Private schools in DC that aren't $30k or more?

[Anonymous]

Waterfront Academy down the green line from you in SW is right about $15k, I think. It's Spanish-English immersion Montessori but also "in the Catholic tradition" and relatively new so may not tick all your boxes. Families I know who did summer programs there liked it, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that the public schools are spending 15 k per year on your kid (and don't need to pay rent) and paying their starting teachers 52K. If your school is charging less than than 15K, they will be spending less on your child than the public system and attracting teachers who couldn't get a higher paying job in the public system.

My son's school is out in the burbs, so it's a little different. But it's got a completely different teaching philosophy than public school, and it's the teaching philosophy that attracts the teachers. They have more freedom in how they teach, and love the smaller class where they can give individualized instruction. It's not perfect. The teachers are definitely not in it for the money. Most have spouses who earn much more.

There MANY teachers out there who are very disillusioned with public schools these days. (I have tons of teacher friends.) If they can afford a pay cut, they often seek out private schools. So tuition cost alone shouldn't be an indicator of quality. The lower-priced schools likely take more research to see if it's a good fit for your kid, but you can find gems around the DMV area.

I would also add that there are public teachers with kids who do not want to send their own kids to public so tuition breaks for teaching at publics can be a great benefit even if the salary is not on par with public. And agreed smaller class sizes are less stressful. In addition, we recruit teachers from other countries as well and they are often cheaper to hire.