Is your school district worth your mortgage?

Parents often pay the admission to high-performing public school districts through their mortgage payments. In some parishes, the better the school performance, the higher the price tag.

A recent study by NerdWallet looked at the cost of homes in 68 unified Louisiana school districts and compared it to not only schools rankings but staff-to-student ratio and other variables that contribute to student success and a student's likelihood to move on to further education.

Vermilion Parish drew the No. 1 spot, but West Carroll Parish ranked second, and Lincoln Parish ranked ninth.

Factors studied were:

• College readiness: 25 percent of the score came from equally rating graduation rates and college enrollment rates for two- and four-year institutions — for 2012-13 from the Louisiana Department of Education.
• Test scores: 40 percent of the score came from equally weighting ACT averages and the percentage of high school students in the class of 2012-13 scoring "good" or "excellent" on the end-of-course tests in all subjects from the LDOE.
• Number of students per school staffers: 5 percent of the score came from LDOE data that include full-time teachers and full-time equivalent educators.
• Home costs: 30 percent of the score comes from equally weighting the 2013 median home value and selected monthly owner costs — including property tax, mortgage payments and utilities — for every school district. Data are from the 2013 U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

West Carroll Parish Superintendent Richard Strong said he attributes the district's successes to its excellent teachers and support staff and to the community. Test scores, he said, have improved since the 2012-13 number used in the study.

"Our people take education pretty seriously up here," Strong said. "Our community supports our education system 100 percent in every way."

While the parish doesn't have the funds of some of the bigger districts, he said the dedication of employees and parents to student's success ensure they get a positive, well-rounded education.

Lincoln Parish Superintendent Mike Milstead said his district is first in state rankings of students who go to post-secondary education after high school with a rate of 75 percent. The district's average ACT score, he said, is second in the state and it will only improve in the coming years.

He said great counselors help the students and having two local universities that pursue students is of great benefit.

"We really do feel that for the money spent, based on ad valorem tax and sales tax, that our parents are getting a very excellent education opportunity both academically and financially," he said.

Tensas Parish schools were not included because of missing data.

Northeastern Louisiana districts by rank

• West Carroll Parish: 2
• Lincoln Parish: 9
• Ouachita Parish: 11
• Caldwell Parish: 12
• Jackson Parish: 14
• Morehouse Parish: 41
• East Carroll Parish: 50
• Richland Parish: 54
• Union Parish: 55
• Franklin Parish: 56
• City of Monroe: 62
• Madison Parish: 65