possibly relocating looking for resident info

[ckarotka]

The wife and I are thinking about moving the herd south or west or both. We live in Erie, PA now and are looking into work in Louisville KY area. Our biggest concern is the schools for our 4 kids. Does anyone live there or lived there? Any info on safety and schools, areas to live for families etc. Prob do a condo for a while then upgrade after getting settled. Of course landing the job comes first. We didnt want to apply to jobs from trouble areas so to speak and waste our time. She is also looking into the following areas:
MO - Cape Girardeau
AL- Birmingham
NC - Charlotte
AL - Montgomery

 

[basod]

Birmingham is not where you'd want ot live or send your kids to school. Suburbs of Vestavia or Hoover(#1 in the state) are extremely nice and reasonable commute into the city.

I lived in NC for 3 years. The Mooresville area north of Charlotte is a really nice area and has a decent commute into the city. A lot of people live in Rock hill SC or surrounding burbs and commute to Charlotte as well

Don't know Montgomery all that well

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That will be quite a switch. Moving from the cooler to the oven.

 

[peakbagger]

I have known a few folks who have moved "south" and several who have moved from the south to the north, and the consistent theme is that they either home schooled or had their children in private school (usually run by the local church) down south as the public schools didnt meet their standards. Once they moved up north, they put their kids in private public (typo) school and the ones who had their kids in public school up north soon ended up with their kids in private schools down south. Most of these folks were rural professionals (papermills tend to be out in more rural areas) so this may not apply to more urban areas. This isnt an indictment in any way of the either area of the country, but when you are asking about schools in the south make sure at some point to determine if they are pubic or private.

By the way, the private schools werent free although many were church sponsored so they were funded at least a portion by contributions to the church.

 

[burnagain]

My wife and I live in Georgia, not twenty miles from the Alabama line. If you come this way to buy a house you will hear endlessly how property taxes are so much better in AL. Great for some but not for those of us with kids, the schools are horrendous. I have a couple of coworkers who lived in the better parts surrounding Montgomery and still moved or paid for private (non-religion based) schools.

It is a give and take when moving down here. I spent my whole childhood in Ohio is public schools whereas my wife (from AL) spent some years in private schools and in public. As i'm sure it is in all areas it can be hit and miss. At this point the wife and I live in an area where the elementary school our kids will attend is the best around, but the middle and high schools are still questionable. Although I'm a firm believer in public schooling, hey I grew up that way, I have reservations about any of the schools that are around here, and I'm on the GA side (which is known to be significantly better than across the stateline).