One the determining factors for potential buyers, and even those considering selling their property, is the state of the local school district. With such an emotional issue such as education, property owners can often feel the affects of changes in the school politics, policies and even economics.

Our staff analyzed 93 school districts in 13 counties in western Ohio. We looked at their designation by the Ohio Department of Education, their graduation rates, and their district improvement status for 2005. Of the 93 school districts, 26 were "excellent", 50 were "effective", 16 were "continually improving", 1 were under "academic watch". 53 of the districts were "under risk" for 2006.

Graduation rates can also affect the property values. Those schools that have higher graduation rates can conceivably draw higher property values due to the deduction that higher rates mean better schools, thereby indicating a better community. The same theory can be used for those schools that have low graduation rates. Parents of school age children or pre-school children are not likely to enter a school district for fear that a school that isn't as focused on graduating their students will have a negative affect on their child. This can bring less potential buyers to an area, typically reducing the average sales price of real estate in the area. Less demand will lower prices.

Below is the compiled date from the Ohio Department of Education for the counties and school districts discussed.

County	District Name	Designation	Number of standards met (out of 25)	Final graduation rate 2004-05	2007 District Improvement Status (based on 2005-06 data)
Butler	Hamilton	Effective	16	73.3	Improvement Year 1
Butler	Middletown	Continuous Improvement	7	81.1	Improvement Year 3
Butler	Edgewood City School District	Effective	23	93.0	At Risk
Butler	Fairfield	Excellent	24	100.0	At Risk
Butler	Lakota	Excellent	25	95.7	At Risk
Butler	Madison	Effective	18	93.5	At Risk
Butler	New Miami	Effective	19	72.9	At Risk
Butler	Ross	Excellent	24	91.3	OK
Butler	Talawanda	Effective	22	86.3	At Risk
Butler	Monroe	Effective	23	92.1	At Risk
Champaign	Urbana City School District	Continuous Improvement	16	89.1	At Risk
Champaign	Mechanicsburg	Effective	20	100.0	At Risk
Champaign	Graham	Effective	20	87.8	OK
Champaign	Triad	Effective	16	91.8	At Risk
Champaign	West Liberty-Salem Local School District	Excellent	25	98.2	At Risk
Clark	Springfield	Academic Watch	2	83.0	Improvement Year 3
Clark	Greenon Local	Effective	23	90.7	OK
Clark	Tecumseh	Effective	15	85.7	At Risk
Clark	Northeastern	Effective	20	93.2	At Risk
Clark	Northwestern	Effective	19	93.9	At Risk
Clark	Southeastern	Effective	23	94.9	OK
Clark	Clark-Shawnee	Effective	22	94.2	At Risk
Darke	Greenville City School District	Continuous Improvement	16	92.4	At Risk
Darke	Versailles	Excellent	24	95.4	OK
Darke	Ansonia	Effective	19	96.1	At Risk
Darke	Arcanum Butler	Effective	22	87.5	OK
Darke	Franklin Monroe	Excellent	23	100.0	OK
Darke	Mississinawa Valley	Effective	17	94.4	At Risk
Darke	Tri-Village	Continuous Improvement	13	95.7	OK
Greene	Fairborn City Schools	Continuous Improvement	15	81.9	Improvement Year 3
Greene	Xenia Community	Continuous Improvement	14	79.7	Improvement Year 3
Greene	Yellow Springs	Excellent	22	91.2	OK
Greene	Beavercreek	Excellent	25	95.1	OK
Greene	Cedar Cliff	Excellent	23	98.0	OK
Greene	Greeneview	Effective	20	100.0	At Risk
Greene	Sugarcreek Local	Excellent	25	99.0	OK
Logan	Bellefontaine City Schools	Continuous Improvement	17	96.1	At Risk
Logan	Benjamin Logan	Effective	23	92.5	At Risk
Logan	Indian Lake	Effective	17	80.8	OK
Logan	Riverside	Continuous Improvement	14	89.3	At Risk
Madison	London	Continuous Improvement	13	88.6	At Risk
Madison	Jefferson	Effective	22	90.0	At Risk
Madison	Jonathan Alder	Excellent	24	89.0	At Risk
Madison	Madison-Plains	Effective	17	91.2	At Risk
Miami	Piqua	Effective	20	83.8	At Risk
Miami	Troy	Effective	23	92.6	At Risk
Miami	Bradford	Continuous Improvement	12	93.5	At Risk
Miami	Covington Exempted Village School District	Effective	23	96.7	OK
Miami	Milton-Union Exempted Village Schools	Excellent	24	90.1	At Risk
Miami	Tipp City	Excellent	25	94.4	OK
Miami	Bethel	Effective	22	92.8	OK
Miami	Miami East	Effective	22	96.9	At Risk
Miami	Newton	Excellent	23	100.0	OK
Montgomery	Centerville	Excellent	25	95.5	OK
Montgomery	Dayton	Continuous Improvement	1	73.3	Improvement Year 3
Montgomery	Kettering	Excellent	24	99.4	Improvement Year 1
Montgomery	Miamisburg	Excellent	24	96.9	At Risk
Montgomery	Oakwood	Excellent	25	97.9	OK
Montgomery	Vandalia-Butler	Excellent	25	99.3	OK
Montgomery	West Carrollton	Effective	20	91.4	Improvement Year 1
Montgomery	Brookville Local School District	Effective	23	93.8	At Risk
Montgomery	Jefferson Township