Much to my surprise my hometown of Matawan, NJ was listed as one of the top 50 towns by Businessweek to "raise your kids for less." In fact it came in at 12. I must admit I am a little shocked by this. This is not the Matawan I remember.
The article lists the top 50 towns with the best family-oriented neighborhoods, the most affordable homes and the best schools. They say "a good measure of all the things a child needs to grow and prosper every parent should consider when choosing a new home: test scores, cost of living, recreational and cultural activities, number of schools, and risk of crime." To determine the best schools the authors took into account the number of public and private schools in the vicinity, how well the reading and math test scores at those schools stacked up against the state average, and any No Child Left Behind awards or grants received from the government. Oh yeah, they mentioned something about "diversity" as part of the criteria. Gotta put that in somewhere....
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