Families move to get their kids the ultimate education: an in-person one
For more than a year, Debbie and Scott Stauffer contemplated selling their home in northern California鈥檚 Bay Area and moving their family out of state. Life was too hectic and too expensive. Then came the pandemic, and schools switched to remote learning. Though the charter school their three sons attended was better prepared than most for online lessons, the boys found it more difficult to focus on their studies than they had in the classroom.
鈥淲e loved our school,鈥� explains Ms. Stauffer. 鈥淏ut over time, we realized it wasn鈥檛 working.鈥�
Education was the shove the Stauffers needed to finally relocate. Within 11 weeks of deciding to move, the family sold their house in Los Altos, packed up their kids and two dogs, and closed on a new house in Park City, Utah. Now one son, a junior in high school, is at a boarding school in Connecticut, and the other two are attending classes and playing on the eighth and 10th grade soccer teams at the Waterford School, an independent school in Sandy, Utah, halfway between their new home and Salt Lake City.
Why We Wrote This
The pandemic has prompted some who had been thinking about a move to act on it. Utah, Colorado, and Vermont have seen an influx of families able to relocate so that their children can attend school in person.
鈥淭he shutdown started, and we said, 鈥榃hat are we waiting for?鈥欌�� says Ms. Stauffer.
The pandemic has caused a lot of introspection about education in America, especially for parents trying to juggle working and helping their children learn from home. Some families like the Stauffers have taken extraordinary measures to restore some sense of normalcy: even moving out of state so their children can attend school in person. That kind of change would be out of reach financially for many, but a surprising number of families able to uproot have chosen to do so, even when it required considerable sacrifice.
鈥淭his fall I鈥檝e met with 45 families who visited our campus and are in the process of moving here,鈥� says Todd Winters, director of admissions at the Waterford School. This was on top of 鈥渙ff the charts nuts鈥� interest over the summer that resulted in a third of new families at the school coming from out of state. He anticipates a 鈥渟econd wave鈥� of in-migration that will be even bigger next year.
Fleeing to familiar places
Anecdotally, families have headed to states where they have some connection 鈥� a favorite vacation spot, a second home, a previous residence 鈥撀爌laces that also offer a lifestyle change. They鈥檙e moving to destinations like Utah, Colorado, and Vermont, where 鈥� for the most part 鈥� classrooms have been open or on a hybrid schedule. Some families are even for places such as Germany, New Zealand, and Canada, especially if a spouse has dual citizenship.
Utah has seen an influx of 鈥淐OVID refugees,鈥� with education playing a significant role in those newcomers鈥� decision to move there, says Pamela Perlich, the director of demographic research at the University of Utah鈥檚 Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.
The real estate market reflects this influx as well. When the Stauffers visited open houses in Park City 鈥� which they knew from vacation trips 鈥� or pulled into school parking lots, they noticed license plates from California, Texas, Illinois, and New York.
This summer, home sales in Park City doubled in July and August compared to the same months last year, says Carol Agle, a longtime realtor in the area who also chairs the city鈥檚 Statistics Committee. She attributes a significant portion of the increase in the market to out-of-state parents with school-age children. The trend was the same in nearby Salt Lake City, where home sales reached an all-time single-month high in July.
In Colorado, smaller resort and ski communities have welcomed many new families as well, reporting higher than usual school enrollments this fall. For example, Aspen鈥檚 school district had 150 new students enrolled in August. Normally the town鈥檚 schools average about 15 to 30 new students. Similarly, Steamboat Springs received an influx of nearly 60 families. About half of them moved from within Colorado, with the rest coming from out of state.聽 The largest contingent of new families came from California.
No regrets
Even when things don鈥檛 turn out exactly as planned, families feel the changes they鈥檝e made have been worth the effort. Katharine Agostino, an executive coach, and her husband, Val, a tech entrepreneur, decided to leave Palo Alto in California鈥檚 Silicon Valley after pandemic shutdowns and online schooling led them to consider a less-pressured life for their family. They moved to a suburb south of Denver, where earlier this fall their three children enrolled in a school with a hybrid schedule (some days at school and some online). But with recent increases in COVID-19 cases in the surrounding community, school administrators聽decided to switch entirely to remote learning until case numbers decline.
鈥淭he kids are disappointed,鈥� says Ms. Agostino, 鈥渂ut on the other hand, they鈥檝e had 11 weeks of some in-classroom schooling that allowed them to make a lot of new friends.鈥� So are the kids glad they moved? 鈥淲e talk about this a lot, and it鈥檚 always unanimous. We鈥檙e just so, so happy that we made this move.鈥�
It鈥檚 a similar story in Vermont. Michael S. Pieciak, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, estimates that about 10,000 more people visited the Green Mountain State during the summer than usual. Based on the soaring real estate market, it looks like many of them decided to buy homes, says Mr. Pieciak, who tracks growth trends in the state. Ski communities especially have seen an influx, with anywhere from 20 to 80 new students in towns such as Stratton and Waitsfield, which usually do not see big jumps in school enrollment.
The schools can handle it, he says. 鈥淰ermont has experienced declining enrollments for several decades, and their schools will likely be able to absorb the students.鈥�
Here to stay
Back in Utah, Ms. Agle, the realtor, notes a distinction in this year鈥檚 influx of families. The last time she saw a similarly large spike in Park City home sales was in 2001, right after 9/11.聽
Then, purchases were driven by wealthy families who were buying ski condos and second homes they could evacuate to in the event of future attacks. 鈥淚 felt like I was selling 鈥榖omb shelters,鈥欌�� explains Ms. Agle. The difference now is that many of the new arrivals have sold their old homes and appear to have come to stay.
鈥淪chools were part of the decision, but we wanted to make a complete lifestyle change,鈥� says Amy Burky, about her and her husband鈥檚 decision to sell their home in Seattle and move with their two grade-school-age children to Park City over the summer.
Online learning did not work for their special-needs son, who is in second grade. Now, he鈥檚 at a charter school.聽He also takes advantage of activities offered through the nearby National Ability Center. 鈥淭his move benefited our son,鈥� she says.
Their daughter started first grade this fall at the Park City Day School, another independent school. Her status as a transplant has not hindered her ability to make friends. 鈥淭here are a lot of new kids in the school,鈥� says Ms. Burky. 鈥淪he is definitely not alone.鈥�
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the school that Amy Burky's daughter attends and to clarify her son's involvement with the National Ability Center.
