...ok ... I have to pipe in ...
Here's one vote for Loveland over Fort Collins. Fort Collins is ugly. Loveland is a little less ugly. (although I LOVE old town FtC) Either town is ok. ..there are cool houses/apartments in both towns. The schools are ok in both. The people are awesome in both.
The schools in Loveland (Thompson Valley School District) are fine. They aren't the best and they aren't the worst. Some of the schools are better than others, just like anywhere else. The way we look at it is that it's our job and our kids' jobs to get an appropriate education ... the school gives the framework, but the work is up to us.
Elementary schools: I highly recommend the Big Thompson Elementary, west of town. Excellent and small. The Core Knowledge charter school someone else mentioned is about a block from my house and I really don't think I'd ever send my kids there. I've talked to parents who have kids there...some love it, some hate it. It's the first year for the school, so they're still getting kinks worked out.
Middle schools: My kids go to Walt Clark. We like it. It's a big school. There are nice kids and mean kids and moral kids and immoral kids...kinda like real life. ;-) Of the middle schools here in town, I would recommend Walt Clark over the others. Conrad Ball is definitely a rougher school and lower-quality academically (we live in the Con Ball area, but have our kids waived into Walt Clark ... which is a nice thing you can do here).
High schools: Thompson Valley High School. It's old, it's not pretty, but it ranks in the top 1000 high schools in the United States.
Living in Loveland: Depends on what you want. They're building these cool new flats over in the old part of town. There are tons of new and older homes for sale at decent prices. If you want the mountains, look west of town on Pole Hill Road or up the Highway 34 canyon toward Estes Park. If you live up Pole Hill, by Pinewood Reservoir, you are only 20 minutes from the center of town (Hwy 34 and Hwy 287), but it feels like a world away -- it's really quite beautiful and removed.
Hope this helps.
Carrie