Residents of Montgomery County reap the benefits of excellent public schools. It is the wealthiest county in Pennsylvania with the neighboring counties of Bucks, Chester, and Delaware not far behind.
As everyone knows, the school district is of paramount importance for many (if not most) homebuyers. For some, it is the primary criteria they use to search for a home. When buyers are relocating to this area from across the country, they seem to already know about districts such as Council Rock, Lower Merion, and Tredyffrin/Easttown – all good things they have heard.
Who is to say which school district is the best or the worst?
Looking at sales of $400K homes ($390K - $410K) in the last three months (the busy season for real estate as families want to move after the school year ends and before the new year starts), it is interesting to look at the number of sales in several school districts as well as the average school taxes for those sales:
School District # of Sales Average School Taxes
Wissahickon 5 $3,926
Tredyffrin/Easttown 10 $4,057
North Penn 9 $4,322
Council Rock 12 $4,329
Lower Merion 6 $4,393
Hatboro-Horsham 2 $5,138
Central Bucks 16 $5,212
Methacton 1 $5,225
Perkiomen Valley 3 $5,227
Pennridge 4 $5,544
Upper Dublin 7 $5,860
Souderton 3 $5,933
Norristown 0 $6,280*
*There were no sales in the last three months. This is going back to sales in the last 3-6 months.
As school districts face tightening budgets, it sounds easy to look to the taxpayer to pay for any budget shortfalls.
This is a tough one. Realtors see a lot of hardship out there, people who have lost their jobs, worried about losing their jobs, struggling with their mortgages, facing foreclosure in a real estate market that no one would characterize as robust. Higher end homes with high enough property taxes are already in quicksand.
BUT, compensation is what attracts and keeps great teachers, and great teachers and state of the art facilities make great schools. And great schools attract professional working families. That keeps the property values high. Right? But someone has to pay for all this greatness.
Some districts have a “reputation” for excellence; others have a “reputation” for having high property taxes. Before any district considers a substantial rise in school taxes, they should consider if the rise in taxes will be matched by an equal rise in reputation.
We see buyers steering away from some school districts because of high property taxes, especially when those districts are not considered "better" than the other neighboring districts with lower property taxes.
There are so many top notch school districts in the Philadelphia suburbs, why would a buyer pick one whose reputation does not match the taxes? There has to be a balance.
Contact Scott Loper, Associate Broker, Realtor®, RE/MAX Realty Group at 215-513-1333 for help buying or selling a home in Lansdale, Harleysville, Hatfield, Souderton, Skippack, Collegeville, North Wales and the surrounding areas of Montgomery County of Pennsylvania. To Search for Homes For Sale in Montgomery County Click Here.
Balancing Property Taxes and the Quality of Education in Montgomery County, PA - Copyright © 2011, The Scott Loper Team, All rights reserved.
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The Scott Loper Team
Scott Loper - Associate Broker
Lisa Loper - Sales Associate
Gina Wherry - Sales Associate
RE/MAX Realty Group
439 Main Street
Harleysville, PA 19438
Ph: 215-256-1200 x-213
High property taxes and high spending per student does not necessarily equal high school quality. There are plenty of excellent private schools that have lower tuitions yet have much higher graduation rates and test scores. Underfunding is certainly a mistake but a lot of schools seems to never have enough money. They just beg and beg for more.
The highest in the nation is Washington, D.C. and their drop out rate is 50.1% and the schools are not "better" or "excellent".
Property taxes do not only pay for schools, so a high property tax does not mean the school is getting the money.
Rob, That is the problem! So many schools seem mismanaged. It is amazing what some districts can accomplish on limited budgets.
Than, You proved my point; a dropout rate of 50% is astounding. I did only use the school tax portion of the property taxes in my table because you are right, the local and county taxes are for other purposes. The school tax though is the portion of the overall taxes that varies wildly between districts.
Lisa