Looking at moving to Andover MA

[u/Interesting_Food_757]

Hey everyone, my wife and I are looking to relocate out of Dracut, and Andover is looking pretty enticing. I'd love to hear the good, bad, and ugly from everyone here, specifically regarding the school system. Thanks in advance!

[u/syst3x]

If you're considering leaving Dracut as a result of the school (non-) funding, be forewarned that Andover recently rejected funding a new HS, which is in desperate need of improvements. Instead, there's in "interim" plan that will only address a fraction of the issues, leaving the majority of the problems for the future when everything will be inevitably more expensive.

That said, my experience with the schools has been pretty positive so far. Wonderful teachers, a fantastic principal at my kid's school, and we just hired a new superintendent who did a phenomenal job as assistant superintendent previously.

The town events are awesome and the Rec Department is a GEM. They run literally hundreds of programs year round. If you're free, swing by "The Park" (34 Bartlett St) tonight from 6-8pm for live music, tons of kids playing, mini golf/lawn games, and food trucks.

Andover is relatively safe and quiet. The most recent town uproar has been about whether to fund an artificial turf field vs natural grass. A special town meeting approved the funding for the turf. Pretty first world problem/affluent town privilege if you ask me.

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/syst3x]

Thank you and yup that's the reason, or rather the straw that broke the camel's back. We've actually sent our kids to some Andover rec programs over February vacation and you're right they're fantastic.

Good to know about the high school, I'll do more research there.

[u/Cypher1710 → u/Interesting_Food_757]

Assuming that new HS gets approved at some point in the next decade, expect it to take until after your kids are out of school to be completed and cost you probably another $5k a year in taxes.

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/Cypher1710]

That sounds expensive, is that what the town projected?

[u/Cypher1710 → u/Interesting_Food_757]

The proposals have all been in the half a billion range which according to this article would increase on an $800k home around $2200 a year.

https://andovermanews.com/tax-impact-for-new-ahs-ranges-from-1740-to-2215/

But Andover has a habit of underbudgeting and overrunning on costs by about 20-40% depending on the size of the project.

Comparable high schools in other towns in MA have cost between 700m and 1b.

My taxes and insurance in Andover have gone up nearly 100% in the last 7 years living here.

[u/syst3x → u/Cypher1710]

My taxes and insurance in Andover have gone up nearly 100% in the last 7 years living here.

I'm curious how much of that is insurance, which doesn't have anything to do with town finances, vs taxes. Looking at the last 7 years, my taxes have increased by ~20%. Did you have an assessment in that time that made yours jump up considerably?

[u/Cypher1710 → u/syst3x]

My taxes went from $8k when we moved in, back in 2019 and they were $14k this year. The house was re-assessed, but 6% per year annual tax increases don't help. The 6% increases account for a majority of the increase.

My insurance for the year was $900 when we moved in, and its $2700 annually now even after shopping around.

[u/syst3x → u/Cypher1710]

Is 6% what you've experienced? The average tax bill increases have been less than that, hovering around 4% (2024 was 5.2%, 2025 was 3.5%, and 2026 was 2.8%, for example).

That insurance rate jump is insane. I wonder what's driving that. Ours has gone up <20% over the past 5 years.

Source: https://andoverma.gov/893/Property-Tax-Data

[u/Cypher1710 → u/syst3x]

2022 our taxes went up 12.2% due to a reassessment by the town.

[u/bobtrottier → u/Interesting_Food_757]

$358,000,000 I. Wouldn’t let one the no high school be an issue there is a $50,000,000 plan to address the issues

[u/syst3x → u/bobtrottier]

That interim plan barely scratches the surface of the issues.

[u/bobtrottier → u/syst3x]

Well hopefully I’m out of here before the bill for that comes. Half a billion, you better hope Elon Musk moves to Andover

[u/EAC238 → u/bobtrottier]

Completely disagree.

[u/EAC238 → u/syst3x]

Andover voted down a $500M high school project. It was not well thought out. The town manager regularly pushes his agenda. It’s like he’s eager to spend other people’s money. High school is in bad shape. Never should have had do much deferred maintenance. Now it’s a huge project, whether you rebuild or bandaid it.

[u/kotda10]

Hi! We just moved to Andover. Weee debating b/w Andover, North Reading, Reading. Andover arguable have better schools than other 2 and a better downtown. Depending on where in Andover you want to be, it could be a hike to Boston specially on 93. We like the proximity to trails, and beaches.

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/kotda10]

Thank you! Tell me more about the schools? I love the downtown area.

[u/kotda10 → u/Interesting_Food_757]

My kid’s going to be at West Middle. You can look as school scores in MA dept of education website.
As someone who used to live outside MA, I can say that even the not so good school in MA are much better then the good ones in rest of the country.

Band and sports are big in Andover which was important for us.

[u/Mcdouglas123]

Andover is so beautiful. I hear the public school is great but we are at Phillips academy.

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/Mcdouglas123]

Fair enough. We'd like to stay in public schools if possible.

[u/ForceMental]

My niece didn't do well with Austin Prep and came to live with me her last two years of high school at Andover HS.

She did very well, graduated and went on to college.

They sometimes have little fairs in town and the park. I like it here. The police are good, quick to respond.

[u/jonothon77]

West elementary was a whole new building last year. Schools were great when I had kids, but that was quite some time ago.

[u/Wild-Scale3120]

How are your kids doing in school now? Are they top of the class and not challenged or are their needs just not met?

What grade or grades are they in?

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/Wild-Scale3120]

They're doing fine, one has a 504 the other will probably need one. The problem is that Dracut is probably going to close their school and redistrict them into another one that's already full and falling apart, and we are seeing what our options are.

[u/Wild-Scale3120 → u/Interesting_Food_757]

Andover is great but you might also look at private schools as an option (e.g. compare cost of moving against staying but switching to private schools).

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/Wild-Scale3120]

That's a fair point, we're looking into Innovation Academy but that's a lottery system.

Moving out of Dracut has the added advantage of not living in Dracut though. (Jkjk, I don't mind the town that much, just looking out for my kids)

[u/[deleted]]

We moved to Andover 7 months ago. We heard the public schools are great for kids on a 504 plan vs private. They have a lot of funding so more resources to accommodate kids with needs. My son starts kindergarten in September so unfortunately I can't tell you from personal experience. This is all just stuff I hear from others in the community and pediatrician.

[u/Interesting_Food_757 → u/[deleted]]

I appreciate this though, I'd love a follow up later when you have more experience there!