I grew up in NW Dade county. I used to work on Virginia Key (just before Key Biscayne). My mother works for the public school system. Hope my thoughts will help.

Here are a couple of rankings:

http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeR...year_2002.html

http://miami.about.com/cs/education/a/aa031703.htm

The best public high schools are magnet and advanced studies schools. You can find much more information at dadeschools.net. There are some great private schools, also. In general (this is the subjective portion of the program), people would say that the better schools are in the southern part of the county. Hey, I am from the NW. I guess I should say that the achievement depends on the student and not necessarily the environment.

You may also want to contact realtors and relocation agents for more input.

It would only take 5-10 minutes to get off Rickenbacker Causeway onto Brickell Avenue. It depends how far into downtown you need to go (and, of course, the traffic).