I grew up in Virginia, an hour south of DC. Public schools there were large campuses, generally built within the past 30 years, with what seemed to be a good balance of teachers who actually lived near the schools they taught at. There wasn’t much of a concept in my family or anybody I knew growing up of “choosing a house near a good school” and the county would redraw the school districts from time to time to help with the bus routes or spreading load or something and it never seemed like a huge deal.

I now live in Southern California and am always surprised to see schools as 1-story buildings from the 1960s with so many trailers outside. I have no idea how far the teachers have to drive to get to them as the houses around nice schools cost so much.