San Antonio NEISD Redraws School Boundaries

In a measure to relieve enrollment at Ronald Reagan High School and leave room at Claudia Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson High School for future growth on the east side of U.S. 281, the North East ISD Board of Trustees approved new attendance boundaries for Johnson High School. The decision affects students currently enrolled in Reagan and Douglas MacArthur high schools. The boundary changes go into effect at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year.

Johnson was planned to accommodate 3,000 students, whereas Reagan was built for 2,500. Students currently attending Reagan who will be seniors in 2008-2009 will have the option to stay at Reagan, and students temporarily assigned to MacArthur to accommodate overflow will have the option of remaining at MacArthur. Aditionally, the Board is also considering an option that would allow students living in the Reagan attendance area to enroll at Johnson.

The boundary changes for Johnson include all of the current Tejeda Middle School boundary and the following neighborhoods in the Bush Middle School attendance area: Big Spring: Village At Cactus Bluff, Village In The Hills and Village On The Glen; Canyons At Stone Oak; Estates At Canyon Ridge; Saddle Mountain; Springs At Stone Oak; Villages At Stone Oak; Abbey at Stone Oak; and Champions Village Townhomes.

In cooperation with city and county governments as well as private developers, the North East ISD has invested $2 million toward the extension of Stone Oak Parkway and the installation of a traffic signal at the Johnson High School campus entrance. The plan also includes improvements to Bulverde Road.

The NEISD has made a map & details (PDF format) for the redrawn boundaries available to the public. To keep up with news about the San Antonio Area school district that serves your children, you will find regional list of links to school districts in the :Area Info" pages on MySanAntonioAssociate.com.

Where Does The San Antonio Real Estate Market Stand Entering 2008?

At the end of 2007, the San Antonio real estate market remained one of the stronger markets in the US. It was not significantly affected by the backlash from the sub-prime lending fiasco, and held true to the forecasts for population and job growth--and appreciation in home values. Forecasts for future growth and steady appreciation in housing values appear good for 2008 as well. The forecasts and news reports were however varied, and deserve closer scrutiny.

While local news reports placed appreciation rates at 6%, the Top 25 US Markets and Texas Real Estate Markets pages of Housing Predictor are in my estimation more reliable. The likely flaw in the reporting is the statistical measure used in the report, median prices. It does not account for the trend in demand for larger houses over the past several years or the subsequent response by builders to meet that demand. As these larger homes are resold, the effect will be to skew measures based solely on prices in the overall market. By my own estimate, based on sampling the sales of existing homes, appreciation rates over the past year held to 5% overall.

The Housing Predictor real estate market forecast for San Antonio places it at #21 in the top 25 appreciating markets in the US again in 2008, and up to #5 from #6 in Texas. Population growth in Texas is forecast to remain strong through 2030, and especially in San Antonio. Over the past year, other forecasts for the San Antonio market placed it from a low of 7th in the nation on HomeVestors and 6th on Forbes.com's list of best U.S. housing markets to the number one real estate investment city by NuWire Investors.

What ever the real numbers may be, home owners in San Antonio can celebrate the new year with the assurance that the general malaise in the market had little affect on their home values, and look forward to ongoing benefit from the strength of their housing market.