Is living well about the schools?

Although we do not plan to have children, we know we won't be spending the next 30 years in this house so we bought a home in a town that is known for being a 'very good' school district. That way when it comes time to sell we will hopefully have that going for us.

You should never believe anything you read in Boston magazine.
Yes, I live where I do because of the schools. I struggle to do so, just like my pappy before me.

Most important (IMHO): who the other kids in the class are

We're planning on having kids while in the house we're looking to buy and want reasonable public schools. It's not going to be "living well" if we have a lower mortgage but religious/private school costs. I know a few people that live in cheaper town with not great schools so they pay to send kids to religious/private school. I can't believe the cost of tuition and the fact that the education they're getting is, at best, on par with the public schools in the towns we're interested in. At least we can get deductions for the mortgage interest off our taxes and put that money into a college fund. For the towns we're interested in, it's things like teacher to student ratio, the variety of programs offered (AP, art, music, technology, vocational tech, special needs) and the general reputation of the area and kids in the area. We don't need to live in the top rated school system in the state but we also don't want knife fights and major discipline issues in class to be a regular occurrence either.

Yes I moved to Easton from Stoughton while the iron was still hot. I was lucky . Some of my former neighbors planned on following us but the market changed and now they are stuck in that hellhole indefinitely.

For those in "good school" towns - Are you still satisfied with these schools in this funding environment? My concern is that we invest in a good school town only to find that the schools are actually lacking due to layoffs and cutbacks -- or require multiple tax overrides to maintain the quality.

Thanks.

Be cautious however on picking your school districts. Our governor is floating ideas about "redistricting" in the name of greater efficiency. What this would do is combine some districts, such as Sudbury and Maynard or Needham and Framingham, in order to raise up the poorer districts students. You may end up feeling like a sucker if you could go to the better school and live in the less expensive home. You can buy twice the home in Maynard as in surrounding towns.

In response to somebody who recommended Easton I have to say to people thinking of buying in Easton, BEWARE! The groundwater in Easton is very high and septic systems fail all the time. New septic systems cost around 30K-50K on average. We bought a house in Easton in 1999 and almost lost it because the previous owner and an unscrupolous septic inspector passed the septic system when it should have been replaced. We spent thousands of dollars and had a horrible lawsuit after just giving birth to my son. This was our first house and it was a nightmare. The neighbors were rude to us because of the lawsuit and my daughter hated the school system. The kids in Easton are mostly from very rich parents who can afford to get them anything they want. If you can't afford Abercrombie and Fitch, don't buy there. And the taxes are way too high. We moved a few years ago to a city and we couldn't be happier. We now have a much nicer house, nicer neighbors, are closer to everything and my Easton nightmare is over. Buyer Beware.

Are the so-called "good school districts" really the best, or just the most liberal, so the liberal media label these districts as the best?

There are good students from EVERY school district going to great colleges. Some districts have more, some less, but the underlying question is why. Is it the schools, or the parents?

There is an intergenerational compact that has guaranteed the quality of schools. What does this mean? If you have 4 kids in public school. who is really paying the cost of their education? Everyone else, especially those with no kids in school. From when I was 16 until I was 35, and my first child started school, I paid alot into the system and got nothing out. Now that I have no children in school I am again in that situation. That is the only way this works.
People who complain about high taxes or how much teachers get paid yet want to sell their homes for the highest price,conveniently forget who was really paying .
cost of the

There are several towns in metrowest considering joining for greater efficiency. I believe these systems are interested in administrative and economic efficiencies. I have not read of any school districts being "redistricted" by the state, as regards academics, with their neighbors. The Sudbury school system, I believe, is considering partnering with the Lincoln school system. This would be logical - there's already a regional high school for the towns. I think it would be difficult for the state to initiate "redistricting" since each school district funds it's schools on tax rates set by the residents of that town. And, I think many towns hold their autonomy dear, no matter their standing on the "how good are the schools" scale.

Schools are certainly one of the top factors in deciding where to live. There are many ways to rate a town's educational system, ranging from the quality of the curriculum, to teacher-student ratio, to teacher qualifications, training, and retention, to involvement of parent organizations and opportunities for participation in the classroom and school, on up to graduation rates and colleges students have attended.

We can afford Abercrombie and Fitch. We also live on 2 acres and cannot see my neighbors. Its very nice.

A good school is about the parents not the school. Good parents make good students which make good schools. It has nothing to do with funding which is unfortunate. Bad schools are a product of cultures that don't value education and don't provide stable families for their children. Look at the neighbors and it will tell you the academic environment of the school.

100000000000000000% agree to poster #8.

"How do you separate the “good” schools from “bad” ones?"
None. It's a matter of personal perception. It's the same for those who have false sense of public schools by sending their kids to private schools. The curricula offer by all public school districts are mandated by the state, and they all accredited by all universities and colleges. What's matter is the parents. For the children to succeed in academic or in life, it is the role of the parents to reinforce them. If the parents fail, the kids will most likely to fail, too.

But Rich (#8), aren't most of the "good schools" in wealthy towns? Lexington, Wellseley, Weston, etc. The wealthy towns tend to be more conservative than the less wealthy towns. (Rich people want to keep their money!!) Thus wouldn't the liberal media elite fat-cats want to talk down these towns and talk up the Cambridge's, Somerville's, etc?

I agree with Cambridge landlord 100%. "Bad schools are a product of cultures that don't value education", and the corollary, that good schools are the opposite.

Such a hard question--and getting harder all the time. As another poster pointed out, some very well-regarded schools like Newton are suffering funding problems, while other districts are changing before our eyes for the better. As professional young families flock to towns that have been considered second-tier (because those are the only housing markets to get into), it'll be interesting to see what will happen.

I agree that schools can only do so much; high scores are mostly a reflection of demographics. In towns like Watertown, it will be interesting to see how that change gets reflected in school scores.

#15. Yes, I would be watching how Melrose changes in the coming years. Buyers with young children are indeed flocking there, priced out of towns like Arlington.

April (#14), you think Wellesley, Lexington and Weston are conservative? OK.

I agree with #15. Many school districts are getting better before our eyes, but they just can't shake the lesser reputation they may have had 15-20 years ago.

And what exactly constitutes a good education? Is it a traditional education that includes large doses of reading, writing, math and science, and maybe a little Latin? Is it just the right mix of art and music and extra curricular activities to go along with other classes? What about the number of AP classes?

The fact is that most people have no idea whether the town they are buying in has good schools. It's usually just based on perception, with no hard facts.