Find the elementary, middle, and high school assignments for any Peninsula neighborhood — and what district rating to expect.
Substantially. The premium between a top-tier district (PAUSD, MPCSD, Las Lomitas, Hillsborough, Cupertino Union) and a regionally-average district can be 25-40% on otherwise comparable homes. A 4-bedroom $4.5M home in Las Lomitas-zoned West Menlo Park might trade as a $3.2M home half a mile east in a different district. Crossing the boundary line is often the single biggest dollar-per-square-foot driver in Peninsula real estate.
The Peninsula has a hybrid system. Most elementary districts are small (K-8 or K-5/6-8), serving 2-8 schools. High school districts are larger and serve multiple elementary feeders. For example: West Menlo Park elementary kids attend Las Lomitas Elementary School District (K-3 + 4-8), then feed into Sequoia Union HSD's Menlo-Atherton High School. Same town, two different districts. Always verify both layers.
Sometimes, but it's expensive. Top Peninsula private schools (Sacred Heart, Menlo School, Castilleja, Crystal Springs Uplands, Nueva, The Harker School) cost $50K-$70K per child per year. Two kids in private K-12 = $1.4M-$2M lifetime tuition. Many families running this math conclude that paying a $1M premium to live in a top public district + saving the $1.4M tuition is the better trade. Others choose private regardless of district. The math is family-specific.
Some districts allow children outside their boundaries to attend if there's space (open enrollment) or with formal inter-district transfer paperwork. Don't bank on this when buying. Top-tier districts (PAUSD, MPCSD, Las Lomitas) routinely deny transfers because they're at capacity. If you want a top public district, you almost always need to physically own a home inside the boundary.
Send Lisa an address and she'll confirm the exact elementary, middle, and high school assignments — plus the historical test scores, the school's API trend, and the boundary risk.
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