Public Education

Our plan is for our daughter to attend our local public school system, once she is in kindergarten. There wasn't much deliberation about this. Both my spouse and I attended public schools. My wife attended from kindergarten through 12. I attended a parochial school from kindergarten through 7 and public schools from 8 through 12.

Here are the reasons we plan to send our daughter to public school:

We live in an great school district. In our area, there are several outstanding public school districts. When we returned from our assignment in Japan, we selected a house in one of the excellent school districts, even though we didn't have children at the time.

Already paid for. In our state, part of our property tax is used to fund the public schools in our district. In fact, our property taxes are higher than if we had lived in another location. We don't see a need to pay more for education at a private school.

Saves money. With private school tuition around $10,000 per year, one will spend more $100,000 for attending kindergarten through 12th grade. Forgoing private school allows that money to be saved for college.

Overall, I think a public education in a good school system is competitive with a private school education. There isn't enough difference for us to spend the extra amounts for a private school. However, I do think our current education system no longer sufficiently prepares our children, since most curricula are designed for an industrial economy, versus a knowledge economy. So we plan to augment her education with additional experiences and skill development through extracurricular activities.

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This is not financial or educational advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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