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School systems have to do with 2 things, IMO
1 is real estate
2 is the people which attend the schools
Make sure you do not correlate the two beyond anything reasonable.
Examples-
I live in a school district rated "excellent with distinction". The real estate in my area is depressed.
I could double my property tax bill, move to a different area, get the same quality education (rated excellent with distincition) and my real estate prices would not drop as much.
The difference between those two districts is the type of students which attend the schools and live in those communities. This is based more on parents occupations than it is on the location- the other district is actually closer to downtown, and some areas of the district might have a Cincinnati, OH zip (my zip is a suburb).
Meaning to live in the pricier neighborhood, you need to be able to afford a 10k property tax bill on less than a .33 acre 2400 sq ft house. I have a lot bigger than .33 acre, my tax bill is half that, and my house is 3400 sq ft.
So you cannot use the house location to judge the district quality
You cannot use the house size for school quality
You cannot use the state rating for school quality
focus on the tax bill and you will probably find the better schools.
However "quality of life" and "house location" have a lot to do with each other. I could not live in an area as congested as the 10k property tax bill. It would drive me nuts. I would prefer to move 30 miles east and have 25 acres, and have lousy schools, but wife wants better quality of life which really means being around people.
Focus on what is important.
Focus on the property tax bill.
In addition, notice if lots of commercial entities exist in school district- some of these companies negotiate no property tax, which tends to reduce quality of education (less money).
1 is real estate
2 is the people which attend the schools
Make sure you do not correlate the two beyond anything reasonable.
Examples-
I live in a school district rated "excellent with distinction". The real estate in my area is depressed.
I could double my property tax bill, move to a different area, get the same quality education (rated excellent with distincition) and my real estate prices would not drop as much.
The difference between those two districts is the type of students which attend the schools and live in those communities. This is based more on parents occupations than it is on the location- the other district is actually closer to downtown, and some areas of the district might have a Cincinnati, OH zip (my zip is a suburb).
Meaning to live in the pricier neighborhood, you need to be able to afford a 10k property tax bill on less than a .33 acre 2400 sq ft house. I have a lot bigger than .33 acre, my tax bill is half that, and my house is 3400 sq ft.
So you cannot use the house location to judge the district quality
You cannot use the house size for school quality
You cannot use the state rating for school quality
focus on the tax bill and you will probably find the better schools.
However "quality of life" and "house location" have a lot to do with each other. I could not live in an area as congested as the 10k property tax bill. It would drive me nuts. I would prefer to move 30 miles east and have 25 acres, and have lousy schools, but wife wants better quality of life which really means being around people.
Focus on what is important.
Focus on the property tax bill.
In addition, notice if lots of commercial entities exist in school district- some of these companies negotiate no property tax, which tends to reduce quality of education (less money).
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