Schools Sell

Located in the coveted stopyourthinking school district. More and more, agents herald the promise, or the prestige, the status, of a lauded school district.

Meanwhile the academics disagree on how to evaluate schools and academic performance. Depending on the API scores? Please! College placement? How much is prep, how much is prop? How much is language homogeneity?

Mostly the herd goes on reputation. Repeat after me, in modulated tones: South Pas = good schools, Glendale = good schools, Culver City = good schools. LAUSD = bad schools. Your kid has personalized needs?! The cure all school district is the answer! Gotta move to Manhattan Beach!

Elsewhere the magnet and charter revolution is turning traditional buyer criteria on its ear. Districts what districts? My kid can go anywhere, provided he gets in. This flexibility and opportunity may be the most potent instrument of change in transitional neighborhoods, formerly indentured to iconoclasts and social-lib types.

But for many the price of relocation, despite often exaggerated academic claims, is preferable to the cost of private schools and the toil of negotiating a labyrinthian system. Really it makes you wonder why every small municipality (adjacent to a thriving population center) doesn't pursue the model. Fund your schools like crazy, raise scores, attract dedicated families, intensify real estate demand, prices will follow, raise the socio-economic profile of residents (which often acts to further boost scores), reap the collateral revenue from increased services, transfer taxes, etc.

In the end, most are looking for the proverbial service relationship: can I write a check, to ease my pain?