Can I ask you about one thing, though? Both my kids are in SFUSD schools, and San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools. This is based on test scores, of course, so it doesn't tell the whole story.

For instance, take a look at this:

http://www.greatschools.org/california/san-francisco/schools...

Do you think that your elementary school in Colorado are vastly better than the top three we see here, Chin (John Yehall) Elementary, Clarendon, or Lafayette?

Scroll down a bit. SF has some bad schools, but it's not like these three are isolated one offs. There really are a lot of schools in SF scoring a 9 or 10 here. There is a lottery, but (this is just my experience and impression) it's not shot in the dark level lottery. If you research schools and find some of the ones that fly below the radar rather than just listing the "trophy" schools, and create a balanced list, you have a good chance at a good school. No, not a 100% chance and an excellent school, which you can obtain by leaving SF and moving to a good district where a high rent or mortgage payment locks it in for you (hey, I get it - I'll call it what it is, but I do get it).

There are great reasons to leave SF, and the school situation here is hardly perfect. But I disagree with the general notion that public schools in SF are an across the board failure. I'd even disagree that they are a general failure with a few minor bright spots.

I'd call the situation mixed, with a lot of good, a lot of bad and a lot of in the middle. You can have a very good experience with SFUSD.

> Both my kids are in SFUSD schools, and San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools.

If their problem with California was lack of good schools anyplace they could afford to live in the state, why on Earth would you point to one of the most expensive places in the state and say it has some good schools? To address it, you need to point to someplace affordable in California that has good schools.

Completely agree. If you need an affordable house with good schools, recommending SF borders on nuts.

I'm mentioning this because people often describe SF as an expensive place with failing schools. That's not quite accurate. SF has a large number of good public schools, though it is uneven and you are at the mercy of the lottery. Your odds aren't horrible but they aren't 100% either.

>> San Francisco actually has a large number of 10/10 rated schools.

Is that on a national or state scale? I find my district in Michigan making all kinds of claims like that about many of our schools, but it's all compared to others in the state. Nationally we're still above average but nothing to get excited about.

I think it's a California state test. So you could compare to a top school in a wealthy California suburb, but not to a school outside the state. I think.

Another thing is range. 10/10 is nice, but as you can see, a bunch of SF schools got it. Kind of how the Math GRE (used to?) top out at about 95%ile (ie., 5% of the people taking the test got an 800/800).

So this leaves open the possibility that even the best elementary schools are far behind the other 10/10s in other parts of the state. Kind of doubt it, since Lowell is clearly extremely competitive with top public and private high schools around the country. But I can't make the comparison directly at the elementary school level.

That's why I kind of put it as a question... what's your guess? Are the 10/10 elementary schools in SF notably worse than top elementary schools in Colorado? Like I said, I seriously doubt it, but I can't be sure.

It's almost certainly going to be whatever is the most prestigious or makes the school look the best. They'll obviously use national rankings if they're #9 in the nation. If they're #9 in Mississippi, they are probably not using national rankings.

I could be wrong but that's only a system that compares schools in CA with other schools in CA. It's currently being revamped so it may change.

Cherry picking the best schools in any state will certainly make the state look good. State vs. State, California is ranked around 40 out of 50 on most lists. In my case, I would've had to move some place I couldn't afford just so my kids could go to a school that was even average.

I've never even heard of anyone moving to an area because of elementary schools, or factoring them into a decision related to moving and/or purchasing a home. Only the quality of high school matters from what I've seen (in rich parts of LA and Orange County).