Finding suitable public school for international student

Parent Cafe
1

Hello,

I’m a guardian towards my younger sister and she needs to be in the States b/c of her greencard. She is currently attending an international school abroad. While their curriculum is great (focuses lots on IB and extracurricular activities), we can’t afford her going to a boarding school. We are now looking at possibly renting in a nicer neighborhood so that my sister can benefit going to a more competitive high school.

Is this an option?

We are looking at California, Texas, and Massachusetts (Boston area).

Thank you,

2

Your whole family will be moving? We have school districts here where people rent apartments and have the kid live in them to go to the better schools. That doesn’t work as underage kids can’t live alone. The school district will actually go and look at the apt, make sure there are utilities connected, etc.

If your family moves then, yes, the school district has to accept her. However, they don’t have to put her in THAT school if it is full or it doesn’t meet her needs (level of courses, foreign language) and they can put her in another school in the district.

3

Which state out of CA, TX, and MA has state universities that she would be most interested in attending? CA and TX have provisions where graduating high school there with sufficient amount of time attending school or residing in that state allows for in-state residency for tuition purposes, even if parent residence is elsewhere.

http://ab540.com/What_Is_AB540_.html
https://admissions.utexas.edu/residency#fndtn-t143-requirements

One thing to note about TX is that the state universities are rank-focused in their admissions. So going to the “best” high school in TX may mean finding the highest level of competition for class rank, limiting likelihood of admission to the more desired state universities there.

Note that someone with US permanent residency (green card) is not normally considered an international student at US universities.

4

Are you a legal guardian as per US standards? How long has she been outside of the USA? Where are you?

5

Short answer, yes. You can rent in a public school district and she will be eligible like every child in the catchment area provided she lives there.

But I’d like to follow up with a few thoughts and questions.

First, what specifically would qualify as a “competitive” high school? Does it have to have an IB program?

Second, have you considered the inverse relationship between opportunities to lead and come out on top, and the stats and scores of the school (i.e. top schools will have tons of high achievers and fewer opportunities to lead)?

Third, have you considered how your sister may feel going to an ultra-elite public with very privileged families, since most of these top competitive schools are in areas where the median income is around $150-$200k annually?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/29/upshot/money-race-and-success-how-your-school-district-compares.html

Fourth, most of these statistics on top schools come from % passing a state test. How rigorous is the state test? There’s no national standard. So you will find more higher ranked schools in two situations: one in which the state has a lower bar, and one in which the state allows for “cherry picking” in public charters, i.e. you have to gain private admission to a school through tests and local residence is not enough. For example, in Boston, charter schools are very big and you may not get into them.

Take a look here to find out where public schools are actually performing.

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile

Massachusetts does well. California and Texas, not so much. California has a few top schools but they also have lower standards and rank behind Wyoming… every time. The reason you see this difference is that the scores for pass rates are based on state benchmarks. There is no national benchmark. Even though California and Texas have more elite schools than my state, they come out below Washington and New Jersey in national benchmark exams.

You can easily use Great Schools or Niche to find top-ranked schools. Or just use the US News and World Report ranking. But the education your sister gets will not depend on how many other kids have access to what they need to pass a state test. It depends on how well she fits into the school.

I suggest finding an area with a large community with a similar background and a solid public with an IB program–don’t worry about the ranking, worry about whether people talk about the community there. That’s where she’ll have a chance to really develop her leadership skills and dive into her passions while growing as a person.

6

My brother lived in Asia for 15+ years and his kids went to International Schools around Asia. When he moved back he decided to move to Palo Alto, CA so his kids could go to a very good public school. The issue was because the school was so competitive, my older nephew was not able to take APs until his senior year. At the end it didn’t impact his college application process, but it is something to consider.

If your sister is in an IB program you may want to look for a school with IB. I could be wrong…but I think many competitive public schools do not offer IB, instead they offer more APs instead, and not all IBs are taught at the same rigor. My younger kid went from a private school in the States to an international school. She found IB at the International school to be a lot easier than her private school.

7

If you are a legal adult and you are living with her, you should have no problem finding a place to rent, and this will allow your sister to attend the public high school in the district where you are renting. But be aware that rentals are very expensive in good school districts. Texas will be cheaper than either Mass or California, but you will still pay a lot to be in a high performing district.

8

So…will your family be able to pay out of state tuition costs when your sister goes to college if she chooses a public university in your new state? You need to check those guidelines very carefully. If your parents are not moving here with her, it is very possible that she will be considered a resident of wherever THEY live.

You say she has a green card but is out of the country? How long has she been out of the country?

Will your parents be moving here also?

You say you are her guardian…is this a legal thing or just that your family has designated you as such. There is a difference.

What year in high school is your sister now?

@happymomof1 any perspectives?

9

You’ve already gotten great advice here OP but I will also add that in some communities, the public IB high schools are part of the charter school system and have very competitive application processes to attend, even though they are still public schools. Be sure to add that question to your list when you are investigating options.

And as suggested in post #1, a legal adult with proper guardianship needs to be residing with your sister. We have family in a community in Boston where it’s common for people, many internationals, to rent apartments for high schoolers and leave them there alone. The authorities are cracking down on that practice and do investigate.

10

Massachusetts is tops in education. But like others say, where do you want to live?
Where would there be a community of people of your culture?

11

If it is important for her to complete the IB program, here is the search engine that you can use: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/find-an-ib-school/?SearchFields.Country=US

Under “Type” choose “State school” to get the list of public schools offering IB. Then you can check the schools in the states that interest you to find out if there are requirements for enrollment. For example, some of the IB programs in my school district will enroll any student who normally would attend that high school, but others are magnet programs that students from anywhere in the district would have to apply to in order to attend.

You have a number of factors to consider. Here are some of them:
Where can you get a job that will pay enough to support both you and your sister?
Will your parents also be moving to the US? If they will be working here, where can they get jobs?
If your parents will never move here, then you and your sister should look for a state where she can be considered an in-state resident for tuition and fees at the public universities after graduating from high school in that state. Not every state has that kind of policy. Usually a college student’s state of residency is determined by where the parents live.
If you have a court-ordered legal guardianship, then your sister would be considered independent for financial aid purposes when she applies to college.

12

Here is a list of state resident tuition through high school graduation provisions:

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2125616-state-resident-tuition-through-high-school-graduation-within-state.html

13

My mother lives in Palos Verdes, California (the Los Angeles area) – top ranked schools and MANY people, including lots of international types, moving there there so that their children can go to the outstanding public schools. Many of these people actually own homes elsewhere (where it’s cheaper) but live and rent in PV peninsula for the schools. Oh, and it’s safe and very, very beautiful. Another reason why it’s so expensive.

14

Your sister can get an excellent education at myriads of high schools in many states, not just the ones you mention. One does not need to live in a high profile area to get good public schools, especially in some areas of the country.

My reading of posts shows some important considerations. First- LEGAL guardianship. Then the need to live with that person. Plus needing a job in the desired location. There is NO good reason to sacrifice your current job in an attempt to maximize your sister’s situation. Perhaps you mention these states because they represent potential jobs for you.

She can take IB classes and do well on the exams at so many places. Her chances at getting into an elite college could be enhanced by not coming from a HS where so many are competing with her for top places. And- there are so many excellent U’s not on the radar of many on CC (especially those form the east coast).

15

Scotts Valley Hig School is Santa Cruz County CA has IB program. Expensive area but it’s a public school.

16

What about Florida or Virginia? Lots of schools with the IB program, good public universities.

17

My kids go to a public high school in Orange County with IB. But there is an application process in 8th grade. I am not sure what the process is to be admitted to the program later.

What year is she now?

18

@summire needs to crunch the numbers better. Things to consider…

  1. Will it cost more to relocate to a more expensive area than the current school costs?
  2. Will the guardians be able to find jobs and affordable housing?
  3. Will this family be able to afford the instate public universities in the new state?
  4. Does the whole family plan to stay in this new state?

I’m not sure I fully understand the WHY in terms of this move. It’s not free to relocate. In addition, some of the very best schools are located in expensive areas in terms of housing, and cost of living.

Look at the WHOLE picture.

It would be nice if this student could complete the IB course of study. Very nice. But not if its going to put the family in financial difficulty.

19

My advice would be to email the school, indicating your family is moving from abroad to the area where the school is located and since your sister has been enrolled in IB she needs to find a school where she can finish her diploma. Ask whether all previously- enrolled-in- IB students can enroll in their program or whether there’s a process and if so what it is.
You want to find the IB program with the most friendly policy.
THEN you move into that neighborhood.

20

IB programs offered in the US may not be the same as in other countries.

My experience (with 3 different school systems in 3 states) is that the school district often puts the IB program in one high school, and that high school may not be the #1 school in the district. They use IB as a magnet to draw students to the #2 or #5 high school. The student may be giving up the best the district has to offer (theater, art program, sports, even teachers) to get the IB program. That would be the case in the school district I live in and the neighboring one. The ‘best’ school are AP schools, not IB.

There was one of the oldest and best IB programs in a city high school. It really was a school within a school with all its own teachers, a separate hallway, all separate classes. When my daugjter was being interviewed for it, I asked if she could take an AP class. Shock, horrors, why would she want to do that! It was all or nothing with this program and the only interaction they had with the ‘general prison population’ was in sports or maybe band. All courses were segregated to IB only. That program has now been blown up by the school district and all students can take classes in the IB wing and IB students can take AP or gen ed classes. The problem is that the rest of the school isn’t academically prepared for IB or even AP, so the qualify of the classes has really tanked.

A friend’s daughter graduated with an iB diploma, as one of 6 in her class of about 250 students. Other students took IB classes, mixed with AP, but only 6 finished with the IB diploma. To me, that’s not a strong reason to pick IB and move to a particular school just to get IB.