Well I suppose suburb depends on your budget and what type of housing you want. Get onto one of the real-estate sites and have put in some search parameters.

I used to live in Brunswick West, on the border of Essendon and Moonee Ponds. They are all great areas and so close to the airport about 20 minutes depending on the traffic. Many airline employees live in those suburbs. Catching a taxi from there was not to expensive which was great. Moonee Ponds is a great little hub, Puckle street is good for its shopping, banks, post office etc. Also has a lot of good places to eat. As for schools, not too sure, but I never heard anything bad. Childcare is hard to get into in that area if you happen to need that. I think a new centre was opening up in the area though.

If you want to travel to the Airport, then the eastern suburbs are not really the best unless you want to spend a lot of money on etag (tolls) each day and extra time.