School districts - Hamilton Sussex, or New Berlin (Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls: buying a house, transfer)

[uswis]

Didn't want to trigger arguments here but really wanted to get your input.

My young kids will go to school pretty soon, and we are thinking about buying a house in the New Berlin or Hamilton districts (probably Menomonee Falls, closer to work). Heard good things about both.

Although I would appreciate a little comparison here. How would these two compare? I heard that Eisenhower is pretty good - how's New Berlin West compared to it? How about the primary schools? Are they roughly the same too?

Thanks in advance.

[MrBeluksee]

IMO, I would say both are equally as good (I'm sure there are statistic right here on CD that would prove either way). Personally, being from MF, I would choose Sussex Hamilton; and I would only live in far western MF, as close to Sussex as I could get (this would put your kids into Sussex Hamilton district). I would not put my child into the MF school district, I have heard it is in great decline due to the 220 transfers (in busing of Milwaukee students), however, this may change as the village has decided not to increase their participation in this program. In some cases, house values in MF tend to be a little higher than NB, therefore, resale would be reflected positively in that respect, but again, both communities are pretty much the same, its more personal preference than anything. North Side or South Side?

[HMY624]

I would say Hamilton is better as far as schools go. Although I disagree with the previous poster. We live in MF (on the east side... ooooohhh!!!) and the schools are good here. They have their fair share of 220 students (bussed in from "the city") but so does Hamilton (I used to work there) and New Berlin (I went to school there). I actually picked MF schools over Hamilton and that's why we live on this side of MF. NB schools are good as well but they have made a LOT of budget cuts in recent years esp. at the HS level (limited the arts and electives mainly) so not as many choices when your kids get to HS. Hope this helps!