School Choice - Thoughts?

I will preface this by saying DH and I tend to over think things a lot. We bought a house late this summer in the town we wanted to stay in. Our oldest son starts kindergarten next year, and we've recently learned the elementary school he would go to is not doing great. There are 3 in town, and students are assigned based on neighborhood. We knew on a rank of 1-3, the elementary in the neighborhood we moved into would be #3, but we were surprised to know it's struggling more than we thought. The school system overall is good (we're on the outskirts of metrowest Boston - it's not in the top 10 like the super wealthy towns near us are, but overall, good), but it seems this elementary school was given a low grade and ranking. The one he would have attended, where we know a few families, is much stronger. We know one family at the elementary school he's at, and her kids have received a good education, but it could be stronger, and overall, she wishes there was better parental and family involvement. She has been very involved in the school. In our town, kids go to the elementary from K-4. Grades 5-7 are at the brand new middle school, and 8-12 at the high school.

I am going to go to a few meetings this spring at the local elementary school and want to get a better feel for the school and the culture, but we're also considering school choice to see if he could go to one of the other elementary schools. If we school choice though, transportation to and from will fall completely on us - no bus option. We would want our kids to go to the same school, so we would be looking at a 7 year commitment here. DH currently works part time, and is home on average 3 days per week, but not 5 days. We are unsure about whether or not the transportation piece is a realistic option for us though. Has anyone done school choice? If so, why, and how do you handle this part? Would you school choice for the lower elementary grades, knowing they would end up at the same middle school and high school? In the end, I feel like the boys would probably be starting off at the same level as the other elementary kids when they move to the middle school because we would be very involved. So it's more about ensuring an enriching experience in a school culture that highly values education.