"California! Here I come" (Santa Clara: sales, school, zip code)

[momwithadot]

@StandingRoomOnly - Yes, I see what you mean about the MS & HS stage. Have that noted down now - Thank you.

[spicydreamt]

silverkris - yes, probably 5 blocks to the south-east of the new Kaiser location, south of Pruneridge, zoned for Eisenhower Elementary. I expect the demographics in your ex-area are almost identical. Another item of note: the famed "API" does go down as the grade level goes up, however the elementary schools' API have been steadily increasing in recent years, so I won't be surprised if MS and HS APIs follow a similar trajectory by the time our kid is of age. APIs aren't static around here, just like home values...

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by momwithadot

@Spicydreamt - Sounds very encouraging! Thank you. Its good to know that the neighborhood of my imagination does exist. Now I have the info I need to make a roadmap to getting there. Thanks again and please feel free to add or DM more info / suggestions if you think of any.

All,

Any opinions on San Ramon? Pleasanton?

San Ramon and Pleasanton is very white with a good number of Asians. Just Asians, not SE Asians

[bobby_guz_man]

Question for the folks with kids: Instead of buying into an area with good public school, is it better to just buy a home anywhere and then send the kids to private school instead? Or is there some other underlying thingymajig that I don't know about. I have no kids, by the way, but planning and it would be nice to know the answer to this question...

[spicydreamt]

A few things going for good public schools
1. (if you buy) houses hold value much better in excellent school districts during economic downturns (and sell more quickly if you need to downsize)
2. if you have several kids, it's more economical
3. different mindset in families that prefer private schools (higher expectations in some areas that can distort the overall educational balance)
4. ultimately, the family's a consumer and the school constantly "sells" the kids' achievements to the parents
On the other hand, I expect the most competitive schools out there to be private ones, since they are less constrained in selecting and rejecting - but that can play both ways.

[Generaltao]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Question for the folks with kids: Instead of buying into an area with good public school, is it better to just buy a home anywhere and then send the kids to private school instead? Or is there some other underlying thingymajig that I don't know about. I have no kids, by the way, but planning and it would be nice to know the answer to this question...

In addition to what spicy just said, I'd add:

Public school means kids take a school bus. It's easier on the schedule.
Neighbourhoods with good schools usually mean low-crime neighbourhoods. Not sure about the cause/effect relationship but pretty sure about the correlation! It's important to me that my kids be able to play outside with neighbourhood kids. If they go to the neighbourhood school, chances are they already know those kids.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

Question for the folks with kids: Instead of buying into an area with good public school, is it better to just buy a home anywhere and then send the kids to private school instead? Or is there some other underlying thingymajig that I don't know about. I have no kids, by the way, but planning and it would be nice to know the answer to this question...

We started our daughter in public school in Cupertino at a highly regarded public elementary school (Regnart). We discovered that even in a good school, it is definitely "one size fits all." Many moms would arrive in the morning to take their kids (K-6) into the library during recess for drill & kill. Parents sometimes complained that there wasn't enough homework for their kids (I'm serious).

For us, before-school & after-school care was a big challenge. Stay-at-home moms would organize things for the afternoon & we couldn't participate in because, well, we both worked.

So... we switched to private (Harker) and it was a great fit, and the logistics were perfect with after-school clubs & organized activities included (piano lessons were extra).

****

One of the most important things we as parents do to impact our kids is that by virtue of the schools to which we send them, we are selecting the peer group from which our own kids will choose their friends and peers. We found Harker to be much better for our daughter than the public school system.

All kids are different, of course, so what works for one family won't work well for another. YMMV

[nagleepark]

As others have said, if you have more than one kid, it's better to put your money into a house with good public schools instead of private school.

I've certainly noticed that many kids drop out of private school after a few years. In some cases, the parents move to a neighborhood with good schools so they don't need it any more.

In other cases, the parents didn't seem to realize that they were going to be spending $10K-$40K/year for 9 - 13 years. Over time, that amounts to $200K+ for a single child, not including college. That's a ton of money.

Tuition discounts have become very hard to come by, too. In the past, many schools would cut tuition by 50% or more for reasons like racial diversity, academic achievement, being from a low income area or, really, just begging for it. Many, many people got tuition discounts. Now, many private schools have returned to charging everybody the full rate. If you can't afford it (or don't want to afford it), too bad.

People used to go to Catholic schools, even if they weren't Catholic, because it was cheaper but still sort of like private school. Some have dropped out, though, because their kids came home very, very unhappy that "Jesus is dying right now on the cross!" That just freaked them out.

[momwithadot]

@bobby -

Adding to Generaltao's comment, my thoughts on Public v/s Pvt.:

1. Public - There are no 'customers' and I think that's a plus. Private - Every parent is a 'customer' so management tries not to offend anyone- in dealing with bullying for e.g.

2. I choose to send my kids to public schools because it is a real environment. Not as homogeneous as Private in terms of parent demographics, their drivers to choosing pvt., etc. Yes, there are more challenges in public schools, but I'd rather they get used to the real world with all its diversity at various levels sooner than later. That doesn't mean I'll send them to any public school. As an involved parent, I'll filter out ones that focus on academics, arts, all round development (hence my query on foreign languages).

Of course, I haven't lived in CA, but am guessing it isn't vastly different there.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by spicydreamt

silverkris - yes, probably 5 blocks to the south-east of the new Kaiser location, south of Pruneridge, zoned for Eisenhower Elementary. I expect the demographics in your ex-area are almost identical. Another item of note: the famed "API" does go down as the grade level goes up, however the elementary schools' API have been steadily increasing in recent years, so I won't be surprised if MS and HS APIs follow a similar trajectory by the time our kid is of age. APIs aren't static around here, just like home values...

Eisenhower is part of the Cupertino Union School District, as opposed to SCUSD.

I think API's have been overused way too much, often to sell real estate, ya think? It's not the be-all to end-all of school metrics and more importantly, the culture.