Looking for good schools and easy commute (Austin, Round Rock: real estate, new home)

[jemhunter]

Hello all,

We are a family from the Bay Area (CA) looking for relocating to Austin. What is important to us is #1 schools #2 short commute (15-30min). We get none of these in CA

I am in the software field and my job is in the NW corridor but it won't be my last job thus short commute doesn't mean to that company but more generally to where the majority of the high tech companies are.

So far from trolling different forums, we know Eanes has the best schools, close to downtown where the fun is, but it's the most pricey area and mostly older homes.

We saw mixed opinion on most other areas except Lake Travis, and Steiner Ranch/River Place where people seems very satisfied w/ schools and home prices are quite lower than Eanes. The commute seems challenging though as every car feeds into 620N.

My oldest child just started elementary but we are looking for area w/ exemplary elementary, middle, and high school to be on the safe side. We don't like moving every few years.

Price range would be ~400k and would compromise on the house size and feature to meet #1 and #2 criteria.

It would be great of you could comment on school quality of the above areas and how they compare against Eanes, or suggest any other areas we could look into. Also would love to hear your commute experience from the mentioned areas.

I've been using this report http://independencetitle.com/Files/CrossReference/1A/AustinSchools.pdf (broken link)
which contains good amount of details and seems recent, but the numbers don't seem to accurate. For example I called Leander ISD and they said class size is 20-22 not 14 as stated. But just wanted to share it in case other reader find it useful.

Thanks in advance

[blakely]

First of all, help us out with your job location. When you say "NW Corridor", are you speaking of NW Hills, Arboretum, or elsewhere? A few more specifics regarding your job location would be helpful since you are hoping for a 15-20 minute commute.

Also, I'm sure several posters will quickly tell you that "exemplary" vs. non-exemplary isn't always the best criteria to evaluate a good school vs. a not-so-good one. There are many "recognized" (or "acceptable") schools that have some population subsets that really struggle, bringing the whole school's numbers down, but the truth is many kids are getting a solid education at those schools. It will be hard for you to find any location in AISD that has "exemplary" rated schools for all 3 (elementary/middle/high school), and if you are using that as criteria, it will be tough. Yes, Eanes has that, but a $400K housing budget is tricky in Eanes (it's possible, but your options are very limited).

For an area with good schools that is less pricey than Eanes, you may also want to consider Northwest Hills, or sections near Spicewood Springs that feed into Laurel Canyon elementary (on up to Westwood High). Top notch schools, perhaps the trade-off being that Westwood can be very stressful (as can Westlake); of course, that partly depends on your kid.

So first, tell us a little more about where exactly you plan to commute to, and then we can be of more help.

[jemhunter]

Thanks for your reply Blakely. The job I am transfering to is a couple of blocks from the intersection McNeil Dr and W Palmer Ln. But I am looking for an area that is generally centrally located respectively to where the majority of high tech companies are to keep commute reasonable should I need to change job in the future.

Thanks for the suggestion on Spicewood Springs but I couldn't find Laurel Canyon ES. I did find Laurel Mountain and Canyon Creek ES in RRISD that are exemplary. That area would be awesome for my current commute.

I agree that $400 isn't much in Eanes but I believe it's a good range for elsewhere. I hoping to land in a area w/ schools that are close to the best that Austin has to offer. The main reason we are moving from CA to Austin is to have better education for our children.

From our experience, schools having a subset of struggling student tend to slow down the pace to ensure everyone is included. That is how it is in CA in most case. But some charter schools do have special sessions for struggling kids to bring them at par w/ the rest of the class. With the budget cuts, it is harder to hire those teacher assistants though.

Many thanks

[hoffdano]

OP - You probably mean McNeil and W Parmer, right?

I'm not sure it is really easy to say where "most" software or tech companies are located. A number of these kinds of companies are located somewhere near 360 (Capitol of Texas highway), but they can be all over. Some are even downtown.

If you want to make a bet where you might work in the future, then I would bet on 360. But that could mean you live in Eanes ISD, Round Rock ISD, Leander ISD, Austin ISD, or even Lake Travis ISD.

For example you could buy in Lakepointe on Bee Caves Rd. Lake Travis ISD. I think it doable for $400K. You would be within a 30 minute commute to a job on 360. Or live in Northwest Hills, zoned to Westwood high school, and still within a 30 minute commute. Lakepointe to your current job though might a bit over 30 minutes depending on time of day.

$400K is a good price point though that should give you some choices.

[tiffngio]

I would look at Avery Ranch, just North on Parmer. You have your choice of two districts depending on where in the development you want to look(Leander or Round Rock). Your commute will be less that 10 minutes and the schools are good. We do live in AR for the exact reasons you mentioned. We relocated from Washington state last year and a short commute for dad was our first priority. Check out zillow or any real estate site for zip code 78717 and you will find plenty of inventory.

[blakely]

Originally Posted by jemhunter

T

Thanks for the suggestion on Spicewood Springs but I couldn't find Laurel Canyon ES. I did find Laurel Mountain and Canyon Creek ES in RRISD that are exemplary. That area would be awesome for my current commute.

Yes, I meant Laurel Mountain (sorry!)...the progression would be Laurel Mountain/Canyon Vista/Westwood....all very strong schools. I think you could live in that area and have a good commute to a lot of tech companies.

[jemhunter]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

If you want to make a bet where you might work in the future, then I would bet on 360. But that could mean you live in Eanes ISD, Round Rock ISD, Leander ISD, Austin ISD, or even Lake Travis ISD.

looking at 360 google maps, I would have thought it traverses mostly residential areas (eanes for most part). I wasn't aware tech companies are also there. That is easy to commute to from Steiner Ranch.

Thank you for the tip

[jemhunter]

Originally Posted by blakely

Yes, I meant Laurel Mountain (sorry!)...the progression would be Laurel Mountain/Canyon Vista/Westwood....all very strong schools. I think you could live in that area and have a good commute to a lot of tech companies.

Does rezoning happen in Austin? In CA, from year to year, they can reassign a house to a neighboring school. There is some risk if a house is sandwiched between 2 schools w/ different quality. Thus here, we have to find an area w/ homogeneous and good school quality.

This happened to me. We bought our house 8 years ago and it was mapped to the best of the 4 elementary schools in our vicinity. 2 years ago, we got reassigned to a school that is significantly worse. I wish my kid were old enough to attend school 2 years ago which they would have allow us to stay even after rezoning.

Thanks

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by jemhunter

looking at 360 google maps, I would have thought it traverses mostly residential areas (eanes for most part). I wasn't aware tech companies are also there. That is easy to commute to from Steiner Ranch.

Thank you for the tip

There are many "tech" companies, especially software, either on 360 or near it. Tivoli, BMC, Troux, Solar Winds, Bazaar Voice, and a number of smaller companies.....

[blakely]

Originally Posted by jemhunter

Does rezoning happen in Austin? In CA, from year to year, they can reassign a house to a neighboring school. There is some risk if a house is sandwiched between 2 schools w/ different quality. Thus here, we have to find an area w/ homogeneous and good school quality.

This happened to me. We bought our house 8 years ago and it was mapped to the best of the 4 elementary schools in our vicinity. 2 years ago, we got reassigned to a school that is significantly worse. I wish my kid were old enough to attend school 2 years ago which they would have allow us to stay even after rezoning.

Thanks

It doesn't happen in the same way it does in California (at least,from my limited experience, I don't see the same rezoning things happening).

What I have seen happen is redistricting within the same school district, mostly for the purpose of evening out attendance so each school is getting an appropriate load. This happened in Eanes a few years ago. Bridge Point's enrollment was getting too high (lots of new homes had been built in the Bridge Point zone, plus lots of young families moving in), while attendance at Eanes Elementary had been declining, in part due to aging in some of the Eanes Elem households. So some of the homes that were zoned to Bridge Point got redistricted to Eanes Elementary and Barton Creek Elementary.

In that example, all of the schools were in Eanes ISD and were rated exemplary with very similar curricula throughout, so it wasn't a big deal (well, to some that don't like change it was ).

What I don't see happening (and someone may correct me, because I'm no expert on this) is housing getting rezoned from one school district to another. Usually you are safe in knowing that your kids can/will attend the school to which your house is zoned. So if you buy a house in a district you like, you should be fine.