Anonymous wrote:Where will you be working OP? If still in DC, Howard county an easier commute. If in Baltimore, you want Baltimore county, can be downtown in under 20 minutes from most close in parts of Baltimore County. Also, your property taxes will be way lower than the city. Better schools, lower taxes, less crime, is why many families do not live in Baltimore city.

Howard County is an easy commute to BC. I would not limit yourself to Baltimore County.

Summit Park is also a great Baltimore County ES, very close to the city line. I understand that Middle School is dicey from there, however.

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of friends who are very happy with Hillcrest Elementary. It's in Catonsville/Baltimore County.

Was just going to suggest Catonsville. Nice little community, very convenient to Baltimore City, good schools. And without the astronomical property taxes of the city, as another PP mentioned.

I have a lot of friends who are very happy with Hillcrest Elementary. It's in Catonsville/Baltimore County.

Where will you be working OP? If still in DC, Howard county an easier commute. If in Baltimore, you want Baltimore county, can be downtown in under 20 minutes from most close in parts of Baltimore County. Also, your property taxes will be way lower than the city. Better schools, lower taxes, less crime, is why many families do not live in Baltimore city.

Baltimore City schools are not that great. However, Baltimore has some great private schools. With the low housing cost private school is doable for many families. If you don't want to send your children to private school, then I would definitely look into buying a house in Ellicott City (Howard County Public Schools) or in Towson (Baltimore County Public Schools). Towson has some great public schools and its easily accessible to the city. Schools that are zoned to Towson and Dulaney High Schools are great.

Comparing Baltimore to Howard Co is like comparing Anacostia to Spring Valley,

I'm looking at Howard County (moving out of Bethesda) because of the schools. Its not Baltimore but very close.

You do not want to send your kids to the city schools. The only one that is decent at the elementary level is Roland Park. I agree with the PP about moving just over the county line into Towson if you need to be close to the city.

Doubtful, generally you have to show proof of residency to register. You may want to look at the private schools now though. Applications are due in mid-December. Might be nice to have a back up--the Baltimore city schools, even the "good" ones are light years worse than Montgomery county. Baltimore county, however, has great schools especially in Towson, Lutherville, Cockeysville area. You can be right outside the city line and get an excellent cluster: elementary, middle, high school, all with 9 or better ratings. Of the city schools, Mt. Washington and RP are the best, but class sizes are large (city does some busing at both schools so class sizes are never getting smaller) and Mt. Washington has no playground for its K-2 students.

Hello we are possibly going to be moving from montgomery county to baltimore city with three young kids. I am wondering if anyone can tell me, is it possible to apply to the charter schools before we actually live in the city? The deadline is in February and knowing if we could get the boys into a charter would really impact where we look at houses. Thanks for the help!