[quote=santeeman]I think your comments about schools in Santee are a little off. You are comparing apples to oranges. You can’t say that areas like CV and Poway and whoever have much better public schools across the board.

IMO Maybe they have higher test scores or better facilities but, last time I checked they weren’t giving out bachelors degrees upon 8th grade graduation.

The large majority of population of children these schools have come from affluent families. These parents have money to send their kids to good preschools and tend to be educated and educate and stimulate their childrens learning.

IMO The schools can’t take all the credit for high scores when there pool of students come on the whole much better prepared . Those kids are much easier to teach.

Santee families as you well point out tend to be more middle to upper-middle income. With areas of low income housing units. With less education and opportunities for their kids. So when a Santee school comes up with over an 800 api for their low income or poverty level population, it reflects how well our school is working. Not just for the privileged, but for all their students. That shows true hard work and effort that our teachers put in to make a difference. That’s what make our schools so good, hard working teachers who care.

800 plus API averages Santee schools and improving every year. With schools possibly breaking the 900’s next year. All with less money than Poway and CV.

I am not wealthy but I certainly wouldn’t spend 200k more on a home in CV or Poway just to get my kid in a school with test scores that are not much higher than in Santee. IMO It’s about value. It’s simply not worth it.[/quote]

Yeah, but as I’m finding out with a $342/HOA, and not-so usable 1 acre, and still a run of a mill tract home around $800k and even $900k in Santee, those aren’t necessarily saving folks $200k either. Now if you’re talking about those homes around $600k, I can see your point.