Anonymous wrote:If you want to stay near Santa Monica, mid-city, and downtown, perhaps look at some of the west LA elementary schools, including Westwood Charter, Fairburn, Overland Avenue. There are some pockets in that general area (e.g., in Rancho Park) that would fit your budget, and those elementary schools are solid. However, most elementary schools in this area are K-5, not K-6, so be mindful of how that affects your middle school options. (If you're set on private upper school, for instance, some start at 7th, so you'll need to go elsewhere for that 6th grade year.) Roscomare (mentioned earlier) and Warner Avenue are great options, but I don't think you can find anything in their boundaries for 2.5M.
We lived in Rancho Park and our kids attended the Lycee ES for a year before we moved back to DC. It's an affordable private which has several campuses all the way through 12th.