were enrolled in honors and AP courses. The regular courses were crap. I took both regular and advanced courses.
It is true most elementary schools are fine. Ideally the kids will make it to magnet schools.
Coral Gables High School for when they're teenagers. I went there, and honestly, despite me hating high school (like many angsty teenagers did) it's actually a pretty good school. They were an A school when I graduated and my younger brother's there. He's very smart for his age (way more than me, he's in AP) and he himself feels that the school's challenging and has a better environment for education. Also, the lists of famous alumni is impressive! Janet Reno went there, and say what you want about her, but she obviously went places in her career.
A lot of schools in other areas of Miami, especially northern areas, are known to not be very good, having a lot of problems plagued by many inner city schools in the country.
I can't help you for elementary as though I went to three different ones, neither of them are in great areas, but at least they weren't bad schools. Not exceptional but not horrible. I went to Auburndale Elementary for a year, and that was my personal pick for best Elementary. However that was years ago, back in 2000-2001 and not sure how times have changed.
Coral Gables High School for when they're teenagers. I went there, and honestly, despite me hating high school (like many angsty teenagers did) it's actually a pretty good school. They were an A school when I graduated and my younger brother's there. He's very smart for his age (way more than me, he's in AP) and he himself feels that the school's challenging and has a better environment for education. Also, the lists of famous alumni is impressive! Janet Reno went there, and say what you want about her, but she obviously went places in her career.
This is one of the things I find confusing about this area. Coral Gables seems to be an area that is recommended fairly frequently, yet if you look at the high school's ratings on Great Schools, it's a 5 out of 10. Very confusing. Of course you can't base everything on the ratings from Great Schools, but it's still a concern when you see that.
The move is a definite now, though we are not sure about the timing yet. We flew down to scope the area out, so to speak, and were most impressed with the Pinecrest area (but it's very pricey) and Weston, but a commute from Weston might be too much. My husband will be working near the port.
Can anyone speak more to the areas of Pinecrest/Palmetto Bay/East Kendall and Weston? Are these good areas for young families, safe, friendly, etc.?
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