moving to SLC

[momto4kings]

My husband has just received a job offer by the University of Utah and, after almost 7 months of unemployment, it feels nice to have this opportunity. And scary! We moved to our current location in 4/09, bought a house, and then he got laid off...We don't really want to move, but we don't have any other options either.

 

So...What are the good school districts around SLC? Our oldest will be attending 9th grade ps next year and the plan is to continue to homeschool the rest. What are the good high schools in that area?

 

This was the first year that I homeschooled through a charter school and I really enjoy having educational funds. Are there charter schools in UT that give you money to homeschool?

 

I seem to remember something about it being difficult to homeschool in Davis county. Is this really a fact?

 

Thank you very much for your input.

[Melinda in VT]

Congratulations on the job! We contemplated a move to SLC a few years ago. I found the forums at http://www.city-data.com to be very helpful.

 

The Salt Lake City School District's web site is http://www.slc.k12.ut.us/schools/. We were looking at the Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science.

 

There is at least one other school district in Salt Lake County (West Jordan). There may be others.

 

We never considered Davis County, so I know nothing about schooling or homeschooling there.

[MeaganS]

I don't know about the quality of the school systems, but one of the schools is the one where they taped the High School Musical movies. You know, that means they have to be good!

[BikeBookBread]

I know things can change a lot in 6 years. We lived in Layton, Davis County for 3 years while stationed at Hill AFB from July of 2001 to July of 2004. We heard major complaints from our friends who sent kids to public school in Davis County. The schools were very crowded - upwards of 35 kids in an elementary class, and many of the schools (but not all at the time) did year-round schooling.

 

My dh's cousin sent his kids to public school in South Jordan, which is in Salt Lake County, and the three kids, who attended the same elementary school, were on different year-round tracks (two were on A, and one on B). This meant different breaks/days off -- it frustrated them. I heard parents talking about their children not having textbooks, but that their school supplies (crayons, paper, etc.) were supplied :confused:.

 

I know there are private school options, both secular and religious. We had friends who sent their children to Layton Christian Academy (High School). I recall them being happy with the school, but never gushing about it.

 

We really enjoyed living in East Layton, Davis County. Anything along "The Bench" was very pleasant, but definitely pricier (we rented a condo). Salt Lake City had some really interesting neighborhoods near the U of U. Make sure you grab a dinner at Al Forno for us :)

[Melinda in VT]

I know things can change a lot in 6 years. We lived in Layton, Davis County for 3 years while stationed at Hill AFB from July of 2001 to July of 2004. We heard major complaints from our friends who sent kids to public school in Davis County. The schools were very crowded - upwards of 35 kids in an elementary class, and many of the schools (but not all at the time) did year-round schooling.

 

My dh's cousin sent his kids to public school in South Jordan, which is in Salt Lake County, and the three kids, who attended the same elementary school, were on different year-round tracks (two were on A, and one on B). This meant different breaks/days off -- it frustrated them. I heard parents talking about their children not having textbooks, but that their school supplies (crayons, paper, etc.) were supplied :confused:.

 

We have family and friends who live in West Jordan and South Jordan. Class sizes are large. (This is Utah. Number of kids per family is higher than the national average.) For the people we know, elementary schools are year-round, but middle school and high school are on a traditional schedule.

[Sara R]

Utah has a lot of fabulous charter school options. Here is the list of all the charter schools in Utah.

 

If you are interested in a charter school, check out the school websites and make a list of schools that you like. You can call the schools with questions too. Then sign up for the lotteries ASAP. Open enrollment is going on now with most schools that I've seen; the deadline is usually sometime before February 15, so don't delay.

 

If you want to do K12, Utah Virtual Academy is a public school K12 provider.

 

I've been happy with the Core Knowledge charter schools I've seen. But charter schools vary in their educational philosophies and leadership, so be sure to check them out as much as you can before enrolling. I don't live in the Salt Lake area so I don't know much about the public schools there. In my area I've been happy with the schools socially, but I dislike the math and reading curricula.

 

Edited to add: You didn't ask about buying versus renting, but I'll give advice anyway :P. I think real estate prices have quite a way to fall. Prices in my area suddenly jumped up about 50% around summer 2006, and prices still aren't anywhere near 2004 levels. There should be a lot of suitable houses on the rental market. You can check out the NY Times Buy vs. Rent calculator, and I'd assume that real estate prices still have at least another 20% to fall.

Edited February 3, 2010 by Sara R

[cougarmom4]

I live in Utah County, the county just south of SLC. Before we moved here, we researched quite a bit up up there, because we didn't know exactly where we'd end up with a job.

 

There are four school districts you'd need to look into: Granite, Salt Lake, Jordan, and Davis. (Davis is up north in Layton/Kaysville/Centerville area; Jordan is south--Sandy, Riverton, South Jordan; I think Granite is more on the east, but I'm not entirely sure!). I couldn't say which is better at the high school level--when we were searching, we were interested in the Granite school district because of their strong gifted program.

 

I don't know of any charter schools that give you money to homeschool. Here is the charter school website--http://www.schools.utah.gov/charterschools/directory.htm

You can go there and click on individual schools to see their websites and check out their emphasis/curriculum, etc.

 

Two of my kids are in a K-8 charter school. I would definitely recommend looking into charter before neighborhood public schools. I am much happier with the curriculum (Core Knowledge, Saxon math, Shurley English) than at the public school.

 

A previous poster was correct--Utah schools are crowded. There are tons of kids...but you'll find lots of families who value education. We just tend to have more kids than most people. :) Some areas are more crowded than others...I taught 4th grade 15 years ago in South Jordan and had 29 kids in my class...and I had a small class! As for year-round schools--I think Jordan School District is one of the last ones to do this--and most families work it out so all of their children are on the same 'track' so they have holidays off at the same time. (Personally, I kind of like the year-round concept...longer breaks during the year rather than three months in the summer...and it's a logical way to use the same building/resources for more students).

 

Utah is pretty homeschooling-friendly. I don't know about Davis county, as you mentioned, but in Utah county there is quite a community of homeschoolers and there is positive support within the community. (in my opinion and in my experience...)

 

SLC is a great area! Lots of things to see and do. The University of Utah has some great summer educational camps that I would love to send my kids to if we lived a little closer. Of course, we are true-blue BYU fans, so we are bitter rivals of the red-hot Utes...but we have lots of fun in SLC--planetarium, children's museum, Hogle Zoo, aquarium, botanical gardens, aviary, natural history museum, LDS Temple Square, Living History farm, etc.

 

Oh, just for the record, the commute on I-15 from Davis county into SL is pretty bad. We've gotten caught in it several times and thanked our lucky stars we didn't have to deal with that every day. If dh had gotten a job in SL, we would have looked into the Cottonwood area. (But we didn't look into it much, so my opinion may not mean much!)

 

Best of luck to you! And congrats on a job! I can only imagine what a relief that is!

[Amira]

West High is an excellent high school, often considered to be the best in the state (this was not the case 10 or 20 years ago, so make sure you look into recent data about the school). It's very close to downtown which would make it convenient if you want to live near the University of Utah.

 

There are a lot of reasons I wouldn't live in Davis County. Homeschooling can be a little harder (but not necessarily). But mostly, the traffic is awful between Davis County and Salt Lake County. If you don't want to live close to the university, I'd go south instead of north. Homeschooling in Utah is generally not difficult though.

 

We've lived in the Avenues in Salt Lake, and personally, I'd either recommend living there or in Sugarhouse. They kids in our neighborhood went to West High. Sugarhouse and the Avenues are both very close to the university. They're generally more expensive than other areas, but you can find some less expensive options, like we did.

[LittleIzumi]

Hi!

 

I'm in Utah County so I can't comment on the SLC specifics, but there are many fabulous and fabulous-looking charter schools here, and the homeschooling is easy, legally. No reporting or tracking or testing. Just notice. :)

[PinkTulip]

Congratulations on the new job - what a relief after 7 months of looking!

 

I live in Salt Lake City, and can hopefully answer some of your questions:

 

* My kids are dual enrolled in the Granite School District. Some are there full-time, and some are at home for the morning and then go back to school in the afternoon. Utah state law allows for dual enrollment, but it's really up to the principal of each school for how flexible they really will be with you. At my kids' school, the whole school has reading and math at the same time every day, so it's easy to dual enroll.

 

* If I were moving to Salt Lake City to work at the University of Utah, I would be looking for housing in: The Avenues, Sugarhouse, or anywhere east of 7th east / 13th east, and from the University to about 4500 or 6200 south. Much further than that, you are looking at 20-30+ minute commute to the University. Fortunately, those areas also encompass some of the best school districts in the state: Salt Lake, Granite, and the new Canyons district. Canyons used to be part of Jordan, but it was an enormous district and two years ago, voters voted to split the district. Jordan is now more on the west side of I-15, and Canyons is on the east side.

 

* For 9th grade PS, I would send my child either to West High School (SLC district), or Wasatch, Churchill, or Olympus Jr. High (Granite). In the Granite School District, 9th grade is still junior high. In SLC district, high school is 9-12. In SLC district, I would pretty much not choose any other high school - East (High School Musical filmed there) or Highland. I graduated from Highland, and it used to be great, but both Highland and East are not the top, safe schools that they used to be. I'm not sure about the good 9th grade schools in Canyons, but we used to live in the area and many of our neighbors carpooled into Churchill, because the middle schools (incl. 9th grade, I think) in Canyons are horrible: Butler, Albion, etc.

 

* Other top high schools (10-12th), would be Skyline, Olympus, (Granite) and Brighton (Canyons). They generally have the highest test scores in the Salt Lake area.

 

* I'm not sure how homeschooling in Davis County is, because I *think* that each district sets its own policy on what they need. In Granite district, I just send in an affidavit saying that I will teach my children the core subjects for the required number of hours. They sign it and send a copy back, and you're good.

 

* I'm not sure about charter schools that give you educational funds, but hopefully someone else can help you there. If you do decide on a regular charter school, some that I know have great reputations would be: American Preparatory Academy, Legacy Prep (in Davis County), Canyon Rim, and AMES (Academy of Math, Engineering, and Science).

 

Feel free to PM me if I can help you with anything else!

[momto4kings]

Thank you all so much for replying! I am so everwhelmed....

[MamaSheep]

I'm in Utah County too, not Salt Lake, and so I'm not familiar with the districts up that way. I just thought I'd say hi, and welcome to the state and point you in the direction of the state homeschool laws, because I know it's something I would want to know if I were moving. The state laws are quite homeschool friendly, and some of the districts go even further than the state laws require.

 

Here's what the law says:

 

(2) (a) On an annual basis, a school-age minor shall be excused from attendance by a local board of education and a parent exempted from application of Subsections 53A-11-101.5(2), (5), and (6), if the minor's parent files a signed affidavit with the minor's school district of residence, as defined in Section 53A-2-201, that the minor will attend a home school and receive instruction as required by Subsection (2)(b).

(b) Each minor who attends a home school shall receive instruction:

(i) in the subjects the State Board of Education requires to be taught in public schools in accordance with the law; and

(ii) for the same length of time as minors are required by law to receive instruction in public schools, as provided by rules of the State Board of Education.

© Subject to the requirements of Subsection (2)(b), a parent of a minor who attends a home school is solely responsible for:

(i) the selection of instructional materials and textbooks;

(ii) the time, place, and method of instruction, and

(iii) the evaluation of the home school instruction.

(d) A local school board may not:

(i) require a parent of a minor who attends a home school to maintain records of instruction or attendance;

(ii) require credentials for individuals providing home school instruction;

(iii) inspect home school facilities; or

(iv) require standardized or other testing of home school students. (3) (a) Boards excusing minors from attendance as provided by Subsections (1) and (2) shall issue a certificate stating that the minor is excused from attendance during the time specified on the certificate.

(b) A local school board shall issue a certificate excusing a minor from attendance within 30 days after receipt of a signed affidavit filed by the minor's parent pursuant to Subsection (2).

(4) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit or discourage voluntary cooperation, resource sharing, or testing opportunities between a school or school district and a parent or guardian of a minor attending a home school.

 

Quoted from Utah Code 53A-11-102.

 

Some other items that may be of interest:

Dual enrollment law

 

Rules of the State Board of Education. Of particular interest are the following:

• R277-419 - Subsection 3(A)(1) establishes number of required school days (180) and hours (990). Subsection 4© adjusts the number of hours to 810 for first grade, and 450 for kindergarten.
  
• R277-700 - This rule establishes required subjects. Subsection 4 lists required elementary school subjects. Subsection 5 lists required middle school subjects. Subsections 6 and 7 list high school required subjects (which subsection applies depends on the student's anticipated graduation date).
  

Also, there are a couple of state-wide homeschool associations that have conventions, UHEA (they have good info about the affidavit parents are supposed to submit, among other things), and UTCH (which is a specifically Christian organization).

 

Hope this helps, and welcome to Utah!

[Lawana]

I don't know about the quality of the school systems, but one of the schools is the one where they taped the High School Musical movies. You know, that means they have to be good!

That would be East High, my high. It was a very academic high school way back when (I graduated '77). From what I hear, West High, the arch rival, is now an academic power house. Who would have guessed.

I don't know about Davis County. I lived there once, but it was a long time ago.

Edited February 4, 2010 by Lawana
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