A neighbor recently asked us to sign a petition requesting that the local education committee keep a certain elementary school open. Due to falling enrollment, students who attended the school would be transferred to a different one in the near future.

Since the new school was about the same distance from her home as the old one, we wondered why she was so adamant about keeping the old one running, and she told us she herself had attended that school. She felt betrayed, since after she and her husband started a family, she talked him into moving to our neighborhood just so that her kids could attend the same school she did.

It's not unusual for people to move to specific areas because they want their children to attend specific public schools. In fact, it's often the case that the perceived quality of nearby public schools has a direct effect on real estate values.