Beating the system

In July 2007, I moved to a house right off of beltway 8 and S. Gessner. Why did I do this?
I wanted to be closer to my job. I loved the house; vaulted ceilings, attic space, garage, patio doors in every room. Not quite enough closet space...but hey...you can't have it all. This is the kind of cute little house I could live in for a while.

On July 30, 2009, I move to a smaller 2-bedroom apartment in the middle of town. I lose 200 sq feet of living space, washer and dryer connections AND my garage. I gain 25 minutes in commute time to work, heavy traffic, uncovered parking and an additional $220/mth in rent.
Why am I doing this?

...because of the Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma (aka Economic Segregation).
As it stands, a child's zip code determines quality of public education. Affluent areas with higher property tax receive significantly higher funding (and attention) than lower-income areas. HISD claims that this is not really the case. According to the district website, "...increased local money simply replaces money which would have come from the state." Yet somehow, the public schools in affluent suburban neighborhoods boast better, up-to-date facilities and technology, a wider variety of enrichment programs and produce higher-performing students than their "equally-funded" average-to-lower income counterparts. Go figure.

At my current address, my daughter is zoned to attend Gross Elementary School (yes, "Gross"). The school receives a rating of 2 (out of 10) from Greatschools.com. It is not a BAD school by a long-shot. Most of the teachers do care. The students do alright. It's just "eh".
My daughter deserves more than "eh".

I tried having her transferred to another school. She had been nominated for the HISD Vanguard program by her teachers. However, the GT coordinator at her school gave her application in an envelope addressed to me...in cursive. She did not explain to Leila what it was for. Noone followed up with me.
We missed the deadline. There was no way I would be able to have her bussed to a different school.

So, I began searching out the best public elementary schools in Houston. Read their ratings, visited their websites. Narrowed it down to my top 3 choices and began the process of finding a house/apartment squarely in their zones. After 3 months of investigating and visiting apartments, I settled on an art deco style apartment in River Oaks. Leila will be going to River Oaks Elementary...one of the most prestigious public elementary schools in Houston.

Now, to pack up all my stuff and move.
This is only the beginning.