As much as double nearby homes. http://www.wsj.com/video/homes-in-top-school-districts-come-with-a-price/4F33F5A8-9EAC-42C2-AD89-20DED7596459.html
Or you can live in NYC and compete for every level of school. We’ve had school choice since the 1970s.
But at least if you live in a homeless shelter, and you’ve got your act together, you can get your kids into a great school. I have known families like this in the NYC school system. One was a working single father, two kids, got his kids from the Bronx each day into a very nice elementary school on the Upper West Side every single day. Big commitment.
I wouldn’t necessarily the system before sometime in the '00s school choice as unless one meets the academic or other criteria for the non-zoned schools, you were basically stuck in the zoned schools in your neighborhood.
If I had not been admitted to my NYC public magnet or chosen for a program at an out of neighborhood middle school, I would have been consigned to attending my local zoned schools which were violent and crime-ridden and in the case of my old neighborhood’s zoned HS, had an abysmal graduation rate. When that zoned HS closed down a few years ago because it’s graduation rate was ~33%, that’s actually a marked improvement compared to my middle/HS years in the late '80s/early-mid '90s.
And there was no way my parents could have afford private/boarding school back then.
The current state of the NYC public school system is more akin to school choice as one’s no longer as restricted to one’s zoned schools as one would have been when I went through K-12. However, the current system has its own serious issues as current/more recent NYC K-12 parents could attest.
We deliberately chose not to buy a home in the top district in our county. Too many negative stories of pressure-cooker atmosphere, teen suicides, and emotional troubles. We did buy in a very good district in the same county, and yes, we spent more money on our home because of that choice. No school district is perfect, but it was a good choice, as it turned out my child has a learning disability and the district is known for its special Ed resources. He has had a very good education because of our choice to move here, so it has been worth it.
We live within an easy drive of several school districts, and shopped for houses in an area covering at least three of them when our kids were small. There wasn’t any dramatic disparity in schools that would have made us choose one location over the other or pay significantly more for that. We also have school choice. A boundary exception to any school in the state is automatic as long as there is space in the school. If space is limited there’s a lottery. We drove our kids to a neighboring district for a montessori program for several years, to a district magnet school with lottery admissions for several more, to an out of boundary middle school in our district that was a better fit for one kid, and they also attended our neighborhood schools at times, including all of high school. All the options were great and they all worked well for us. We were glad to have choices. Maybe that’s why all the choices were pretty good, I don’t know. It might also be that the area in which we live is quite homogenous and the schools reflect that. I’ve come to believe that if our kids had just stayed at the in-boundary schools they would have done well, but boy did we love that montessori program. There are also a number of charter schools (some with great reputations and with lotteries for admission) in our general area which we considered and never ended up choosing.
Here in NJ (New York suburb), you not only pay top dollar for houses in the “best” school districts, you continue to pay with over the top real estate taxes (most of which pays for schools). The 1 million dollar home could cost you $40,000 a year in taxes. Live in a cheaper town instead - that top private high school will cost you $40,000 a year in tuition (per child). It is all expensive and probably not worth it. You high achieving student in a slightly lesser district with lower property values and taxes will do just as well. Also, students in these few districts live in a pressure-cooker under tremendous stress.
We deliberately did not purchase in a top district as well. They tended to be well to do districts.
We chose a rural district that does well enough. We wanted our kids to know the educated classes as well as have friends that farm or have parents that work in a factory. They have been to birthday parties in trailers and in country estates. These friendships have kept our kids grounded in the variety of social and economic realities of our state.
We were happy to move to a university town and to live in an older home close to the university rather than in more expensive and sprawly nearby suburbs. The differences in school quality across the different districts weren’t significant. My kids could walk to school (from elementary to middle to high school), and I could walk to work.
I’ll use my neighbor as an example. She calls it a “Tale of two schools”. We live in a top school district. She has the smallest house on the street. It old and. Not that nice. Her husbands twin brother and his family live in a exurb about 40 min away from us in a mediocre ( not bad) school district . Their house is same price range but 4 X the size of her with many cool modern features hers is missing ( mud room, big kitchen). Her son and her nephew are the same age. Both were barely skimming the top half of their HS class and didn’t like school at all. Her son wanted to go to college because that is what literally every single person he went to school with does. He went to the state flagship and found it " easy" compared to our top public HS. He’s a good looking popular kid and was in a frat. Out of school lthree years ago . Got hired After interviewing with a frat brother at a consulting firm and was quickly shifted to the sales type end of things ( client contact). His excellent Social skills have made him a success, he’s considered a rising star. As for nephew, though his parents are college educated he didn’t feel the social pressure to go to college. Lots of his friends didn’t. He is also good looking kid with excellent social skills (they are genetically half brothers after all lol) . Has done ok working at a fast casual restaurant (assistant manager) but his option are more limited as is his path without a college degree. My neighbor thinks her son wouldn’t have been so set on college without the " peer pressure" to go. She wouldn’t trade her relatives house for hers in a million years.
At my husband’s insistence, we live in a well to do community in a starter home. He wanted to be near the water and I had no real concern one way or the other. I grew up in NYC and just assumed my kids would test into one of the selective HS’s, as I had. Now that the youngest is graduating HS, I truly wish we lived in a “poorer” district or were back in the city. My friends in those districts have kids of the same basic intellectual capacity and ability as mine who got into Ivy League schools because the competition was less. They also paid a lot less in taxes so they have more money. Here, I can’t compete with the $150+/hr tutors in every subject but gym (and that’s only because PE doesn’t count in the GPA, or I bet there would be kids getting tutored in better sit up technique) and the $10K college prep programs and the travel to foreign countries to volunteer for resume building purposes.
The smartest move I made was to buy a house within walking distance of the HS. As a result, I don’t have to provide my children with a car to drive to school because this is the type of place where kids don’t take the school bus in senior year. They can walk and not have to be ashamed about not having a car.
Ironically, my SD isn’t that great, it’s just okay. I think I got a better education in my NYC public HS and CUNY college than my kids have gotten here.
We do not live in the top school district, however, the kiddos do attend one of the top traditional public schools in our state that happens to be an island in an “eh” school district.
I made a lot of sacrifices to afford the school district I raised them in which is the best in our area. There were other reasons to live here, not only the schools, but that was a huge part of it. I’m not sorry.
I moved us around metro Atlanta several times trying to find the “Goldilocks” school system.
The first elementary school they were in-district for was minority English speaking, and the gifted program consisted of a broom closet with a chess board in it. I am not exaggerating-a closet, with a broom, and a chess board that the gifted kids could go play in.
So we enrolled them in a private school that was “prestigious”. We spent kindergarten and the first part of first grade there, until I realized the teachers weren’t teaching the kids anything substantive. It got to the point where the teacher would send home a letter complaining that my kid wasn’t compliant enough, and I would correct her letter for spelling and grammar errors with a red pen and send it back to her. 30% of the school was held back between grades 1-5 (I’m assuming to give them another year’s tuition and and edge on the SAT scores). We were not allowed to look at the teacher certification, but they were happy to take our money (and a LOT of it!)
Moved to what was then a good public school district, D1 spent a few months catching up, D2 was in kindergarten and hadn’t gotten that far behind. The district then experienced massive growth (doubling the size of the elementary school in 2 years which meant the girls were in trailers all day), and then decided to get rid of the gifted program in the middle school, so we moved again, and THIS tiime I was determined to find a stable, strongly performing, “hat trick” public school system (good elementary, middle, and high schools, which are hard to find in Georgia).
Found one, moved there when D1 was half way through 4th grade, and have stayed put (she graduates this year). Overall, except for explosive growth, it’s been good. If I could go back and do things differently, I may have actually gone with a slightly less excellent school system, or one that does not rank. The competition is insane, but I do feel like the girls will be well prepared for college rigor.
The house prices did not reflect the quality of the school systems, though-the first one was by far the most expensive place to live (Brookhaven). In fact, the quality of the schools has been inversely proportional to the house prices. It’s also the farthest from the center of Atlanta.
We bought an older, un-renovated house in a top school district, and ended paying more than many of our co-workers and friends who purchased newer, larger, and nicer homes in lower-rated school districts. At the time, we would go to their house warming parties and complement them on the granite counter tops, eight burner stainless steel stoves and individual bathrooms for each kid.
It is amusing over the years to hear how many of them eventually sent their kids to private school or moved because they did not like their public school options, particularly as the kids progressed through high school.
Many people move to the county near us because they have a top HS that is public (the student needs to test in).
The difference is about 14-17K a year to go private.
Houses in Princeton NJ are about 30% to 50% more expensive than neighboring towns.
Most of the schools in the DFW suburbs are good and the homes are priced similarly. I have noticed, however, over the years that students in the pressure cooker districts are moving to less competitive districts. What they don’t seem to realize is that all that does is turn the other districts into pressure-cookers as well. I’m glad to be done and will be down-sizing without regard to strength of the school district.
In case of Princeton it’s about more than the schools.
When we lived in Atlanta 30 years ago, the quality of the school districts was patchwork at best. Anything in Fulton County was sketchy. Outside of Fulton County, the area was growing so fast that the quality of the district would change from year to year as new housing was built. When the first new subdivisions were constructed, the quality of the local school district would go up as the new residents generally had higher income levels and dedication to eduction than the original rural locals. However, as more subdivisions were built, the districts would get over-crowded, new schools were sometimes be constructed and everything would be in flux while the new boundaries were determined. Changing boundaries is one of the reasons why the Atlanta area has many private schools.
Where we live in Illinois, the population is relatively stable, and, outside the city, the quality of the school districts is almost directly in proportion to the housing cost. The same high schools are in the top 10 each year, so for parents who prioritize education, it is an easy place to make choices.
The January before my oldest started Kindergarten, I finally paid attention to schools. Gah. What a shock. No librarians, no art or music and foreign language instruction was by video.
So we sold our house in 2003 and bought a fixer in the really good district at the edge of the city. Folks pay tuition to go this public school if they don’t live in district. There is one K-8 school and one high school. The high school is college prep, so pretty much everyone goes on to college.
I look at house prices in the neighborhood now and then. I looked a couple of weeks ago, and the three cheapest homes were $840k, $890k and 1.125 million. (We paid well under that lower number almost 14 years ago.)
It was a helluva move to make. We went from $400/month to $1400/month in mortgage costs in a few short months. It was a stretch to some degree but we managed.
We didn’t even think about what moving here meant. Moving into a neighborhood like the one we live in is very interesting. Many moms are stay at home moms who spend their mornings at the exclusive club downtown and go shopping in the afternoons until it is time to pick up the kids. It isn’t just one or two moms- it’s like practically the entire classroom of moms with a few maybe upper middle class folks like me. I really can’t relate to their lives- I’ve never had a nanny, a maid, landscaper, butler, limo driver or private pilot on staff. Not even one of those 
We’ve kept it real for the kids and they’ve received an exceptional education with many opportunities. I still have the fixer house, and there are still many projects left. But I also live in a quiet neighborhood with an excellent resale value (on the land maybe not the house.) Was it worth it? There are pros and cons and depending on what I value more, it could go either way.