morgan, no I am not a realtor and no I don’t refer people since I have only met a few that knew what they were doing and knew the area.

You are right, 90% will fall into what you want. Paramount is completely on target with regards to the overall town and it seems you and your toddlers will be well suited here, so lets find you an elementary school. Most of the Temecula and Murrieta schools are top tier performers on standardized tests with a few exceptions, just avoid those exceptions (the apartments up are clustered and the school(s) near the apartments are the ones that usually bring up the rear. Look at the state website, pick a few schools and hunt down houses in that range, the district has maps of boundaries online. Stay East of highway 15, stick to houses newer than 20 years old and in an hoa, you should be fine. Decide if you want a community pool in your hoa, or gated, and where you will be commuting to. Decide what size you want and what you want to pay. The areas up here have development names and each offer something a little different. I only know details about tracts on the South side of Temecula, I know a little about the others but not enough to give advice, however on the south side, I’ve studied the crap out of it. I can also refer you to posters who are experts on specific developments, it helped me in my research to pick the brains of the others.

Here is a link to the school performance in temecula, you can click on different things and learn about different things.

http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_Dst.aspx?allcds=3375192

most are mid to high 800, two elementary schools broke 900 and are located within specific developments (tony tobin for morgan hill and abbey renke for paseo del sol), but looking at the others it would be silly to ignore one that got an 897 or an 895, it’s close enough.

here are the boundaries

http://www.tvusd.k12.ca.us/

btw, this is the district you are fleeing

http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_Dst.aspx?cYear=&allcds=3773569&cChoice=2007BDst

3 elementary schools got 850 or better with 856 being the top school in the district.

In temecula only 3 of the 19 elems got below 850 (821, 835, 841). So the worst temecula school is about the same as the best oceanside school, you really cant go wrong.

Temecs numbers are on par with carlsbad
http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_Dst.aspx?allcds=3773551

but below poway

http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_Dst.aspx?allcds=3768296

here’s some fun with demographics, this is the highest performing school in the poway district (creekside)

http://api.cde.ca.gov/AcntRpt2008/2007BaseSchDC.aspx?allcds=37-68296-6117469&c=R

2% of the parents didn’t graduate high school, 2% did but didn’t go to college, 9% went to college and didn’t graduate, 37% hold a bachelors and 50% hold a graduate degree or higher. So when you go to parent teacher night and they find out you only have a bachelors, they sit you down where there aren’t any sharp objects you might hurt yourself with.

here is the whole sd county, funny how there is a price correlating directly to school performance, del mar, la jolla, carmel valley, solana beach, etc. all kick butt

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/AcntRpt2008/2007Base_Co.aspx?cYear=&cSelect=37,SAN,DIEGO

sage cyn elem. in del mar is #1 with a 967 (demographics are 0 free lunchers and 0 non college attendee parents, holy shnikeees)