Leander, Round Rock, Lake Travis, Dripping Springs, Georgetown, AISD, ect.? Thanks in advanced.

[This message has been edited by Icelandic Ag (edited 4/2/2014 5:49p).]

Round Rock's Westwood High School feeder pattern is very good, if not the best in Central Texas.

Austin has LASA and McCallum which are magnet-type schools and are very highly ranked, but it's not guaranteed you'll get your kids into them. Austin's middle schools are not uniformly good, but has lots of good elementary schools. (My admin's kids go to McCallum and it's comparable to Westwood).

Finally, I've heard that Lake Travis has some good schools as well.

I think I would rank them Round Rock (full disclosure - my kids go to Westwood, Canyon Vista MS, and Spicewood Elem), Eanes, Lake Travis. I wouldn't rank AISD because it's hit or miss and you have to finagle your way into the magnets.

I would rank them:

Eanes
LTISD
Round Rock (Westwood HS is a standout)
Leander (Vandegrift HS)

Round Rock is also hit or miss. Westwood and Stony Point have little in common.

I work in RRISD, and the high schools on the west side of I35 are worlds better than the ones on the east side largely because of the student demographics. I35 is definitely the great divide.

Dripping Springs is good. All of this really depends on what your kid needs.

West rr is hard to beat. I went the Westwood and feeder route and it is very academically rigorous. If you are trying to get in the top 8 percent, good luck.

+1 for Drippin'

Had a daughter go to Catholic School (St. Mary's-Austin) for K-6, Kealing Middle School, then LBJ HS (LASA)... was accepted to Rice.

Just had another daughter go through a similar route Bastrop ISD, but did not apply to Rice, got into TAMU and Texas State. She took all AP courses and was really active in Athletic Training.

Just watch the "burn out" factor with challenging programs. Also, don't leave it up to the ISD to get your kid to college (I'm sure you know that already) - good luck!

You seem like the type of parent that stays on top of things so a McNeil or Anderson type of high school could work for you as well. Good schools but a step down from the Westwood/westlake types. But, easier for a high class rank and less of a burnout risk.

Alas, it seems like you do have to look at individual schools, rather than districts, to learn anything useful.

Austin ISD has some very good schools, and some very poor schools.

i'd look at particular schools over districts. if you live in eanes or lt, you're probably only going to have 1-2 high schools to look at in each district (depending on how old your kids are). i think lt has plans to build a second high school before 2020. not sure about westlake.

Eanes - 1 HS, 2 MS
Choice is by where you live, unless you want to raise a fuss. They all seem to be equally okay. Other than lots of parental involvement, I don't see that Eanes is much different than any other public schools. Parents here get their kids tutored for SATs, etc. It's much like Houston Memorial.

I'm incredibly disappointed with CVMS is RR. It doesn't deserve the high ratings that it has received. It isn't academically rigorous, unless you consider STAAR training rigorous. The only positive thing I can say is that my kid feels safe and that is it. I have a freshman at Westwood and my kid is getting a great education.

quote:

---

I don't see that Eanes is much different than any other public schools

---

I'm a product of the Eanes school system, so I think I can speak a little to this. What sets them (As well as other ISD's) apart is the calibre of students that are their. They come from higher-income backgrounds and parents that are highly educated, and don't accept less from their kids. Regardless of whether you are Nature vs. Nuture, both are there.

The Westlake Top 10%, don't worry about auto-admission to state schools, because they all go Ivy League.

I live in LTISD now, and it reminds me a lot of the Eanes I grew up in.

quote:

---

I'm a product of the Eanes school system, so I think I can speak a little to this. What sets them (As well as other ISD's) apart is the calibre of students that are their.

---

Snickering.

I was resisting.

quote:

---

The Westlake Top 10%, don't worry about auto-admission to state schools, because they all go Ivy League.

---

Having reviewed numerous scholarship applications from Westlake Top 10%ers over the past decade, I feel comfortable stating that the above statement is ridiculous.

quote:

---

I was resisting.

---

Self-restraint is not something for which I am well-known.

[This message has been edited by Vestal_Flame (edited 4/7/2014 12:59p).]

Now, it is well to note that the density of achievement that Eanes ISD generates is somewhat astonishing. I mentioned that I sometimes attend the Eanes gala, and I am always struck by the ability of one high school to produce 5 dozen national merit scholars in a single year.

My own school district produced 3 national merit scholars out of 5 high schools in the year that I graduated, and my own high school had no national merit scholars from 1987-94 (inclusive).

[This message has been edited by Vestal_Flame (edited 4/7/2014 12:35p).]

quote:

---

Snickering.

---

I didn't say I was one of the high calibre students.... That's how I ended up at A&M...

quote:

---

calibre of students that are their.

---

Funny thing is that I saw this when I was typing and was going to back and change it, then the phone rang. Oh well, not going to change it now, just gotta own it...

Westwood's nickname is Westwood U. We had planned on staying in Round Rock ISD through Grisham Middle School. We are moving into the Canyon Vista feeding pattern this summer.

no substitute for "ganas!"... that being said, there is something to be concerned about the homogenization of the suburbs. Best thing we have seen with our kids, is the diversity of experiences with other kids of various socio-economic levels. Wish you well!

That's funny, I always hear Westwood referred to as Wasteweed...

I have my kids on the Baranoff>Bailey/Gorizcky>Bowie plan. These are all very good schools.

Wow. As if Robin Hood taking half the Eanes school property taxes wasn't enough.

quote:

---

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A group in the Eanes Independent School District wants the district to end out-of-district transfers before voters approve any bonds.

The conservative group headed by two former Eanes ISD board presidents says the district loses $1,400 for each student that transfers from another district. With 400 students who live out of the district, the transfers cost the Eanes ISD about $560,000 a year, the group said.

“And because they don’t pay anything to attend our schools, they get a free ride on the back of Eanes taxpayers,” said Al Cowen for Citizens for Academic Excellence in Eanes.

---

Apparently all the money they redistribute isn't helping the other districts. They are hurting Eanes though. That's the kind of equality in public education Texas wants. Sad.


Sorry, sick of this kind of stuff rant #866887.

[This message has been edited by HECUBUS (edited 4/18/2014 3:50p).]

Both my kids both went through LISD. Son graduated from Rouse in '12 and my daughter will graduate this year. Son's at A&M and daughter is headed there in the fall. We've been pretty happy with the LISD schools overall.

I don't think those Eanes people understand how chapter 41 works. Eanes allows transfers because holding expenses and increasing enrollment reduces the money sent out of district. The formula is essentially (taxable wealth)/(average weighted daily attendance). Increasing attendance reduces the wealth of the district which means they send less money to the state. As long as Eanes isn't adding teachers (etc) the transfers could be a smart fiscal thing to do.

That's the way I though it worked. I doubt those people are mistaken though. Still, 560k is peanuts compared to the 50 million a year Robin Hood takes.

I don't know what the numbers are in this exact case. But if allowing 400 students to transfer in reduces the money sent out of district by more than the incremental increase in costs to support those 400 students - Eanes is justified in doing it. If the 400 students cost more than the decrease in Robin Hood payments, Eanes should stop it.

Note that I am indifferent on Eanes and have no dog in the hunt concerning Eanes. I think there is enough past history to question how Eanes spends its money.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 4/19/2014 3:04p).]

When our first started at Eanes Elementary, eight years ago, they were talking about shutting it down. They needed transfers at that time. Today, they have 25% more students and not enough room for those. I imagine at at least one point the transfers were financially beneficial, because that's what they used to tell us.

Pretty sure that bond will crash and burn like all the other recent ones that just want money and can't say what the majority of it will be spent on.

I don't think there is a district in central Texas that doesn't send money out because of Robin Hood.

Heinous - You must be talking about just one campus. The district has not grown by 25%. If that campus is too crowded it is because they don't have the guts to redraw attendance zones. Parents whine like crazy when their kids have to change schools.

Eanes Elementary, one of the elementary schools, the only one I'm familiar with,
has grown 25% since our kids have been attending.