Soon to be in the housing market. A tough pill to swallow.

Following. Our timetable for this is 1 year.

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I need a pep talk in justifying why I should pay at least double my current house value just for a school district. Most of the times these houses are about same square footage and lack yards.

Seriously considered getting better bang for buck somewhere rural and commuting to private school.

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Rural living means you’re commuting for EVERYthing. Is a yard more important than the time you will spend driving back and forth for......Decent restaurants, anything more than basic shopping, work, socializing with friends, entertainment, etc.

Why can’t your kids go to your current school district? What does “not terrible” mean?

Ok then does that not answer your question? Why would spend so much more money on a “better” education when the current one meets your expectations?

Also, the money saved in not moving could be used to pay for more extracurriculars for your kids.

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need a pep talk in justifying why I should pay at least double my current house value just for a school district.

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You shouldn't if your current one is safe.

A child's education depends on the parents way more than anything else. Just mediocre teachers are good enough if the child is happy and the parents are engaged.

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I feel other factors are not being mentioned.

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Oh yeah. A wife. THE factor

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No middle ground on school districts? How much is private?

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Private would essentially be what I'm already paying in daycare costs

It would help (especially those of us in Alabama) if you told us where you currently live versus what you're looking at.

It’s harder to rank school districts than you think.

Because the higher income districts (Mountain Brook and Vestavia) have much more involved parents and resources than the others. It does not mean your child will do better there - just that they have more resources if they are needed as less school funding is diverted to other areas of need.

For instance, Hoover has a very large business tax base to draw from. However, they spend so much money on ESL (English as a second language) services and behavioral services that less is available for the general curriculum.

The best school system is the best one for THAT particular family moving there. Do you have kids that are high achievers? Kids with Autism Spectrum? Kids with general learning disabilities? That can change the formula.


If you ask me to generally rank them:

MB
VH
Hoover
Chelsea

Thompson
Oak Mountain

Pelham

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Let's do this. Rank the following school districts

Hoover
Vestavia
Mountain Brook
Thompson (Alabaster)
Chelsea
Pelham
Oak Mountain

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Awesome. I have 14 years teaching experience in the Over the Mountain area, and I know plenty of teachers in most of those schools.

My personal rankings and why:

1. Vestavia

Wealthy, top-notch school system. Neighborhood feel. Enough wealth disparity though to be affordable. You need about $300k just to get in, and that's not going to get you much. Housing market is hot right now. $400k would be a good price. This school system gives your kids the chance to attend any school in the country if they are successful. Plenty of extracurricular opportunities.

2. Mountain Brook

It's actually a better school system than Vestavia, but I put it at #2 because you're not getting in if you're posting a thread about being worried about money. A friend of mine's sister is an internal medicine physician and her husband is a successful lawyer. They just bought a fixer upper for $490k. There are million dollar homes on the street. It's rich, rich. Because of that, if you aren't rich, rich, your kids probably aren't going to have a good experience going to school there.

3. Hoover

Similar to Vestavia and Mountain Brook in opportunities. I'd definitely vote Spain Park over Hoover. Problem with Hoover is that it's REALLY big, and your kid can get lost there. I mean, if they want to play football, they better be really really fricking good at football if they're going to Hoover High School. There are also some pockets of Hoover schools that aren't good. Green Valley Elementary for example has a pretty low rating and has a lot of low-income students. However, Hoover City does offer real diversity where Vestavia and Mountain Brook are primarily lily white and Asian.

4. Oak Mountain

I'm tempted to put Thompson here, but I'll still go with Oak Mountain. OM has lost some funding because Pelham and Thompson pulled out of Shelby County. (Don't forget Helena is an option too in Shelby County.) OM though has GREAT parent support and a strong student body. Lots of good teachers move into the OM system because it's an affordable area and close to a lot of affordable areas. Teachers can bring their kids to Shelby County Schools, so that's always going to attract good teachers. Vestavia and Hoover do as well, but it's hard to find affordable housing for teachers in and around Vestavia. Mountain Brook doesn't allow teachers to bring their kids to the district.

5. Thompson

It's a state-of-the-art facility, but it's in Alabaster. There's nothing fun about Alabaster. It used to be called the armpit of the Birmingham area. It's very suburban with some low-income areas. If you like strip malls and franchise chain restaurants, Alabaster is your friend. But Thompson has put a ton of money into extracurriculars. I can't speak for the quality of the education.

6. Pelham

I'm not hearing good things about Pelham. It used to be one of the larger schools in the area, but after splitting into Oak Mountain and Helena, it's now a small school. I have quite a few coworkers and friends who taught in the system and not one of them has good things to say about working there. Grad rates are good though, so I'm sure you'd be fine.

7. Chelsea

I don't know anyone who teaches there, but I know a few alum. It's like a rural suburb. You're way out there. I wouldn't even consider yourself Birmingham if you live in Chelsea.

As always, the quality of the school will be mostly determined by parental support and quality of student. Out of the entire list, Vestavia and Mountain Brook are at the top. Hoover is a close third. The other four are pretty far away in terms of quality.

Hope this helps.