From Alaska to Vancouver...or Portland? (Camas: hotels, homes, tech job)

[DjGallagher]

Hey all,

My wife, three kids, and dog are planning to move down to Vancouver from Alaska the beginning of October (driving). So I've been through the forums and am seeing a lot of promising things as well as tips such as trying to avoid the bridge commute if we live in one of the two areas but work in the other.

I keep reading that Camas/Eastern Vancouver are great school systems especially for higher needs kids (two of our three boys are in the autism spectrum and also have ADHD). My wife is interested in both places due to legality of marijuana (legal here as well and she's found some relief with light use of it for pain and other issues). We didn't know it was legal in Oregon for recreational use but we're doing this move for a number of reasons (good mental health and developmental health services/programs for the boyos and for my wife as well as a more temperate climate than Alaska's 6 month long dark and cold winter).

Anyway, does anyone have suggestions on Oregon's school system in the northern part of the state (close to Portland and/or the coast)? I haven't read great things about it at least in comparison to Washington's. So for that reason we're thinking Vancouver over anywhere else. We're moving sans job (mostly because at this point it's been hard to solidify offers when our move date is the beginning of October). But I've gotten promising feedback and am seeing stuff posted constantly. It's just a matter of applying close enough to the move date to be able to start when employers are willing to hire from a distance or being there in person for interviews.

Thanks all for reading and any info/tips offered!

[StealthRabbit]

during your earning yrs... WA is a better spot if you can get a job in WA... Not sure of your skillset, but Fisher Investments, HP, Sigma Design, Linear, US Digital, SEH, Peace Health (admin office + hospital), Costco are nearby Camas and frequently hiring. (Look at the tenants of Columbia Tech center... many jobs) + new hotels. OR job will cost you ~ 6-9% income tax (if living in WA)

Schools are better and better funded in WA, thus 100+ OR residents move to Clark County WA every MONTH! for last 30 yrs... Camas and Evergreen and Vancouver districts will have plenty to offer. We homeschooled, yet volunteered 20 hrs / week in public schools and many of our homeschool group (250+) were school teachers by day and homeschoolers by night. You only have to get them to grade 10.../ then they can go to college for FREE (Fulltime!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Start

Sorry to say, your wife will need more SUN... so a 15 min drive to PDX and a flight to 5000' works! (I do CA, NV, TX, CO, NM, AZ frequently. )

Let us know your skillset, activities (for the kids), and your budget desires + rural or urban? Pets?

[texasdiver]

My wife and I moved to Camas from Alaska via a long stopover in Texas.

Stealth is right on the schools. Washington schools are generally better funded than in Oregon and also tend to be more equally funded so any of the suburban Vancouver area school districts will be just fine and and they all have more or less equivalent resources for higher needs kids. If you move further out of the metro area into really rural areas with smaller districts you are more likely to run into resource issues.

I wouldn't worry to much particularly about the schools in the greater Vancouver area. If you are moving to a decent middle class neighborhood the schools will be decent. It's not like Texas where there are massive discrepancies between districts.

The more important thing is to figure out your own work life geography. For example, don't move to Camas for the schools if you are going to take a tech job in Hillsboro. That just sets you up for an insane daily commute. The best advice is to live close to where you work. There aren't any centers of employment in the greater Portland/Vancouver area that don't also have decent schools and neighborhoods close by.