Anonymous wrote:Do not move to Pennsylvania. The schools are terrible. Why? Tiny school districts funded almost entirely from property taxes (which are incredibly high) and in some places, separate school taxes.
Because there are so many tiny school districts with very high salaries and pensions you have two problems: First, the teachers get tenure and never leave, so everyone's teaching 30 years in the past. Second, there's usually one high school, one middle and one elementary. Stifling. You pay a crazy amt of property/school tax for schools, and then you still don't get the breadth and depth of schools in places like the DMV where you have magnet schools, bilingual schools, and AAP classrooms/centers. There is one option for all, and you better like it because it's not going to change.
Also check out how much public college costs in PA, it's ridiculously high. I'd rather send my kid to College of NJ versus the incredibly dangerous neighborhood of Temple U.
I thought the separate school taxes were for every county in pa. and yes the taxes are high for what you get. Teaching is not up to date and well I've heard PA has some of the worst schools in the country testing.