In a great Dallas Observer story today, Eric Nicholson crunches the real estate, demographic and achievement rating data on Dallas ISD elementary schools, finding that North Dallas’ Withers Elementary is a solid-performing school in terms of both academics and home values.
Withers received the highest academic ratings possible this past year. In addition, less than two-thirds of its student population is economically disadvantaged (which, in Dallas ISD terms, means it’s a pretty wealthy school). The same is true of East Dallas’ Stonewall Jackson and Lakewood elementary schools, but of these three, Withers, near Preston Hollow, has the highest median home value — $594,000.
The point of the piece, however, is less to laud these Dallas elementary schools with both high ratings and high home values, and more to point out what happens to Dallas real estate when the middle class decides an elementary school is desirable. It’s the chicken-egg debate — does a good school raise real estate values or can a neighborhood’s investment create a good school?
With this in mind, consider Nicholson’s evaluation of three great Dallas ISD elementary schools that the middle class seems to be ignoring: North Dallas’ Caillet, Addision’s George H.W. Bush and Oak Cliff’s Arcadia Park all received the highest possible state academic ratings last year — just as high as Withers’. However, their real estate values lag way behind. Caillet — the closest of the three to Withers — comparatively has a median home value of $164,000.
