How did you figure it was time to move to MD (or not!)?

[Anonymous]

I hate the bridge traffic, therefore, VA is out

[Anonymous]

I find the values of MD closer to mine then in VA.

Doesn't Viginia celebrate Lee - Jackson day with Martin Luther King Day? I think there is something wrong with simultaneously celebrating the lives of confederate generals and a civil rights icon.

[Anonymous]

When we lived in DC (2000) income taxes were WAY higher than we're paying in MOCO right now. We were renting, so I can't comment on real estate taxes, but DC is much more expensive in some regards.

[Anonymous]

The original post did say "or not," so I'll provide that perspective. We'll be staying in DC and sending our kids to public school (although we could afford to move or send our kids to private). We recognize that DCPS is imperfect but believe strongly that kids from supportive families that put an emphasis on education achieve pretty much wherever they go to school. And we're districted for Wilson, which has a good core group of high-achieving students. I'll make the obligatory nod to everyone's having to decide what's right for their families, but I'll also say that if more people invested in DCPS by staying in the city and holding the schools accountable, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[Anonymous]

PP, I'm a parent whose kids went to DCPS for elementary and then private for middle, and the problem with your suggestion (we thought about it too), is that parents don't have the time to stay and invest in the schools for potential future improvement -- few people want to risk their child's education that way. Sure, maybe Deal will end up being great, but my child needed a good school now. And I wasn't going to send him there for some potential greater good in the future. Plus, DC middle and high schools are pretty socially segregated (to say nothing of the low expectations for minority boys), and I didn't want to deal with that. I think your little not-so-offhand remark about people staying in schools and this conversation being unnecessary was simplistic and condescending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, I'm a parent whose kids went to DCPS for elementary and then private for middle, and the problem with your suggestion (we thought about it too), is that parents don't have the time to stay and invest in the schools for potential future improvement -- few people want to risk their child's education that way. Sure, maybe Deal will end up being great, but my child needed a good school now. And I wasn't going to send him there for some potential greater good in the future. Plus, DC middle and high schools are pretty socially segregated (to say nothing of the low expectations for minority boys), and I didn't want to deal with that. I think your little not-so-offhand remark about people staying in schools and this conversation being unnecessary was simplistic and condescending.

So who should be the guinea pigs? Who will stay and be involved and make it better? Why do parents stay involved in elementary schoo. but not high school?

This is a case of NIMBY. I'm tired of the "not my kids" attitude. Maybe if a few parents found the time we wouldnt be having this conversation, as the pp noted.

[Anonymous]

As one of the PPs who made the jump to MD in large part for the school system, I think the PP's earnestness is well-intentioned and laudable, but I also think you're being awfully judgmental... every parent has to make decisions based on what they think is best for their family. And though you don't say whether you're a homeowner or renter, I think that factor also hugely influences your choices and options. I could not justify putting our hard-earned and saved nest egg, and acommit to a 30 year debt, for a neighborhood that didn't offer my children a high-quality education. You have perhaps made other choices, presumably for good reasons (commute, lifestyle)... but it seems a bit presumptuous to expect everyone else to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As one of the PPs who made the jump to MD in large part for the school system, I think the PP's earnestness is well-intentioned and laudable, but I also think you're being awfully judgmental... every parent has to make decisions based on what they think is best for their family. And though you don't say whether you're a homeowner or renter, I think that factor also hugely influences your choices and options. I could not justify putting our hard-earned and saved nest egg, and acommit to a 30 year debt, for a neighborhood that didn't offer my children a high-quality education. You have perhaps made other choices, presumably for good reasons (commute, lifestyle)... but it seems a bit presumptuous to expect everyone else to do the same.

15:55 here, and not sure if you're referring to me, but here goes: We own, although I'm still not really sure how this matters. Look, again, it is everyone's duty and right to make the right choices for their families. But I think when it comes to DCPS many people make those choices based more on fear and assumptions than anything else. Let's start with your assumptions about the ability of your children to get a "high quality" education in DCPS; you assume this isn't possible, but many DCPS parents will tell you otherwise. In fact, there was a study looking at the college admissions of kids from the Lafayette ES class of 2000 showing that college admissions were indistinguishable, in terms of rate and institutional quality, between kids who went on to DCPS for MS and HS and kids who went to private school. This is likely because, as a general rule, educational success has much more to do with the family than with the school.

[Anonymous]

I'm so sick of hearing about that Lafayette study (of the class of 2000, no less). The study measures a group of mostly white Chevy Chase kids that self segregate with most of the other white kids at Deal and Wilson. It has no meaning for those of us with minority children. And we could tell you plenty of not so pretty stories of how minority middle class children (especially boys) fare at DCPS middle and high schools. Don't even try that liberal guilt trip thing with me.

[Anonymous]

Different poster here.

Let me state first that everyone should match the kid to the school. That and only that should be the first priority.

But having said that, I agree with the poster who said:

But I think when it comes to DCPS many people make those choices based more on fear and assumptions than anything else.

My kid, for the most part, got a bang up education in DCPS and when the time came that we needed to move her to an independent school, we did. But I am so tired of being told that by sending my child to DCPS I was using her as a guinea pig. That child had what I am quite sure was one of the toughest algebra I classes in the city in 8th grade. She had good English classes too and she writes beautifully, way beyond her years.

The PP is right. There is a lot of fear around DCPS, some of which is based on ignorance. On another thread, one poster claimed to be "terrified" of the schools after Mann. Terrified?! There is no need to be terrified. Send your kids to private schools because those schools fit them best but please don't do it out of fear.

And the PP is also correct that if more middle class families kept their kids in DCPS past elementary school, the schools would improve. However, others are also correct that that should not be the primary reason to send your kids to DCPS. For example, 17:09, if I had an African-American son, I would try to avoid DCPS (except for Banneker and Walls) for just the reasons you mention. Again, as I said -- fit the kid to the school. Do it for the right reasons, which it sounds like you are.

It's just some other posters who get to me when they talk about being terrified or suggest that our DCPS kids are guinea pigs. Please chill out! It's not such a big scary world out there!

[Anonymous]

We're a left-leaning family that made the jump to Fairfax County for the schools and quality of life. Our commute to downtown DC is no longer than it was from Montgomery County.

Those PPs who assumed that their values (presumably liberal) were more in line with Montgomery County should take another look. Virginia seems to be turning blue to me -- at least the Northern part of the sate. We had no trouble fitting in at all. Watch the November elections for proof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we lived in DC (2000) income taxes were WAY higher than we're paying in MOCO right now. We were renting, so I can't comment on real estate taxes, but DC is much more expensive in some regards.

Don't know what your income is, but we moved from DC to MoCo in 2003 and our income taxes are much higher in MD. Property taxes are much higher, and even the sales tax is higher. Overall there is a much higher tax burden in MD than DC.

[Anonymous]

The WashPost does analysis every year of regional tax burdens, comparing the jurisdictions. DC and Montgomery County are nearly identical when all state/local taxes are considered.

"If you're up the income scale at $150,000 a year, the ranking breaks down like this:
Montgomery: $16,551
Prince George's $16,455
D.C. $15,027
Fairfax $13,317
Arlington $13,302
Alexandria $13,117"

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2008/01/who_pays_more_taxes_virginia_m.html

[Anonymous]

Bravo for the Lafayette study, but it doesn't make me reconsider the MoCo move even for a second. It's fairly obvious that a single study on a very unrepresentative group of kids does not make DCPS equivalent to MCPS. I live in a safe, convenient, ethnically and racially-diverse neighborhood with great schools. In many cases, NW DC was actually more expensive than my Bethesda/CC neighborhood -- and for what?? What's the advantage of AU Park or CC, DC over MoCo??? Maybe my commute would be 5 mins shorter each way than it is now, and maybe I could feel all fired up about "living in the city" even though those neighborhoods are no more urban than MoCo. Otherwise, I don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bravo for the Lafayette study, but it doesn't make me reconsider the MoCo move even for a second. It's fairly obvious that a single study on a very unrepresentative group of kids does not make DCPS equivalent to MCPS. I live in a safe, convenient, ethnically and racially-diverse neighborhood with great schools. In many cases, NW DC was actually more expensive than my Bethesda/CC neighborhood -- and for what?? What's the advantage of AU Park or CC, DC over MoCo??? Maybe my commute would be 5 mins shorter each way than it is now, and maybe I could feel all fired up about "living in the city" even though those neighborhoods are no more urban than MoCo. Otherwise, I don't get it.

Actually, you make my point for me. The original question was when and whether to move to MoCo for schools. The Lafayette study shows that success in school and college admissions is much more about the family/community than about the school. You're right -- Bethesda/CC is demographically indistinguisable from upper NW DC. All the more reason that families considering making the move -- and agonizing about the cost -- reconsider the necessity of moving in the first place.