Has anyone decided to give up on DCPS and move to Virginia?

[Anonymous]

If you're thinking of moving (to VA or anywhere else), you may want to keep an eye on interest rates. There is a lot of talk that with the deepening economic crisis, especially bond ratings issues, etc., we may be looking at dramatically higher interest rates for years to come. Remember the early 80's had double digit interest rates for home loans.
B/c our generation has never had to live through those types of rates (which, obviously decreased the amount of house you can afford), it's hard to imagine what that would be like. So, at least consider the rate trends and, if you know you want to move, you may want to get locked into something b/f those rates increase.

[Anonymous]

OF course if you were in VA you would be still shelling out the bucks for daycare your 3 and 4 y/o. DC is one of the few places with public PS/PK. When we start talking about middle school, it's a little different story, but at this age DC is where to be. (and I don't have to shell out 4 bucks a gallon commuting which helps save for private if need be).

[Anonymous]

When we first moved to the area almost two years ago, our realtor wouldn't even show us homes in DC, assuring us that the schools were so bad it would be irresponsible for us to move there with three kids, so we bought in Alexandria. After a year we couldn't stand it and moved to DC. Our children attended Fairfax schools and they were really mediocre. I know there are great fairfax schools, but there are also average and below average fairfax schools. The driving, weird social politics, and lawn care bills! That's just my experience, but I would never leave DC for Virginia or Maryland, even Arlington.

[Anonymous]

I assume OP means those not attending JKLM, Deal... Because those scools are as good and for many kids better than anything in VA. Plus, in VA you will be cheek and jowl with the very worst elements of GOP/teabag/racists. If that is something you are comfortable with, then we're well rid of you here in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

My stepchild has gone to Fairfax Cty schools since elementary & is now in HS. The facilities at schools in Fairfax County are mostly great, but academically I'm not convinced there's too much difference between the schools I've seen out there and the DCPS that I've seen (obviously a limited #).

[Anonymous]

Honestly what you see in Fairfax are a greater number of parents that really care. In DC it is like pulling teeth to get parental involvement outside Ward 3. However that does make a difference in how kids achieve.

If it gets that hard to buy and sell a house, say worse than it is now, will people really be able to move or will they be pushing harder to improve schools?

I know this may be a fantasy, but as frustrating as the school system is now, it is still a lot better than in 2000 or in the mid-90's when I moved here.

[Anonymous]

If I were going to leave DC for the burbs (which we don't intend to do), I would never move to Virginia. I lived in VA for eight years and am married to an Arlington native. I love Arlington. But it is still in VA, which is in many ways incredibly reactionary--look no further than the AG, who regularly issues opinions that are terrifyingly out of the mainstream (most recently that guns are OK in church!).

That someone like Ken Cuccinelli could get elected in VA speaks volumes about how little influence progressive pockets of the state (like Arlington) wield on the state level. The state does bounce back and forth--in the last 25 years it has had three D govs and 3 R govs--but when it bounces right, it bounces far right. And there is nothing the exurban and rural parts of the state like to do more than stick it to inner NoVa when it comes to policy and funding.

Obviously, for conservatives, this is great. But for the majority of DC residents who are looking at options outside the city, it would be quite a rude awakening. If you are looking for great schools and an approach to policy and governing that is closer to DC's, MD would probably feel much more like home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we first moved to the area almost two years ago, our realtor wouldn't even show us homes in DC, assuring us that the schools were so bad it would be irresponsible for us to move there with three kids, so we bought in Alexandria. After a year we couldn't stand it and moved to DC. Our children attended Fairfax schools and they were really mediocre. I know there are great fairfax schools, but there are also average and below average fairfax schools. The driving, weird social politics, and lawn care bills! That's just my experience, but I would never leave DC for Virginia or Maryland, even Arlington.

It seems really odd to me that you would let someone (who was obviously under-informed) make this decision for you, though I guess I'm glad you were able to recover from the bad advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly what you see in Fairfax are a greater number of parents that really care. In DC it is like pulling teeth to get parental involvement outside Ward 3. However that does make a difference in how kids achieve.

If it gets that hard to buy and sell a house, say worse than it is now, will people really be able to move or will they be pushing harder to improve schools?

I know this may be a fantasy, but as frustrating as the school system is now, it is still a lot better than in 2000 or in the mid-90's when I moved here.

You obviously know nothing about the very active PTA meetings at Washington Yu Ying! I find it hard to believe there's a more impassioned group of parents anywhere in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly what you see in Fairfax are a greater number of parents that really care. In DC it is like pulling teeth to get parental involvement outside Ward 3. However that does make a difference in how kids achieve.

If it gets that hard to buy and sell a house, say worse than it is now, will people really be able to move or will they be pushing harder to improve schools?

I know this may be a fantasy, but as frustrating as the school system is now, it is still a lot better than in 2000 or in the mid-90's when I moved here.

You obviously know nothing about the very active PTA meetings at Washington Yu Ying! I find it hard to believe there's a more impassioned group of parents anywhere in DC.

Obviously you are rigtht. The charters do better on this score. I just can't help but think that ultimately they are concentrating people that could make a difference in many schools. When I first started looking at charters I thought they were a great idea. Now after seeing how they concentrate active parents and how limited their openings are I am not so sure. Maybe I am bitter about not getting in, but from a broader policy perspective I can see a lot of problems evolving here that will need to be addressed.

[Anonymous]

right not rigtht, too much going on.

[Anonymous]

All the public systems are responding to budget cuts with another year of increased class size, decreased services. Sometime that trend will change, but if you can accurately predict when, you might want to consider working for the big $$ on Wall Street. Even JKLM don't compare to the good suburban ES on test scores. Others can refine this, but broadly speaking it's sort of like the DCPS star ES have 90% proficient at grade level and 25-35% operating above grade level. The strong suburban ES schools have 90+% testing above grade level. And have expensive houses, of course.

Don't overlook some privates - the actual money out of your pocket to sell a house in DC and then to buy one in NOVA or MOCO is likely enough to pay for some years at even the most expensive privates. Best to do the actual math on what you'll pay to sell what you have, what your share of closing costs are likely to be on the type of house you might purchase.

JKLM all have PTAs that raise lots of $ and that pay for a 2nd person in many classrooms. MOCO and to some extent NOVA you pay in taxes. It all costs, hard to say there's a pure line between public and other choices. Almost half of the DC non-private students are in Charters - how should that be categorized, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the public systems are responding to budget cuts with another year of increased class size, decreased services. Sometime that trend will change, but if you can accurately predict when, you might want to consider working for the big $$ on Wall Street. Even JKLM don't compare to the good suburban ES on test scores. Others can refine this, but broadly speaking it's sort of like the DCPS star ES have 90% proficient at grade level and 25-35% operating above grade level. The strong suburban ES schools have 90+% testing above grade level. And have expensive houses, of course.

Don't overlook some privates - the actual money out of your pocket to sell a house in DC and then to buy one in NOVA or MOCO is likely enough to pay for some years at even the most expensive privates. Best to do the actual math on what you'll pay to sell what you have, what your share of closing costs are likely to be on the type of house you might purchase.

JKLM all have PTAs that raise lots of $ and that pay for a 2nd person in many classrooms. MOCO and to some extent NOVA you pay in taxes. It all costs, hard to say there's a pure line between public and other choices. Almost half of the DC non-private students are in Charters - how should that be categorized, for example.

DC taxes are comparable to MoCo when you include the county tax, NoVa has lower taxes unless you own very valuable non-real estate that is subject to their special taxes. I do not know where you get the idea that the contributions to the PTA somehow are offset by tax savings. No one is saving on taxes living in DC.

I think it is interesting to compare closing/realtor costs to private school tuition. If you have two or more kids, however, you would burn through that pretty quickly at privates.

[Anonymous]

Real estate agents should never tell you where to live based on school performance. This is called steering. It's illegal and should be reported to the real estate commission.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Real estate agents should never tell you where to live based on school performance. This is called steering. It's illegal and should be reported to the real estate commission.

Agree agree agree. As someone whoever works in housing oversight, that comment made me cringe.