School reassignment's effect on value

[Doug in NC]

My child's elementary school is facing a proposed reassignment of a portion of its students. The affected children will not be allowed to go to the school 1/2 mile away, instead they will be sent to a newly constructed school that is about 7 miles away (with traffic could be a 15 minute drive).

Homeowners are wondering what the effect this move will have on property values. Naturally, parents want their children to go to the closest school, and it is logical that a parent moving into the subdivision would be willing to pay less for a home affected by the reassignment. (I won't get into the politics of why I believe the school system wants to promote "socio-economic" harmony with this move, as opposed to racial diversity quotas which have been found to be unconstitutional - unless I am asked)

Anyone heard of any appraisal studies done on this type of thing? If I can find some evidence of loss in property value associated with a proposed move, it would be further ammunition that could be used to stop this senseless plan. Thanks.

Doug

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

On the other hand, in this county being sent 7 miles away to a brand new facility with the latest state of the art stuff might actually be a benefit, rather than a detriment......??????

Our local school is almost as old as I am, so 15 minutes might be a real pleasant change!

 

[Dee Dee]

I agree with Judy.
The impact, if any, cannot be measured until there are solid statistics to back it.
Most parents wouldn't flinch over an extra 15 minute ride on the bus for their kids if they think that a better education is waiting for them on the other end, but that won't be known until after the change occurs.

 

[Restrain]

Around here, boundaries change rapidly, with kids being moved from one school to the next as the area grows. I have not seen a differential so long as the school district doesn't change. However, I have seen a 10-20% differential in the same subdivision where the school district line bisects it. It's not distance but the perceived quality of the schools.

As to a 15 minute drive, that's what a school bus is for. I've not seen a market differential from riding a bus to walking to school.

Roger

 

[Dee Dee]

However, I have seen a 10-20% differential in the same subdivision where the school district line bisects it. It's not distance but the perceived quality of the schools.

Same here.
And it's really annoying when you have to appraise a home that's in the less popular district. Homeowners and lenders want the appraiser to use comps from the preferred district, citing that they are recent sales, a stone's throw away and nearly identical to the subject. They get really nasty if you say anything that remotely suggests that you're taking a swat at THEIR school system.
The majority of appraisal reports that I see coming out of these neighborhoods tend to ignore the differences, and unless the school issues are addressed by either choosing similar district comps or making adjustments for schools (nooooo thank you!), then the homes get over-valued. What sometimes looks like the perfect clean appraisal can be very decieving in neighborhoods such as these.

 

[Doug in NC]

Dee Dee,

We have no idea what the new school's quality of education will be, but the current school is rated near the top for the county (and our county is among the best in the state overall). The fear is the opposite, that we could easily lose the quality of education that we are receiving. It is untested.

Part of the reasoning of the school board is that you take kids who are not on the school lunch program and move them to areas where there are school lunch program kids. I'm not sure what their reasoning is, but I think they believe school performance scores will be raised when this occurs.

Note: The "old" school is 5 years old, so we aren't too concerned with getting the latest in features.

To other comments:
Why move students who are 1/2 mile from a school, to a new school 7 miles away in an effort to ease over-crowding, when you are going to fill the vacated spots with children who live further away from the school than the displaced kids? Do people still believe in the concept of "neighborhood schools" or is there too much common sense in that concept? :?:

Doug

 

[Farm Gal]

Doug

Coming at cha from the land of Brown Vs. the Board of Education: the school lunch qulaification issues generally works pretty well as an indicator of who is getting more parental attention at the end of the day, who gets sent to bed on time, and who actually has a parent feeding them before they trundle out the door in the am. (Oh yeah and who is/is not beat, hungry sexualy abused etc.) Does this have an effect on individual schoolkids performance abilities? OH YEAH.

They have been gerrymandering the local school lines here for decades. Due to the rather unique makeup of this city I which I live, most of this has had SOME but not tremendous effect on the desireability of homes in or out of a particular district, all other things being equal. We have scattered high dollar homes in close enough proximty to someof the hell-hole areas that both can to (a limited extent) be creatively included in the same school area. The problem with the theory is that the folks in the bigger bucks areas simply remove their kids from the public school system, the remainder of the parents like myself wind up being slated for the PTA/PTO leadership by default and the lousy parents still do nothing or don't care!

Does this affect the kids? Sure: the kids from real nightmare families either struggle to keep up with the advantaged kids, or they flat quit. Pretty easy to tell which are which. To quote a local teacher struggling to keep the advantaged kids on track and progressing while dealing with the apathetic and as s/he termed them "the REAL criminals" in line "Its a thankless and near impossible task!" This from a teacher I think shuld be nominated for sainthood!

You can beat your head against the wall, you can do some extensive studies and TRY to prove diminution of value, then sue in a court of law (good luck winning) and apply your windfall to part of the tuition for the private school you think you need.

You can choose to get involved in the inevitable: personal involvement in the school you kid(s) will likely wind up in, or move. Pick one the probability of your winning this battle is slim to none.

Think about homeschooling, this windmill you cannot tilt and win.

Most studies indicate that some of the kids at the bottom of the spectrum get dragged a little higher on the scale: hang a string on the wall, now put your hand under it and push up. Does this raise the bottom of the string? Yup. Does it do ANYTHING for the rest of the string? nope. This really isn't real life thogh cause the resources needed to raise the bottom does take away to lesser and greater extents from the top and middle of the string.

Unfortunate isn't it, that the kids at the UPPER end of the raw intellect and advantage spectrum are not treated in the same way as those at the lower end of the scale. :evil: Equalization at any cost has victims, too.

 

[Dee Dee]

Part of the reasoning of the school board is that you take kids who are not on the school lunch program and move them to areas where there are school lunch program kids. I'm not sure what their reasoning is, but I think they believe school performance scores will be raised when this occurs.

Doug,

Yeah, yeah, yeah :roll: . Gotta keep those performance scores high or the district administrators look bad. Boy, this sounds familiar.
I've got some very strong and negative opinions when it comes to the way that some school systems handle their problems, so I'll get straight to the point and spare you my usual tirade.

Kids should not be used as pawns in an attempt to fix problems that they did not create.

If the administration and adults have already failed and they start resorting to social engineering tactics that involve children resolving the conflicts.....well....who do you think ends up paying in the end?

Been there, done that....and I still thank God every single day that I yanked my boys out of a school district that played this cover-up game.
Follow your parental instincts, and don't let ANYONE try to make you feel guilty for not wanting your children to be part of their experiment.