My daughter's school is only about 3 blocks away - so the "drive" is about 2-3 min & the walk is less the 7 min. We do like walking when the weather is nice. My son (4 1/2) goes to preschool about 15-20 min away... but he gets a bus ride to preschoool. So, I don't have to make the drive... but we are looking at trying to get my 2 1/2 yr old into the new preschool - in the new elementary building my daughter is in now & my 4 1/2 yr old will be in next year.
They do offer open enrollment in our city, but so far I haven't found a school I'd reather send them to. We moved into our house before we had kids, but even in the old building - I always like how this elementary school was ran... so it did have some play when we bought the house 7 yrs ago (about 2 weeks before I found out I was expecting).
If you know the new building your son would be going to - ask parents what they think. Parents are always the best at letting you know what happens in the school. If you don't like what you hear & are willing to drive - then take him to the other one.
So you know - it isn't just the school the kids go to that makes the difference... it's also how much the parents help the kids as well. Even in a "bad" school a kids can learn if parents help them out & work with them at home.