Austin schools?

stcroixbride

Hi, ladies!  I came on a while back looking for neighborhood suggestions, as we will be relocating to Austin in 2011 and did a preliminary visit with a real estate agent a couple weeks back.

We really would like to be as close to downtown as possible, so we don't want to move too far out to suburbia for good schools.

Any advice on what neighborhoods have the best public schools?  I think we would really like to stay in Austin ISD (unless we find a GREAT deal in Eanes ISD)

The neighborhoods we liked best (of the 6 we saw) in Austin ISD were Shady Hollow and Allandale.

Our DD will be starting K when we move - we'd like a decent ES and MS, but a really good HS.

Your thoughts?

AustinBride06

I grew up in Shady Hollow from age 13 and my parents still live there.  I think it's a fantastic neighborhood.  Very family-friendly, neighbors are great, schools are probably the best you'll find in Austin ISD (I might be biased, but I think most people would say it's true).  Most of the homes in Shady Hollow are older, but they're well-made and usually well-maintained and the homes have held their value quite well.  There are plenty of new and newer developments in the surrounding area though that feed into the same schools.  Lots of beautiful mature trees.  The only sucky thing is the traffic on Brodie.  I'm sure traffic sucks anywhere in Austin, but if you can leave early or later in the morning, it'll help immensely.

agran

I grew up in Eanes ISD and like you would love to be there still but DH and I are priced out unless my parents want to give us their house.

 Our current neighborhood Crestview has an excellent elementary, okay MS, and the fine arts magnet for the high school.  Allandale is the same schools.  You could also consider a little closer in like Brykerwoods off 35th street-- that feeds into Austin High which I think is one of the better high schools.  Both those hoods are very centrally located and you aren't stuck with "coming into town" traffic. 

Chandley

I live in Village of Western Oaks - its Southwest, but we are only about 7-10 minutes to downtown via MoPac. Our part of the neighborhood goes to Austin High, the other part of the neighborhood goes to Bowie High. We love it over here!

stcroixbride

Chandley:

I live in Village of Western Oaks - its Southwest, but we are only about 7-10 minutes to downtown via MoPac. Our part of the neighborhood goes to Austin High, the other part of the neighborhood goes to Bowie High. We love it over here!

we looked in this neighborhood, too - it was nice, although our biggest complaint with some of the outer neighborhoods was how cookie cutter everything was and how little yard plus how close to your neighbors you might be.  the houses were gorgeous inside, but we're willing to give up a little house space for a little more yard and privacy from neighbors.  I did have western oaks in my mind, though, as we did see at least one place that didn't have the cookie cutter feel to it.

commute shouldn't be a huge issue, as I work PT from home and DH is hoping to keep the job he currently has and also work from home.  we're going to need a home office, obviously!  We just would like to be close enough in that if we wanted to go downtown for an afternoon, it wouldn't be a huge haul (like it is where we are in the DC area).