What About Schools

This is a subject I have touched on before, but as schools and education are something most homebuyers take into consideration when choosing where to look for a home, and for many, these can be even more important than the number of bedrooms or the size of the home. Sometimes an older and smaller home may look quite good if it’s in the perfect place. If you don’t have children or your kids are all grown up you may be inclined to say that you don’t care, but as the school and the school district is bound to influence your home value, you most likely do end up caring.

Education is a tough question as how we measure the quality of education may be subjective and depend on our own view of what it should look like, based on our cultural, socioeconomical and educational background. My awesome school may look different from yours, and my expectations even more so. We may not be even looking at same things.

What we do know, is that even at the worst school imaginable, one great teacher can make the world of a difference and at the best, most expensive private school it all may crumble down due to a large variety of things. In the end it all comes down to what’s best for your child and family.

As we watch Seattle grow, we see schools and school districts changing. Areas and schools that were once known for schools that were less desirable have changed over time as the metropolitan area keeps spreading further out.  With that being said, it has become more important than before to measure distance. Is the school you think is going to be your school really your school? What does the bus route look like? Is your child going to be spending an hour on the bus every day? Or is it a walking school? As an example, in Lake Washington School District elementary age kids walk to school if the walk is 1.5 miles or less. For middle school the distance is bumped to 2 miles. That is a long walk in the rain, in the dark, carrying a backpack full of stuff.

There are 15 school districts in Washington graded either A or A-, and 108 districts with a B+, B or a B- according to Niche. Only 3 districts have been scored with a D+, there were no lower scores. These scores were based mainly on academics. With the state assessment proficiency, ACT/SAT scores and surveys asking about the academics having 50% weight on the score. The internet offers several tools to find the schools that fit your needs. A good place to start are the school district websites. There are also several websites like Niche or Great Schools measuring the different qualities of schools and scoring them accordingly.