The author is confirming what many of us in Mt. Lebanon already know. We receive a premium on our home values because of our school district's reputation.
The question, then, is how much?
From the article:
The article goes on to document what some parents will do in order ensure their kids get to good schools.While neighborhood amenities and a close commute to downtown may also skew prices higher, academic studies controlling for those issues still find a significant school premium for both test scores and state rankings. David Figlio, professor of education, social policy, and economics at Northwestern University, looked at what happened to home prices in Florida in 1999, when the state launched its School Accountability System that ranked schools from best ("A") to worst ("F").
Figlio examined prices in 199 subdivisions and 20 elementary school zones in Gainesville before and after the grades were announced. Families were willing to pay 9 percent more to be in an "A" school vs. a "B" school and about the same amount more to be in "B" school vs. a "C" school. "Importantly that's over and above the amount people were willing to pay for test scores," Figlio says. "People would pay more to be in an "A" school with higher test scores than an "A" school with lower test scores."
Ms. Rawley also maintains a blog where she wrote a post titled, "Tips for Home-Buyers Researching Schools" which is worth a read as well. The post hits on a lot of things my family did before moving here in 2004.
Thanks for reading.
James
