Tampa schools?

[Buckeye Princess]

So I am doing research on my family's upcoming relocation when my husband enters residency. One city we are looking at is Tampa and I am overwhelmed. I cannot get my head around the schools. The realtor I'm working with isn't much help which I understand legally they aren't allowed to say anything. Living where there is a very good public school is our #1 priority. I found the site that shows the grades by school but it returned far too many with an A in Hillsborough county and I'm just feeling lost and overwhelmed.

Can anyone let me know what are the best public schools (specifically elementry) in the Tampa area?

Thanks. For whatever reason the other cities I'm researching just aren't as confusing. I'm trying to prepare myself so that when he matches, I'll already have an idea of where we want to look for homes in each of his top choices.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

Just thought I'd bump in case there are any Tampa people out there today.

 

[leight]

I live in the Fishhawk Ranch subdivision in Lithia- a suburb of tampa. We chose it because of the fantastic family community and the A rated schools. You can google Fishhawk Ranch and take a look, its a wonderful community but there is quite a commute to the city of tampa.

 

[Buckeye Princess]

We are looking for a pretty short commute. My husband will be a resident which means long hours and call. We figure he'll be away from home enough that we don't want to add long drives to that. I'm hoping to be about 20-25 min at most from Tampa Gen/Moffitt/VA. I know that we could end up where one is longer, but he takes turns at the different hospitals so as long as he is at least close to most.

I've heard good things about Westchase and South Tampa but also that they are very expensive.

 

[Tampa Mousekeeter]

I was also going to say Fish Hawk Ranch.....is he going to be at Tampa General? It's not a very long ride and people who live there love it. You have to be careful about the public schools in Hillsborough County...some not so great...
Westchase is nice but it's very congested and I would personally stay away from anywhere you have to use the Suncoast Parkway to get to...everyone lives north of Tampa and that's the only way to get up there..believe me that's why we moved south of Tampa...I was stuck on the Suncoast every day coming home from downtown.
My old boss lived in Lutz and they were very happy with the schools.

 

[Kit'smommy]

I live in the Fishhawk Ranch subdivision in Lithia- a suburb of tampa. We chose it because of the fantastic family community and the A rated schools. You can google Fishhawk Ranch and take a look, its a wonderful community but there is quite a commute to the city of tampa.

Hey neighbor! I also in Fishhawk Ranch and love it there. The school are supposed to be wonderful but I don't personally have any experience with them as my child attends a private school. I know all my neighbors are happy with the schools and it is a beautiful area. I have commuted to both Moffitt and downtown Tampa from Fishhawk for years. Fishhawk to downtown isn't too bad if you take the expressway.

South Tampa is really expensive and it can take a surprising amount of time to get to Moffitt with the traffic on 275.

 

[bgirldeb]

I was going to suggest South Tampa due to the closeness to Tampa General. There are some really good Schools there. I believe Plant High School always makes best school lists when they come out, and Gorrie Elementary is supposed to be really good too.

When we moved down, we created a sort of 'matrix' on a excel spreadsheet and listed different features that were important to us, such as school quality, distance from work, distance from school, distance from beach, etc. It helps to narrow things down a bit.

City Data's tampa bay forum may help, too.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/tampa-bay/