What do you mean? Parents face a choice of where to buy a house at a given point in time and (statistically speaking) they are willing to pay more for a house in a good school district compared to a similar house in a bad school district.
Can the quality of schools change? Of course and, as usual, it can go down much faster than it can go up.
What do you mean? Parents face a choice of where to buy a house at a given point in time and (statistically speaking) they are willing to pay more for a house in a good school district compared to a similar house in a bad school district.
I mean, what sizes do you mean by “district”? 5 km? 50 km? 500 km? If the first, the kids can just commute to a different school (assuming halfway-decent public transportation, or a parent who passes there on their way to work, or a parent with enough spare time); if the last, no-one is going to move that far just because of what the schools are like; so I assume you mean something in the middle. Does the quality of schools actually change that much from place to place in such a range of distances?
Can the quality of schools change? Of course and, as usual, it can go down much faster than it can go up.
Agreed, but that was not my point (I said length scale, not time scale).
I mean, what sizes do you mean by “district”? 5 km? 50 km? 500 km? If the first, the kids can just commute to a different school
Oh, I see.
In the US school-level education is local—it’s run by towns via school boards and is paid for in large part by local property taxes. It is not run by state or federal government. Typically each town has its own school district or several small towns might have a joint school district. The quality of school districts varies a LOT, even for districts physically close to each other.
One consequence of this arrangement is that if you go to a public school you must go to the public school of the town in which you live (there are some exceptions, but that’s the general rule). You cannot go to the school of the neighboring town—it will not accept you.
That is why buying a residence in a town is simultaneously a choice of which public school your kids will go to.
Obviously if you are willing to pay for a private school your kids can go wherever.
Does “how good the public school system is” vary on a length scale short enough for that to be relevant?
What do you mean? Parents face a choice of where to buy a house at a given point in time and (statistically speaking) they are willing to pay more for a house in a good school district compared to a similar house in a bad school district.
Can the quality of schools change? Of course and, as usual, it can go down much faster than it can go up.
I mean, what sizes do you mean by “district”? 5 km? 50 km? 500 km? If the first, the kids can just commute to a different school (assuming halfway-decent public transportation, or a parent who passes there on their way to work, or a parent with enough spare time); if the last, no-one is going to move that far just because of what the schools are like; so I assume you mean something in the middle. Does the quality of schools actually change that much from place to place in such a range of distances?
Agreed, but that was not my point (I said length scale, not time scale).
Oh, I see.
In the US school-level education is local—it’s run by towns via school boards and is paid for in large part by local property taxes. It is not run by state or federal government. Typically each town has its own school district or several small towns might have a joint school district. The quality of school districts varies a LOT, even for districts physically close to each other.
One consequence of this arrangement is that if you go to a public school you must go to the public school of the town in which you live (there are some exceptions, but that’s the general rule). You cannot go to the school of the neighboring town—it will not accept you.
That is why buying a residence in a town is simultaneously a choice of which public school your kids will go to.
Obviously if you are willing to pay for a private school your kids can go wherever.
Thank you. Things make sense now.
For anyone reading this: The thread “Worth remembering (when comparing ‘the US’ to ‘Europe’)” is interesting. (I’d promote it to Main so that new additions to its comment thread are more likely to be seen.)