results: which states have the best public high schools?

[rh71]

I thought it would be interesting to summarize from the latest US News & World Report rankings' top 500. I stopped at 500 because I had to scroll for each state individually.

Of course you'd have to consider the population of each state driving the number of schools and so I've derived a ranking based on that ratio - number of schools in the top 500 / state population.

It looks like the northeast concentrates a lot more on education? We on LI pay ridiculous amounts for school taxes each year (teacher salaries/pensions) supposedly because we have good schools, but it seems places like CA with their limit on taxes have just as many if not more who do well and their taxes are reasonable. Where does funding come from if it costs $6k/year to educate 1 child and only $600k+ houses pay that? Those taxes still have to pay for everything else related to running a city.

And if I take out magnet (ie. specializing in science, etc.) schools:

Surprised CO & OH are so high up there also.

Generally speaking, where do you think you get the best value as far as education vs. cost of living/taxes?

 

[highland145]

SC ... 2 And we spend $11K/kid. Awesome.

 

[rcpratt]

This is grade school I assume? I just always think college with USN&WR rankings.

I bet it would correlate better with 1%er population in each state.

 

[rh71]

This is grade school I assume? I just always think college with USN&WR rankings.

I bet it would correlate better with 1%er population in each state.

no it's high schools only - edited title

 

[rcpratt]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Or at least close enough, nobody measures K-8 performance when HS is what matters and reflects on the whole process anyways.

 

[Anubis]

This is grade school I assume? I just always think college with USN&WR rankings.

I bet it would correlate better with 1%er population in each state.

says high schools

so grades 9-12 normally

 

[rh71]

SC ... 2 And we spend $11K/kid. Awesome.

what are your taxes and where does that money come from? Would the child-less owners more than make up for it?

 

[PottedMeat]

surprised to see maine all the way near the top

 

[BikeJunkie]

I grew up and live in central Ohio and the schools here really are quite spectacular. We're moving, but we've had a helluva time deciding where to go because our standards are apparently quite high for schooling. We've always known we had good schools, but we didn't realize how much we had taken for granted until we started looking elsewhere.

Columbus City Schools are garbage (corruption, all kinds of other factors), but the suburbs are outstanding. My wife and I graduated from Dublin City Schools, which were/are excellent. Our kids go to Olentangy Local Schools which, last I checked, were ranked in the top 20 by various metrics across the country. Upper Arlington is also nearby, which is also a typical top 20. My son is gifted, and the opportunities he gets are practically endless. We have virtually zero crime, teachers are amazing, etc. The only downside is you end up very "insulated" here, and I've noticed this whenever I travel to other places. Sometimes it's an adjustment.

But graduation rates in these suburbs are usually 96% - 99%.

 

[Vdubchaos]

General rule of thumb. Stay away from inner cities and you are good.

Most suburbs/remote areas public schools are fine (although I'm sure some are crappy).

As far as "best", I would take these studies with a grain of salt......these general tests and crap our government forces down our schools throats are ridicules.

 

[highland145]

what are your taxes and where does that money come from? Would the child-less owners more than make up for it?

Out taxes is stupid low compared to other states. I paid about $1500/yr for house and 2 vehicles. Of the $11K/kid, half never makes it to the local school districts. The rest stays in the administration pocket...if you can believe the reports. I don't think $$ is the problem with our education system. Primarily, it's parents.

Don't get your child-less question.

 

[z1ggy]

I'm from NY (upstate) and always felt like the high schhols around me were pretty good. Only a few seemed overly crappy. I know almost all my friends ended up going to college, and a few people got into ivy leagues.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

Due to my pops being in the navy, we moved frequently so I attended schools in several states growing up. From my own personal experience, I would rate the public schools in the states as:

Excellent - Maine, Virginia

Mediocre - Florida

Shitty - California

 

[Vdubchaos]

I'm from NY (upstate) and always felt like the high schhols around me were pretty good. Only a few seemed overly crappy. I know almost all my friends ended up going to college, and a few people got into ivy leagues.

And if you were from NYC, you would say "all of the public schools were complete crap"

 

[rh71]

Out taxes is stupid low compared to other states. I paid about $1500/yr for house and 2 vehicles. Of the $11K/kid, half never makes it to the local school districts. The rest stays in the administration pocket...if you can believe the reports. I don't think $$ is the problem with our education system. Primarily, it's parents.

Don't get your child-less question.

This question didn't relate to quality of education, but how the numbers work out. And it's for anywhere really.

You mention $11k/yr to educate 1 child and I heard $6k. Regardless, it's still high. If properties are only taxed $1.5k/yr (which needs to cover more than schooling), and each property can have 2+ kids while some none, where is the money coming from to educate those kids? Some homes obviously don't have kids which help alleviate the costs but it doesn't add up - 6k-11k/yr to educate a child but incoming every year is only 1.5k from 1 house. On avg, a high school has maybe 1k kids, and that's just HS. If there's 2k homes in the district, each home would have to be paying at least $3k in taxes to provide for a cost of $6k/kid (or $5500 in taxes for the cost of $11k/kid) and again, that's just the HS kids.

Perhaps the figures we hear are incorrect and what it actually costs is what they set the budget to every year, which they then divide up among the properties. Assuming your 1500/yr includes your school taxes, that's how much it actually costs you to educate the kids - multiplied by total taxed properties.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Out taxes is stupid low compared to other states. I paid about $1500/yr for house and 2 vehicles. Of the $11K/kid, half never makes it to the local school districts. The rest stays in the administration pocket...if you can believe the reports. I don't think $$ is the problem with our education system. Primarily, it's parents.

Don't get your child-less question.

This. Our taxes aren't crazy by any stretch (though Upper Arglington taxes - mentioned earlier - are fscking nuts).

Parents here are what you would normally call helicopter parents. While that carries a certain derogatory connotation to it (and it drives me crazy), it also means that parents are quite involved in their child's education. Most children come from 2-parent homes, and those parents are involved with their child's teachers. If little Johnny is struggling, the parent picks up on it long before the F on the report card shows up, and they're reaching out to the teachers to create a plan. And *gasp* the parents follow through on those plans and make sure their child does his/her part.

By contrast, my wife works in what would be considered a 2nd tier school in the area. Still a good school by national standards, but relative to the area, not so much. She busts her ass, but she can't get parents to engage for anything. They don't care until that report card shows up with an F, and then they want answers. "Well, remember when I emailed you two months ago and you never replied? One month ago? Two weeks ago? Yeah that was the time to take action." I imagine once you make your way to the inner city schools, you don't even get reactions to the report card.

Good teachers are important, but each child's success is ultimately up to his/her parents and the values those parents instilled/maintain in that child.

 

[highland145]

This question didn't relate to quality of education, but how the numbers work out. And it's for anywhere really.

You mention $11k/yr to educate 1 child and I heard $6k. Regardless, it's still high. If properties are only taxed $1.5k/yr (which needs to cover more than schooling), and each property can have 2+ kids while some none, where is the money coming from to educate those kids? Some homes obviously don't have kids which help alleviate the costs but it doesn't add up - 6k-11k/yr to educate a child but incoming every year is only 1.5k from 1 house. On avg, a high school has maybe 1k kids, and that's just HS. If there's 2k homes in the district, each home would have to be paying at least $3k in taxes to provide for a cost of $6k/kid (or $5500 in taxes for the cost of $11k/kid) and again, that's just the HS kids.

Clear as mud....

South Carolina has one of the nation’s most complicated public school funding systems.

As a taxpayer, I pay very little for education on the house. Ours is piled on vehicles. Your family lives in 1 house but you probably have 2 cars or more so even renters get to share in the costs. 140K people in the county and 24K students.

I pay $6100/year for my kid to go to a private, not for profit, school.

 

[SP33Demon]

So which states out of the top 10 have the lowest taxes? That's where I'm moving.

 

[dank69]

CT, best state in the nation just like I've always said.

 

[DesiPower]

Wow, surprising to see CA and TX so close to each other... in you faces TX haters

So which states out of the top 10 have the lowest taxes? That's where I'm moving.

TX ofcoruse

 

[highland145]

CT, best state in the nation just like I've always said.

Did you move away?

 

[dank69]

Did you move away?

Make no mistake, CT is awesome thanks to me being a part of it. If I ever decided to leave it would descend into anarchy, just like your state. I'm entertaining offers if you want me to move to your state.

 

[SP33Demon]

Wow, surprising to see CA and TX so close to each other... in you faces TX haters



TX ofcoruse

Eh, none of the top 10 are on this list:
http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/T054-S001-10-most-tax-friendly-states-in-the-u-s/

NM is the closest at #15 on the school list and #9 on the tax list. AZ is #17 on the school list and #5 on the tax list. Looks like I'm moving to the SW.

 

[highland145]

Make no mistake, CT is awesome thanks to me being a part of it. If I ever decided to leave it would descend into anarchy, just like your state. I'm entertaining offers if you want me to move to your state.

Hell no, I like the anarchy. Might makes right, more guns, more ammo.

 

[fjmeat]

This. Our taxes aren't crazy by any stretch (though Upper Arglington taxes - mentioned earlier - are fscking nuts).

Parents here are what you would normally call helicopter parents. While that carries a certain derogatory connotation to it (and it drives me crazy), it also means that parents are quite involved in their child's education. Most children come from 2-parent homes, and those parents are involved with their child's teachers. If little Johnny is struggling, the parent picks up on it long before the F on the report card shows up, and they're reaching out to the teachers to create a plan. And *gasp* the parents follow through on those plans and make sure their child does his/her part.

By contrast, my wife works in what would be considered a 2nd tier school in the area. Still a good school by national standards, but relative to the area, not so much. She busts her ass, but she can't get parents to engage for anything. They don't care until that report card shows up with an F, and then they want answers. "Well, remember when I emailed you two months ago and you never replied? One month ago? Two weeks ago? Yeah that was the time to take action." I imagine once you make your way to the inner city schools, you don't even get reactions to the report card.

Good teachers are important, but each child's success is ultimately up to his/her parents and the values those parents instilled/maintain in that child.

Well said. :thumbsup: