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Our school-aged child goes to private school. The number one reason is langage of instruction, but it's also an excellent school. We are expats and don't speak the local language, so it would be difficult to follow. (Both LOs were/are in a local daycare and there is language barrier there, but we don't have to do homework or any sort of following up, so it's not so important for us). We also get an education subsidy from my DH's employer, so it's not much of a financial burden for us. Someday we will leave this country and our school has over 400 affiliates worldwide, so they will (hopefully) be able to integrate into a new school somewhat easily. If we lived in a place where we spoke the language, our kids would most likely go to public school.

My parents sent me to private school though we lived in an area with good public schools. They did so because I thrived with a lower student/teacher ratio.

DH and I are products of excellent public school systems and our parents went to great lengths to live within the boundaries of those school districts for all of our siblings. So we understood the value of public education.

However, it was a different story when it came time for us to buy a home. DH and I were living in an "excellent" school district as renters, but we found that the property values were WAY overblown for the actual value of the schools. It was more a status thing to be able to say you lived in that city. Starter homes in this town were $450-500K, and we're talking like 1400 sq. ft. fixer uppers built in the 60s that needed new HVACs and roofs and no updates to the kitchens and anything that came on the market in that price range were getting 15-20 bids with a bidding war that drove up the price considerably. A 20+ year old house with no upgrades in a slightly nicer neighborhood would list at $600K and go for about $700K. And while I'm sure the schools in the town were good, they just aren't as good as the schools we went to growing up because of the nature of public schooling these days. (I had PE, track teams, art classes, school band that loaned instruments to all the kids who couldn't afford them, full day summer school, regular field trips, weeklong camps - all in elementary school).

When you looked at the schools and then compared them with the property values, the property taxes, etc. it just didn't add up. When we looked over at the next town over, which had average schools, the properties were MUCH nicer and newer and literally half the cost. We realized we could live in a much nicer house and pay cash to send our kids to private school for less than what it cost to live in this excellent school district.

We're considering moving back to DH's Midwestern hometown where the public schools are absolute PALACES. But the property value issue is even more pronounced. You can buy a nice home in a top rated school district for $300K or you can buy the EXACT same house a block over in a "bad" school district for $150K, no joke. And then there is a HUGE disparity in property tax values to boot between school districts. So the choice of whether you prefer a public school or want to pay cash for private school is totally within reach for everyone, which is sorta cool.

Not really what you are asking, but we were open to public or private, and it ended up being dictated by where we found a house. So private school it is ... but we are only having one so it's doable. In fact, it's no more than our daycare.

I have very strong feelings about the direction of education in my area. I can't stand the focus on standardized testing. I feel it has had a very negative impact on teaching not only because teachers feel the need to make sure kids do well on the test, but because it affects a teacher's ability to adapt his or her lessons based on student need due to district pressures to align work with pacing guides. I say this all as a former public school teacher- I spent a decade trying to deal with this. Now I'm at a private school and I'll send my kids her because I've seen how kids in my 4th grade compare to the kids I had in 5th grade previously. It is a much better education, the opportunites for learning and growth are greater, and I get a discount. It's still pricy as hell, but we're going to try to do it as long as we can.

I have been reading along with interest, as my son is in public school, but with lots of the things that are available to private school kids...as per the posts above. I think it goes to show that not all public schools are the same in terms of programming and resources available. The public school that my son attends teaches foreign language from Kindergarten, begins field trips abroad in the middle years and follows an extremely rigorous program with tons of discipline. As an example, the playground was recently built and the kids have essential agreements that they must adhere to in order to use it. It's very disciplined and academically rigorous. I also believe because parents have to enter a lottery, they're more invested and participate a lot more than your typical public school. What you do have, that you don't have to the same degree in private school, is the economically disadvantaged population (which by definition is those that live in public housing, have eligibility for reduced/free lunch and do not speak English as a first language at home). I think this is what we're all talking about when we're talking about schools being good or not, right?

I truly believe I have managed to get my son a private school education at a public school price.

@honeybear: There was a lot of international travel at my public school growing up. I went to France in 9th and 12th grade, my brother went to Italy in 10th. It's all parent funded though.

We've tossed around the idea of private school. As long as it's comparable to the cost of daycare we could reasonably afford it. But idk if it's the best use of our money or if would be better used in a college fund and on family travel that could be educational and a bonding experience.

@honeybear: Haha, no I was in a class of over 500. The trips to France were for kids taking French and they were part of a cool exchange program. We had sister schools in Paris and French students stayed with us for 10 days in October, then we stayed with them in April. It also helped keep costs down because we didn't have to pay for hotels.

The Italy trip was with an honors world history class. Maybe 30 or so kids were eligible for that.

@honeybear: I can only answer for the state in which I reside, but magnet schools do get additional funding above and beyond the per student allocation and interdistrict magent schools receive additional funding per student from the state because of the mandate to accept at least 25% of students from outside the town where the school is.

This particular school is an IB school, so yes, part of the cost of the trip is paid for by the taxpayers. The PTO and the parents are also responsible for fundraising as well.

As an aside, the school is being built, brand new from scratch. The state set aside $77 million for the construction, furnishing and operational costs.

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately. My kids are in preschool at a private school, but my oldest will start kindergarten next year and we are tossing around looking into public school. The only drawback of our school is the tuition. I also think about the other things we could do with the money, especially with 3 or possibly someday 4 kids. We are in a decent elementary school zone, not so hot for middle and high schools.

I'm a product of not-great public schools (recently saw that one is rated 2 on greatschools, that's out of 10) and I have a professional degree, it can be done. I think my kids would luckily thrive in any environment because they have parents committed to their education as obviously all of yours do as well!

That being said, we are at our current private school because it is a foreign language immersion school and it is really amazing to see our kids fluently speak and understand another language. They will add a third language in the elementary years. This was the big selling point to us. If we chose not to continue at our school, we would be going to public school and not another private school.

Here are the other things I love about our school:
-the community. We get along well with the other families. There is also a fair amount of diversity for a private school (which we would not encounter at our neighborhood public school) because of its cultural immersion aspect.
-small class size
-almost no fund raising (no selling wrapping paper as I remember dreading, etc)
-all of my kids will be in the same school for a long time because it goes from age 3 to 8th grade
-minimal standardized testing
-exposure to and emphasis on other cultures and a broader world view
-lots of clubs and activities offered on-site, maybe not the same type of extra curricular organized sports as my friends' schools sometimes sponsor but we are not interested in those yet. My kids have been doing yoga, gymnastics, STEAM, and flamenco, all as low key after-school clubs that they have fun with and don't require extra shuttling around.

FWIW, a girlfriend that has her kids at the same school has decided to prioritize tuition (and debt repayment) over college funds for now, and hopes to help her kids out in the future but also feels strongly about the education at this school. I had zero college financing help from my parents and somehow I survived.