I grew up in the Dallas,Texas area and lived there again before ASA closed the DFW base. I always thought Texas was as close to Heaven as possible, and I've lived all over the world with the Marine Corps. But...now I like Georgia. I lived in a very affluent area in the metroplex (Coppell), but when I moved to Georgia I got a nicer house, twice as big, with roughly the same mortgage payment on a bigger loan because insurance is much less. Home owners insurance is 1/3 what it is in Texas, property taxes are 1/3 what they were in Texas - on a house twice as big. I have hills and trees now, it's not so stinkin' hot, and yes, the roads are much better here in Georgia. Georgia income taxes are nowhere near as high as the property taxes in Texas. I read a newspaper article last year that ranked Texas as the 5th highest taxed state in the nation thanks to its mixture of property taxes and sales taxes. By the way, sales tax in Cobb County is around 5 per cent, compared with 8.5 in Dallas County, Texas.
Regarding schools - in Texas we were used to city-based school districts. In Georgia, they are usually county-wide districts (with certain exceptions). Counties vary by area, so you have to research demographics, test scores, etc. We targeted our home search to areas with excellent schools, and found our home there. I don't think you can cast a blanket indictment of the schools in Georgia as a whole until you account for certain demographics - but that is true anywhere. Georgia just has a lot of very poor areas with populations that aren't so motivated by education.
Finally, the hope scholarship in Georgia is worth so much to a family with children to send to college. If your child makes a B average in high school, the State will pay their tuition at a state university or college - they just have to keep the B average in college to keep the scholarship. Georgia has around 26 state colleges and universities, so there is an opportunity for anyone with some academic diligence and a desire for education.
I'm an attorney, and I like practicing law here better than in Texas also. More of a gentleman's practice than the cut-throat frontier (in)justice of Texas.
Those are my opinions and experiences - for what it's worth.
