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[quote=Anonymous]Bumping this thread up with a related question: [b]"Are you rich, but send your kids to urban public school, EVEN THOUGH YOU REALIZE THE ACADEMIC EDUCATION IS NOT AS GOOD (but because you feel there are other important reasons to go there)?" [/b] This is where I am leaning, but I am wondering if I am crazy.

Now the background:

I am not from DC (former DC resident).    Now live in the middle of the US.

We are considering kindergarten.  We live in the city.  Our neighborhood school is consider the best of the city schools, but it is a city school that has suffered lots of budget cuts in recent years.

I have viewed some top private schools and our neighborhood school and I see a clear difference, at least impression, on the quality of education.  The private schools seem to do so much better based on the time I spent in the classroom, the class sizes, the calmness of the atmosphere, and the customer service of the administration.  The public school was, on the other hand, chaotic, huge classes (around 25 for kindergarten), lots of budget cuts, the instruction we saw seemed pretty basic, and there seemed to be lots of unattended/bored kids on the fringes (the enthusiastic kids seemed to be just fine).  I do hear great things about the teachers in the public school, but again, my gut found the atmosphere jarring.

That being said, even though we are well off, private school tuition is still a stretch at this point is our lives (hoping we make more as we get older) and we really don't want to pinch pennies (at least not in elementary school) to make it happen.

There is also a part of me (but not necessarily DH) that feels strongly about supporting public education by sending my child there, and giving my child the public school experience (diversity in all its forms, being part of a larger school et cetera).  The public school has a measurable community of enthusiastic parents supporting the school and part of me was so inspired by that.

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