I've discovered that the next school district over from us is a lot better and you can apply and pay $18,000 - $23,000 to attend, depending on the grade. Would you pay that for a really good public school?
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Those are some hefty fees for public school! You could go to the best local private school and their ski academy here for those fees!
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@Mrs. Jacks: I think private would be about $10k more a year at least!
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It depends on what the difference is between that cost and going to private school. I went to one of the top high schools in the nation and at the time I attended it was $24,000 a year. I would rather pay a few extra thousand for private school.
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I would pay, but that's expensive for a public school! What do private schools cost in your area?
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@MamaMoose: sorry, I just specified!
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@Andrea: Check into it, you might be surprised. Lala's current school is more expensive than the private school that we are considering for grade school (though we are probably defaulting to public). Also, religiously based privates may be less expensive (JCC, Catholic). The private we're looking at is a great program, but the emphasis is on service, so parents pay in other ways
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I would just move to that school district.
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I agree, that seems expensive for a "public" school...I would weigh if the school was significantly better than the free public school, and then see what the difference would be between that and a private school...if I'm already willing to pay that much for a public schoo,l, it might be worth it to me to just go for private, which is often (not always) a richer/more academincally beneficial experience that even really good public schools.
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My coworker does this (or will, his kids are not old enough for school yet), but the cost is more like $10k a year here. I know he actually will save money doing it this way by paying lower property taxes living in a neighboring town, and paying the difference to send his kids to some of the best schools in the state.
The only real downside I would see is transportation to/from school. It would be on you to pick up your child every day, as they couldn't get bus service home, which would be tricky if you both worked full time.
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@Mrs. Jacks: Prep schools in NY are $30k+. Horace Mann was in the news (due to the scandal, oops) and the tuition there is $37k, per the paper anyway.
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@Rock n Roll: perhaps! Houses and taxes are, understandably, a lot more though.
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@yoursilverlining: Jeez, how much are the property taxes? I guess it just seems like it would add up pretty quickly over multiple years, especially with multiple children to pay that much tuition. But property taxes are pretty low in my area, so I guess I'm a bit sheltered.
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Are the public schools in your town still well rated? If so, I probably wouldn't pay the difference. For private school you get additional benefits like lower teach to student ratios, and increased extra curricular activities and enrichment programs. Unless the schools in my town were really bad I would have a hard time paying that kind of money for public school.
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It would depend, but I wouldn't be absolutely opposed to it. I'd have to price out comparable private/religious schools, and the cost difference of just moving to the school district. If like the PP said, it was cheaper to stay in the current location with a bad school district, than have a house and property taxes in the new, and it was cheaper or better than the private options, I would certainly consider it.
But, this is a large part of the reason that we don't want to buy until we have kids getting close to school age. Right now we rent and can move as needed. -
Holy toledo that's a lot of money for a public school! I feel like that's college tuition for a semester or something!!
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@yoursilverlining: that seems like a good deal. We won't have bus service in our school district anyway.
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@MamaMoose: I know our public high school is in the top 500 in the US but the neighboring public high school is in the top 100.
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WOW, that is wild!! I am a public school teacher and have never heard of a public school system "charging" to attend their district. What state are you in? If the system is a lot better, and it meant a significantly better education/quality of life for you and your family, I would seriously consider moving to that area as opposed to paying the fee. Or, I would start looking into private schools where you live now and if the fees are comparable or not.
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@lydg: I am in New York. Yes, I am telling DH that we need to make more money so we can move. Haha, easier said than done! I think getting the house that we want and paying the taxes is probably going to be cost us more than paying that tuition.
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I wouldn't pay it. My kids are just going to have to suck it up at whatever public school they have to attend based on where we live. I guess the only thing that might make me think about sending them elsewhere is if the school wasn't accredited.
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@andrea. That is crazy, but NY would have been my first guess as to where you are from! I just got back from a conference in upstate and it was so interesting for me to hear some of the things they do with public education there. I guess you can always look into a charter? I would be wary, some are great and some are definitely not. There are a lot of charter networks in NY and most cannot charge for admission b/c they operate under the auspices of a public school and have federal funding guidelines to follow.
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@lydg: yeah, I never knew you could pay to attend so that was interesting to learn. There are no charter schools in my county unfortunately!
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Wow, we are lucky that Nebraska 's laws allow students to go to another school district for free as long as there is room. My sister choice for my niece to go to the school we graduated from instead of the one in her district because it was rated much higher.
When we move to DH's hometown, there is no school beacuse it is so small. We have the choice of two that are in the area, and I am having troubles deciding between them! One is larger class B on a scale to A-D the other is a C-2 (third smallest) so less activies available but higher rated.
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Only if the other public schools available to me were a threat to my childs safety or well being.
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@Andrea: Since your schools are still very good I wouldn't do it. It's just too much money for not enough value added in my opinion. I would use that money to supplement your daughter's education through tutoring and outside programs should you see a gap in her learning. And save the rest for college!
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@MamaMoose: yeah, we will probably either do that or try and come up with the extra money for private school. Just mulling it over, though!
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Ok, I'm going to be the odd ball here and say that honestly, if it were me, in my area, I would be excited if the best public school in the area would allow me to pay tuition to send my kids there. The houses and taxes in the awesome school districts are *ridiculous*, but it was always in our plans to move there eventually. If we stayed where we are and paid the tuition instead, it would be cheaper!
(as a side note, I was private schooled in my area, and I would choose the top public school over the local private schools)
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I actually don't have any issues with public schools, and I'm cheap, so I wouldn't pay that.
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@MamaMoose: I agree!
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yikes. That's a lot. I would prefer my children go to private, but I couldn't pay that much for public OR private!
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