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In the next year I will be graduating with my doctorate in higher education administration so I will be on the job market.
I am looking to work at either a community college or four year university so the Minneapolis/St Paul area is attractive to me. My husband can find a job anywhere that is a large city so I think we are good there.
My questions are as follows:
1. Tell me about the public school systems in the Minneapolis area. Where I live has quality education; however, the school board rezones at a drop of a hat. In the decade I have lived here our zone has been reassigned at least four times. Luckily our kids are very young (5 and 8) and haven't experienced a reassignment yet.
2. Before or after school programs? Summer camps? Where I live these are in super high demand. If you don't register early you are up a creek. I am eager to know if public schools in Minnesota provide a paid program or if I will have to look elsewhere.
3. Are there a lot of places for kids to play in the Minneapolis area? My kids love to play outside. They will LOVE the snow. But I need to know if there are parks/playgrounds and outdoorsy stuff that we can enjoy as a family. I'm guessing skiing and ice skating are big? I don't know you tell me.
4. I think we would presumably rent for awhile before deciding where to live permanently. I would like to be within walking distance of where I work, but I'm certainly not against driving up to twenty minutes. My husband is willing to go much farther, but I need to be close to where my kids are in case of an emergency.
5. Tell me about taxes. I keep reading that Minneapolis is tax crazy. ??
6. Where do people from Minnesota go for a brief "get away" vacation?
In the next year I will be graduating with my doctorate in higher education administration so I will be on the job market.
I am looking to work at either a community college or four year university so the Minneapolis/St Paul area is attractive to me. My husband can find a job anywhere that is a large city so I think we are good there.
My questions are as follows:
1. Tell me about the public school systems in the Minneapolis area. Where I live has quality education; however, the school board rezones at a drop of a hat. In the decade I have lived here our zone has been reassigned at least four times. Luckily our kids are very young (5 and 8) and haven't experienced a reassignment yet.
2. Before or after school programs? Summer camps? Where I live these are in super high demand. If you don't register early you are up a creek. I am eager to know if public schools in Minnesota provide a paid program or if I will have to look elsewhere.
3. Are there a lot of places for kids to play in the Minneapolis area? My kids love to play outside. They will LOVE the snow. But I need to know if there are parks/playgrounds and outdoorsy stuff that we can enjoy as a family. I'm guessing skiing and ice skating are big? I don't know you tell me.
4. I think we would presumably rent for awhile before deciding where to live permanently. I would like to be within walking distance of where I work, but I'm certainly not against driving up to twenty minutes. My husband is willing to go much farther, but I need to be close to where my kids are in case of an emergency.
5. Tell me about taxes. I keep reading that Minneapolis is tax crazy. ??
6. Where do people from Minnesota go for a brief "get away" vacation?
Thanks for any help or direction you can provide.
1. In general, the public school systems in the Twin Cities are very good to excellent. There's no doubt that public school funding has taken a hit in recent years, but the standards are pretty high in Minnesota, so relative to most parts of the country, we continue to rate highly.
2. I don't know much about summer camps, but my kids attended several summer activities through Minneapolis schools (they offer several sessions during the summer with a range of things like fishing, baking cakes/cookies, learning about the legal system, geology etc...) or our neighborhood park. I'm sure the suburbs are the same.
3. in short, Yes. the metro is known for its parks. Minneapolis has one of the best park systems in the country (especially known for the trails and parkland along the lakes, the Mississippi River and Minnehaha Creek). Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board Hennepin County also has a very substantial system of county parks and trails. Three Rivers Park District
Skiing and skating are very big in winter! Lots of nordic ski trails plus several downhill areas within the metro. Very convenient, but not going to impress someone from Vail.
4. I have no idea what your preferences are. City, suburb, ex-urb, new/old? big yard/walkable?
5. Taxes are pretty high, but probably not as bad as one might think. There's been lots of press on our high commercial real estate taxes, but you don't often hear that many other states levy a personal property tax, whereas Minnesota doesn't have a personal property tax. For homesteaded residential taxes, we're probably higher than average, but not at the top. I also think the taxes pay for a very good public school system, excellent parks and a generally efficient government--we typically don't suffer the taints of corruption that plague Illinois, NJ and Pennsylvania. Of course the Govt shutdown of this summer belies this notion and unfortunately things are changing in our state, but we'll see what happens.
6. Brief getaways: Duluth and the North Shore (Split Rock Lighthouse/Gooseberry Falls); Bayfield and the Apostle islands (WI); Brainerd Lakes area (Gull lake, Breezy Point, Rutgers resort etc...); Madison, WI; Mississippi River Valley (Red Wing, Lake Pepin, La Crosse, galena/Dubuque). A bit further would be: Chicago (7 hour drive); Winnipeg (7-8 hour drive); Kansas City (8 hour drive); Medora and teddy Roosevelt Nat Park, ND & the Black Hills/Badlands of SD.
This Superintendent for the West St. Paul/Mendota Heights district just got hired by the Farmington schools-just announced this past week. There will be an opening there if you want to apply. Excellent district, great location. No rezoning done as far as I know any time in recent memory. Chance are they are going to want someone with experience so looking in outstate MN might be a better career move to start but again, it depends--and honestly, being female will give you a leg up.
Taxes in MN pay your job-be glad that we are "tax crazy". Yes, we are one of the higher taxed states but spend any time in a low tax state and you will be happy to pay those taxes.
Camps--every town is going to vary but every town here has some kind of parks and recreation department that falls under the auspices of the school system. Registration tends to be competitive for some things, not so much for others. We also have a unique program called Early Childhood Family Education for kids birth to kindergarten. They are technically parenting classes with a child development component. They are just fantastic!
Places to play--every town has an abundance of parks. I don't think we have ever lived more than a couple blocks from a park anywhere we have lived. On top of parks, etc. there are a couple zoos, state parks, county parks, lakes with parks/beaches, etc. It is very "green" in MN.
I'll generally echo MplsTodd and Golfgal's comments with the exception of being "happy to pay those taxes" - but as she knows I've made my points on that previously and am not ready to rehash that discussion.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Not only would I be happy to pay the taxes, but they aren't so bad comparatively. I don't know exactly where Ohio ranks in taxes nation-wide, but let's just say I've never heard a bad thing about it (from non-locals). That being said, I've notice how they "get around" the non-high tax rate:
local taxes (city or county), in addition to State taxes and retail taxes (retail is 7.5% or something!)
tolls: it costs a good $15-$20 to get to the state border from Cleveland, and obviously I'd come back, so X2 for using the freeways (this cost is included in gas and state taxes in MN)
Gas: costs more here to pay for roads
There's probably more, but these are just 3 easy examples of how the tax RATE matters little in the grand scheme of things, considering that in relation to the rest of the nation, MN is actually sometimes a BARGAIN! Also, Ohio public schools pretty much suck for the most part, and that cost (while it can be measured) is somewhat priceless when it comes to education and family values.
This whole "happy to pay taxes" issue is ridiculous. It's part of the cost of doing business and life in the modern world. Saying I don't want to pay taxes is like a merchant saying he doesn't want to pay the high rent on his storefront. Fine, don't pay it, but don't expect to work there anymore.
This whole "happy to pay taxes" issue is ridiculous. It's part of the cost of doing business and life in the modern world. Saying I don't want to pay taxes is like a merchant saying he doesn't want to pay the high rent on his storefront. Fine, don't pay it, but don't expect to work there anymore.
Yes, conservatives understand the normal liberal M.O. - don't actually debate the topic on logical points but engage in twisted demagoguery or propaganda - which the little "Libertarian Paradise" blatantly is...to debate on rational points risks seeing the flaws in the argument.
Makes me think about a saying I once heard regarding Democrats and Republicans (at least if you believe they are not just two sides of the same coin): "Republicans (and I would substitute conservatives) are afraid that the people WON'T understand what they are trying to advocate. Democrats (substitute liberals) are afraid the people WILL understand what they are trying to advocate."
As far as your merchant and high rent argument goes, the flaw is obvious: the merchant has great freedom to move to a new storefront if he/she does not like the terms and conditions of the lease. The taxpayer has relatively little recourse as we have one government and the taxpayer can't "buy" a new government. Yes, I understand we can elect new representatives or you can move to somewhere else (that may or may not have the same entrenched political machine) but the politicians realize that is not always practically possible for many. So, we are left to endure their subtle coercion through taxes and over regulation - not because it's truly in the "common good" as they'd have you believe but rather serves their political cronies and selfish aspirations.
To be fair to the OP, perhaps we should move the topic back to what they were asking about. We've had the same tired conversation about taxes every time.
1. Schools in the area (and state in general) are great. You'll find most districts more than meet your children's needs.
2. I don't know about summer camps, but I do know Early Childhood Family Education is big here, so I'm assuming there are plenty of camps. I never did any public school-sponsored camps as I usually did some sport camps.
3. Pretty much anywhere you go is going to have parks. I don't know how the suburbs fare (I'm sure they have plenty), but I know the city of Minneapolis boasts that nobody lives more than 6 blocks away from a park. Most people are closer.
4. Unless you know where you're going to be working, it's going to be hard to determine where you could live. Are you looking for more suburban or urban living?
5. Taxes are higher in this state that most others. We do have a high quality of living here, which may or may not be because of the taxes, depending on who you ask. Certainly you'll pay more than the Dakotas, but things like groceries and clothing are tax free, which is something nice.
6. A lot of people go "up north" for quick trips. Minnesotans love the woods, the lakes, and boating.
1. Schools overall are decent. A lot depends on what you're looking for but there's all kinds of options here.
2. There's summer camps for pretty much anything here, it's amazing how many kinds of camps are available.
3. I've been impressed with the number of parks here, it's nice. Our neighborhood park is nicely set up for winter with ice skating and a warming house. Kids sled there as well.
4. I would stick closer to the inner suburbs as it's easy for a couple to work in two different areas. Further out more people come in. Golden Valley is a nice suburb and Hopkins schools are considered to be very good.
5. Taxes are high. I personally think they could be lower but obviously that depends on your view on things. There is no sales tax on clothes and groceries so that's nice.
6. We just got back from a gorgeous state park. There's Wisconsin Dells for water parks galore. Lots of fishing and golfing everywhere.
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