<p>a young family has the opportunity to move anywhere in the states. they'd like seasons, to be near a coast, and to be able to live on some land. they live in portland right now.<br>
they have one kindergardener and one toddler.
great public schools would be a major draw.
the northern suburbs of chicago, for example, have great public schools.
how about the east coast?
anyone?
thanks</p>
<p>Bellevue, Washington. 2 High schools in the USNews top 50. Drawback: high cost of living, especially homes.</p>
<p>Thanks.
they are trying to lower overhead, so bellevue could be cost prohibitive.
i appreciate your input.</p>
<p>Wisconsin has options with most places having good/excellent public schools and lower housing costs than Chicagoland. Too many variables- city size, lake size… More likely to find affordable acreage in Wis than around Chicago near the lake.</p>
<p>Newton, MA</p>
<p>Chevy Chase or Silver Spring, Md.
Alexandria or Falls Church, VA
Haddonfield or Cherry Hill, NJ (outside of Philadelphia)
A lot of places on Long Island NY(Oceanside, Huntington..)
Westchester County in NY
Greenwich, CT and its adjacent towns
Brookline, MA
Boston North Shore (Gloucester and Plum Island area are beautiful but I don’t know the schools)</p>
<p>They’re all expensive, too.</p>
<p>If you want a housing bargain and don’t mind snow, come to Clarence Center in upstate NY. You’ll live in twice the house with strong public schools. You’re not near a coast, but near Niagara Falls or the Great Lakes.</p>
<p>Montgomery County, MD has many great schools, although it is expensive</p>
<p>Unfortunately good public schools are usually in expensive areas. If you want low cost AND great schools you may have to give up the idea of living near a coast. A friend of ours raved about the public schools in West Hartford CT and their housing costs were considerably lower than in CA where they used to live. I’ve also heard good things about schools around Minneapolis.</p>
<p>^ Well, Minneapolis is on what Garrison Keillor like to call “the middle coast”—the Mississippi River. So is its twin, Saint Paul. Excellent public schools around there, too.</p>
<p>Yeah, CA is pretty much out right now if you want low-cost. Stupid market.</p>
<p>It really depends on what is a good public school for these folks. I found out when I moved to NY that the best public schools in the country were not good fits for our family. A great school district that has huge schools, for instance, may not be the choice of families that like smaller schools. A very competitive environment may not be the best choice either for some kids. So “best” is not always best. Also what kind of environment do they want, near a large city? How far in the future are they looking? I love the Virginia state uni system, but don’t know how the elementary schools fare. The Hope program that Georgia has for college, and the Bright Futures that Florida has are great for college too. Is cost an issue? Are job opportunities an issue? Weather? Culture? Quality of medical care?</p>
<p>whats wrong with Portland?
That is probably where we are going to be moving to! 
, </p>
<p>All the communities that I have ever heard of- with great schools- either are in the boonies, or they are in communities so pricey they make Bellevue look like Petticoat Junction.</p>
<p>Districts change so much- that a neighborhood school could be great, in 5 years be horrible and in 5 more years be good again.</p>
<p>Id look at other quality of life indicators- a family attentive community will have good schools.</p>
<p>Well here’s what we did. We lived in the Northshore School District, which is located at the north end of Lake Washington but we wanted to upgrade houses. Northshore has one high school in the bronze category in the US News rankings but housing is very expensive. So we moved north, into the Monroe School District where housing is (way) less expensive. Then we requested a waiver into the Northshore School District. The Monroe School District approves waivers for any reason and as far as I know, Northshore accepts students from other districts routinely as well (even into special programs such as gifted). So we feel like we’re getting a champagne school district on our beer budget. We do have to provide transportation. Our daughter does not actually attend the bronze level high school but we’re very happy with the school she does attend and, more importantly, so is she.</p>
<p>Other Washington school districts that are pretty good with lower housing costs…Sumner and Puyallup.</p>
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<p>We now live in the town next to W. Hartford. Yes, the schools are good – as they are in our town and several others “over the mountain” from W. Hartford. Schools are also excellent in several of the towns in Fairfield County, CT, where we moved from 2 years ago. BUT, housing in Fairfield County is cost prohibitive – housing up here (near Hartford) seems like a comparative “bargain.” AND, since this is New England, winters are fairly cold – meaning, of course, that heating costs are through the roof. PLUS, CT has some of the highest gasoline prices in the country. </p>
<p>Finding the best mix of all factors for the family in question may take quite a bit of research and prioritizing.</p>
<p>I know that Hanover NH is said to have great schools, I imagine any area that is more remote (and less expensive) where the professors are a captive audience would have above average schools for that area.</p>
<p>One of the nice things about Newton is the proximity to many colleges so that kids can visit college campuses pretty easily. It has a great public transportation system and has a nice park system. It is a pretty good city for walking too. But it’s expensive. Other school districts around Boston that are good are Lexington and North Andover. But, of course, these are expensive areas to live in.</p>
<p>Hollis, NH typically comes in highly in rankings of NH school districts. But it’s an expensive place to live.</p>
<p>oops!..</p>
<p>All the suburban schools in Monroe County New York are highly ranked, plus a couple in neighboring Ontario County. They could probably buy a mansion here for what they could sell their house for in Portland</p>
<p>Wyoming is pouring money into its public school system, and it’s cheap compared to the rest of the country. But definitely not coastal.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/national/16wyoming.html?pagewanted=all[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/national/16wyoming.html?pagewanted=all</a></p>
<p>Howard County and Montgomery County have the best schools in Maryland…and the highest cost of living. </p>
<p>We live in Carroll County. Our schools rank 3 or 4 behind MontCo and HowCo, but our affordability is MUCH MUCH better. 20 miles west of Baltimore, 35 miles north of Washington, 175 miles (3 hours) from the ocean.</p>
<p>Our public universities are OK. UMCP is better than OK. And St. Mary’s College of Maryland is best of all. </p>
<p>As for private colleges, take your pick. Dozens (scores?) within 200 mile radius. </p>
<p>To be fair, we do have a couple known negatives: Not much diversity (95% white), and plenty of infrastructure growing pains as we evolve from rural to suburban.</p>