Moving the family to Austin?

[hoffdano]

TEA ratings for 2008:

Bastrop ISD
001 BASTROP H S Academically Unacceptable
022 GENESIS H S AEA: Academically Acceptable
033 GATEWAY SCH Not Rated: Other
041 BASTROP MIDDLE Academically Unacceptable
101 EMILE ELEMENTARY Exemplary
102 MINA ELEMENTARY Recognized
103 CEDAR CREEK ELEMENTARY Recognized
104 BASTROP INTERMEDIATE Academically Acceptable
106 CEDAR CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL Academically Acceptable
107 RED ROCK ELEMENTARY Recognized
108 CEDAR CREEK INTERMEDIATE SCHOO Academically Acceptable
109 BLUEBONNET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Recognized
110 LOST PINES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Recognized

Bastrop ISD overall is Academically Acceptable


Lake Travis ISD
001 LAKE TRAVIS H S Academically Acceptable
002 TRAVIS CO J J A E P Not Rated: Other
041 LAKE TRAVIS MIDDLE Exemplary
042 HUDSON BEND MIDDLE Academically Acceptable
101 LAKE TRAVIS EL Recognized
102 LAKEWAY EL Exemplary
103 BEE CAVE ELEMENTARY Recognized
104 LAKE POINTE ELEMENTARY Exemplary

Overall rating for LTISD is Recognized

LTHS is in Newsweek Magazine's national top high school list at position 503.

there is nothing there for your investment, except time.

Not sure what this means. Lake Travis probably is more expensive than Bastrop overall. But away from Lakeway (etc.) homes are more affordable and the commute to Austin is probably better than it is from Bastrop.

Just my two cents.

[macuser1320]

I would have to agree with a previous post on that you might should look into Georgetown. Its not too far out, but its far enough to where you can get your land size.

My sister lives in a gated community in Georgetown call Gabriel's Overlook, and she loves it; they have nice homes too.

The schools in that community are in the Liberty Hill School District, which is pretty good.
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/...school/tx/4341

Here is an example of the typical house for sale in that community... http://www.mlsfinder.com/tx_actris/edwardlui/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=746010 6&searchkey=30415654-d543-b5a5-939f-4963d87ce698&npp=10&sr=11 (broken link)

The lot is over an acre, but the price is under 350,000!

(:

[macuser1320]

Oh.. and GreatSchools gave Bastrop HS a 4/10, when they gave LTHS a 10/10.

Liberty Hill HS got a 9/10.

They base their ratings on test scores and such..

[TexasHorseLady]

Test scores, while they might be useful, tell only part of the story. You have to get behind the reasons for the test scores to get the rest of the story. Also, you have to determine which school is best for your own children and which exemplary school might be bad for them. (Been there, done that, from the student's perspective, and it's not pretty when a school that is rated in the top ten in the nation pretty much wipes out an enthusiastic student's love of learning in the holy quest to keep the test scores high, never mind the students learning anything.)

So, it's not that simple. Not by a long shot.

[hoffdano]

Of course it isn't simple choosing schools. Test scores (etc.) are only part of the story.

But when a school is rated adademically unacceptable - it has problems. I'm sure these schools have some excellent students and good or great teachers. But these same students are surrounded by many poor students.

Lake Travis HS is not Recognized nor Exemplary. The school has many high achievers and top performers. But it has not solved its dropout rate problem yet. It has an interesting mix of kids with money and some without.

You gotta do your homework.

[BrooklynNativeTexan]

Yeah, our school issue is also complicated by the fact that our son (nearly 4) will probably be recommended for some special education services, for sensory processing disorder, and we'd like a place where he can get at least SOME services now. And of course we'd like a school where they can deal with more than one way of learning. I think that question is really more than can be answered in this forum -- I'll have to look into it closer when we narrow things down to a general area.

What about Leander? We like the idea of the light rail. A commute isn't as daunting when you can read/be on the BlackBerry, etc. Would there be parts of Leander where we could have a little land for an outbuilding for the business? Thanks, everyone!

[TexasHorseLady]

Almost certainly. Leander, while growing, is still rural enough that you should be able to find something where you can do that.

[Ksea]

We are also looking to move to a nice, safe, family-friendly neighborhood outside of Austin. We have been doing a lot of research and have sort of narrowed it down to Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park and Leander. Georgwtown got rated no. 2 best place to launch a business last year. Here is a link. Hope this help. Good luck.

100 best places to live and launch - 2. Georgetown, Texas (2) - FORTUNE Small Business