Why are DC schools the pits?

[Anonymous]

I've been doing comparable analysis for real estate. My agent seems to want to list really low and I had to talk my wife up on the schools and desirability in our area. So, I did a search on houses of the same size and same price range in DC vs (Montgomery County) then looked at the school's wow, like they have 1/3 the ratings.

What's up with that? I mean I know there are plenty of schools that aren't topflight in the world just like our neighborhood, which is only in the top 50%-40% in Maryland or something and relies mostly on diversity and equity scores rather than test scores. Which was sort of the point of the comparison, but I wasn't expecting houses over a million with 2 and 3 rated schools.

[Anonymous]

It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by "relies on diversity and equity rather than test scores?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by "relies on diversity and equity rather than test scores?"

They skew the rankings to account for weaker test scores. In certain diverse or impoverished areas. Some places have both(though they don't ding them for equity as much), but there are many schools that have good test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

Private schools are pretty much the default for anyone who can afford them, though post COVID tuition has exploded and it’s a much smaller set of people who can afford them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

Well, I think you'll find that the better lottery schools in or near the high-price-low-rating zones are mixed-income, some of them intentionally so through a lottery preference for lower-income students.

[Anonymous]

My eyes are glazing over from reading all the bullshit on this thread, but there's an easy answer to OP's question on the home values: most home buyers don't care about the quality of the local public schools and make their buying decisions on a whole host of factors. It's a common misconception on this board that the perceived quality of the public schools is the be all and end all when not comes to home values and that's just not true. Only a minority of home buyers ever plan to use the schools in many close in neighborhoods, and many couldn't even tell you what the schools are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My eyes are glazing over from reading all the bullshit on this thread, but there's an easy answer to OP's question on the home values: most home buyers don't care about the quality of the local public schools and make their buying decisions on a whole host of factors. It's a common misconception on this board that the perceived quality of the public schools is the be all and end all when not comes to home values and that's just not true. Only a minority of home buyers ever plan to use the schools in many close in neighborhoods, and many couldn't even tell you what the schools are.

I agree(the OP), it doesn't have to be a "good school" district to be a "desirable" location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

pretty much. two different types:
a) DCPS schools where nearly all the housing in boundary is very expensive and there are few spots in the lottery for out of bounds (often harder to get to via public transit as well)

b) charter schools that require a lot of parental involvement, encourage kids to leave if they underperform, and have models that are not as attractive to most lower-income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

Private schools are pretty much the default for anyone who can afford them, though post COVID tuition has exploded and it’s a much smaller set of people who can afford them.

Very true for ward 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

pretty much. two different types:
a) DCPS schools where nearly all the housing in boundary is very expensive and there are few spots in the lottery for out of bounds (often harder to get to via public transit as well)

b) charter schools that require a lot of parental involvement, encourage kids to leave if they underperform, and have models that are not as attractive to most lower-income families.

Families who can’t afford 50k private or don’t want to pay that much fall into categories above where:

A - applies to WOTP

B - applies to EOTP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

pretty much. two different types:
a) DCPS schools where nearly all the housing in boundary is very expensive and there are few spots in the lottery for out of bounds (often harder to get to via public transit as well)

b) charter schools that require a lot of parental involvement, encourage kids to leave if they underperform, and have models that are not as attractive to most lower-income families.

It's just remarkable to me that they are that low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's because you don't really understand how the school system works here. Lots of people don't go to their zoned school. They lottery into charter schools or non-charter schools that accept lottery students. It's not at all unusual. And that's how you end up with high-value houses in low-rated school zones.

Also, houses closer to the center of the city are worth more, regardless of their school. Obviously.

So, they have schools for the rich?

Every place has schools for the rich. In lower-population-density suburbs, this is accomplished purely through geographic rules about which kids can go to which school, and thus is tightly tied to housing. DC is higher density, so it’s more complicated, and less closely tied to housing.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely no one moves to DC for the public schools. It's assumed you don't have kids, or you don't care about your kids, or your kids are going to private. Real estate values in DC are completely detached from the public schools.