Thoughts about education, property values, population, and taxes

(my Apr 25, 2014 comment at ToledoTalk.com.)

"The more people invest in schools, the higher the property values."

We live near Elmhurst Elementary, which consistently rates "Excellent," and it's one of the top-performing school buildings in the Toledo public school system, yet our property values dropped significantly when the valuations were released a couple years ago.

So I don't subscribe to the theory that property values increase because of good schools. It's possible that living near Elmhurst Elementary prevented our property values from dropping even more.

"The 3 School Districts that ranked in the top 100 HS in Ohio (news came out today) were Sylvania, Perrysburg and Ottawa Hills-Guess which communities have the highest property values?"

I don't understand what correlation you are trying to make. Are those property values high because the schools are routinely rated high? If so, why do those schools consistently perform so well? Do those schools perform exceptional because of high taxes?

The Ohio Department of Education website shows the cost to educate a student for one year in a school system.

The most recent data is for FY12, which I think refers to the 2012-2013 school year.

Per Pupil All Expenditures - FY12

Ottawa Hills Local	$13,501
Toledo City	$12,470
Sylvania City	$10,660
Perrysburg Ex Vill	$8,581

In many cases, the amount of money spent per student per year does not directly relate to a school district's overall performance. For years, Perrysburg and Sylvania have spent less per student than TPS.

Toledo's other school district, Washington Local, spends less than TPS, yet Washington Local performs better.

Something is amiss in Rossford. The cost to educate one student for one year was $15,589.

The cost per student for other local school districts:

Maumee City	$11,232
Washington Local	$11,225
Oregon City	$9,874
Springfield Local	$9,118
Anthony Wayne Local	$8,960

Perrysburg's population doubled between 1980 and 2010. Would that kind of growth increase the housing demand and drive up property values?

Perrysburg's population:

1980	10,196
2010	20,623

The population of Sylvania city grew some during the same period, but nowhere near as dramatic as Perrysburg's. Maybe Sylvania Township grew more.

I don't understand how the township thing works, regarding schools, total population, taxes, etc.

I do know that Toledo's population declined significantly during that same 30-year period.

1980	354,635
2010	287,208

Some Toledoans left the region, but many moved into the outlying communities. I assume that the outward migration had to increase the demand for housing and strain the resources in those other communities.

Does the median household income contribute to higher property values?

City-data.com - Estimated median household income in 2011:

Ottawa Hills	$103,620
Berkey	$68,463
Waterville	$65,696
Perrysburg	$65,463
Whitehouse	$64,841
Sylvania	$58,720
Rossford	$51,139
Maumee	$50,706
Oregon	$47,486
Holland	$41,693
Toledo	$31,090

#education - #home - #tax - #politics