potentially moving to Florida

[santa's surpriz]

Seeking some advice...I have a potential job opportunity in Florida. I need to be somewhat central to both Tampa and Jacksonville. I have been doing some research and getting a little freaked out with the school ratings. My daughter is getting ready to enter 2nd grade so the educational quality is hot button. Any one live in Florida willing to share some great cities to relocate to based on the schools, housing, and family atmosphere? I would like to steer clear of Orlando bc I am afraid being that close WDW may not be as special anymore. My plan was to pick New Tampa bc I do have a friend that lives there, but am having second thoughts strictly based on the school rankings.

TIA!

 

[buzznina]

Sorry I cannot help you with cities between those areas, but I just wanted to say that we lived in Orlando for 18 years and when we wanted to start a family we had the same worries. We were actually planning on trying to afford a private type school. We ended up moving to the panhandle and our DD is going to a great charter school at no cost. So if you have doubts about New Tampa then I would look else where.

 

[santa's surpriz]

Sorry I cannot help you with cities between those areas, but I just wanted to say that we lived in Orlando for 18 years and when we wanted to start a family we had the same worries. We were actually planning on trying to afford a private type school. We ended up moving to the panhandle and our DD is going to a great charter school at no cost. So if you have doubts about New Tampa then I would look else where.

Thanks for the imfo. It would be a hard decision bc the New Tampa area is very much like where I live here in Ohio. My intuition is kicking in, but I am just not finding the information I am looking about the schools to support it. Everything I seem to search finds it by county and not by district. Ohio is ranked 15 and Florida is ranked 30, not sure how much weight that really has. This was all part of a 5 year plan I had,now that I am approaching the end of my plan and have an opportunity I am realizing I haven't planned so well!

 

[PrincessBree]

I am not really a fan of either area. The outskirts of Jacksonville maybe okay, but Jacksonville has a high crime rate. I know there are many Jacksonville lovers out there but it is my experience that more people do not like it and are scared of the place. I know many people who have lived there and said they wouldn't go back. I also have friends in the Tampa area and I visit Tampa sometimes. There are okay parts and bad parts. In Florida our schools will be by counties and I not to start a debate, but I feel like our public school systems are lacking in a lot of areas, but you should be able to find somewhere in between that would be a good area.

 

[ilovemyjj]

We have lived near Tampa for 11 yrs...we love it here, we moved form NJ, about 13 yrs ago, was in Pensacola first then moved, and we are about 2 hrs from Disney. Def research where ya wanna move to, some areas are better than others. But, welcome!!!

 

[NotUrsula]

Any way you slice it, halfway between Jacksonville and Tampa equals the greater Orlando area. I guess that you could triangulate and go for the area around Gainesville, but if you are really going to have to do the commute often, that would be shooting yourself in the foot. Will your company allow you to fly between Jacksonville and Tampa, or will you be required to drive it? (SWA has three nonstops a day between the two cities.)

There are decent public schools in Florida, you just have to pay attention and do your background research. Some of them are in unlikely places, too -- Jacksonville proper (Duval County) has two of the most highly rated high schools in the nation: Stanton Prep and Paxon. Very often the district as a whole is not very highly rated because the qualify of the schools is uneven, but there can be great schools in those districts anyway.