<p>Arlington, Virginia.
Fairfax, Virginia.
Madison, Wisc.</p>
<p>[In</a> Pictures: Top 20 Places To Educate Your Child - Forbes.com](<a href=“In Pictures: Top 20 Places To Educate Your Child”>In Pictures: Top 20 Places To Educate Your Child)</p>
<p>[America’s</a> Top School Districts - AOL Money & Finance](<a href=“http://money.aol.com/forbes/realestate/americas-top-school-districts]America’s”>http://money.aol.com/forbes/realestate/americas-top-school-districts)</p>
<p>I have no idea what’s really true, but I did see a TV special about the history of Las Vegas, and learned that the casino industry basically bought public voter support for their development spurt in the l980’s by first pouring money into the public school system there. It might be the best funded system in the country.</p>
<p>I saw camera footage of classrooms (l990;s) with technology that made my draw drop, and it might have had the largest per pupil expenditure anywhere for a public system. I have no idea how the teaching is, of course.</p>
<p>A coast it is not, but there are probably lots of coasters!</p>
<p>I am thinking that college towns in general would be a good place to look. I’d check out Amherst Mass. </p>
<p>I would also mention the Connecticut shoreline east of New Haven, specifically Madison. </p>
<p>Fairfield County is just too crazy in terms of housing costs, although we theoretically have excellent schools. Please note that my son is in a private school and my other son did a PG year after graduating from the public high school.</p>
<p>Blue Valley Schools in Overland Park, Kansas (Kansas City area) are very
highly rated. Overland Park is often seen at the top of lists of “Best Places to Raise a Family.” No beaches, but lots of pools, parks, bike trails and kids’ sports programs. Reasonable cost of living. Very clean, safe area.</p>
<p>Fayetteville, Arkansas (university town) has excellent public schools. They always seem to crank out a lot of National Merit finalists every year. The area is very scenic–lakes, hills, etc. 4 seasons, but winters are mild.</p>
<p>I’d say that most of the upper middle class suburbs of big cities across the country have good public schools–just ask anyone from that state/city and they can tell you which districts have the best reputations.</p>
<p>Fairfax County has a well respected school system, but the individual schools within the district differ. Maybe this is the same everywhere, but one school might offer an honors program and another might only offer AP. Extracurricular offerings vary widely as well. Even the policies by which they run the schools vary. Needless to say, some of the outcomes vary as well. It’s best to check out the entire school pyramid before you make a final decision. To be in the best schools, you will find the housing expensive. I have not heard of any Alexandria public schools that would be recommended, but that may just be me. Falls Church is an excellent school system, as is Arlington as well. Again, very expensive areas in which to live.</p>
<p>Fairfax and Arlington are both excellent. Loudoun County in Northern Virginia is on the rise.</p>
<p>Whenever the current prez or someone in the administration touts high performing public schools there is a good chance the photo op will include Fairfax.</p>
<p>Noted Madison, Wis ranked #2 on post #21’s links. No coast but many nice small lakes (can’t call them great since the Great ones are not too far).</p>
<p>UT Austin.</p>
<p>Try the OTHER Portland: Portland, Maine. The schools in the surrounding towns of Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, and North Yarmouth are excellent. </p>
<p>And the high school of SAD #51 (Cumberland and North Yarmouth) is in the process of becoming an IB school.</p>
<p>Forbes is out of its mind, picking “Washington, DC - Arlington, VA” as its number 1 choice.</p>
<p>No way would I have let my kids go to the Washington, DC, public schools. Private schools, yes. Suburban public schools just outside of DC, yes (in fact, that’s where they did go – we live in Montgomery County, Maryland). But the DC public schools are a disaster area.</p>
<p>The Bromfield School in Harvard, MA. Great small school, always scores well on state exams, often has 1 or 2 Merit Scholar finalists, even though its graduating class is less than 100.</p>