On the other hand, my wife (leda) has a MS in SpED, 15 years classroom experience, changes diapers on teanagers, etc., serves as a teacher consultant, works till 8 pm often, has had to deal with parents who send lawyers to parent teacher conferences, you name it.
She makes so little, it would shock you. For the DC area, if she were a single mother, she would be on food stamps.
It is not the teacher cost in our Ao, it is the dang overhead costs.
(VA has no collective bargaining for teachers.)
(And that is a good thing.)
Sooo...does our HS really need to offer golf lessons?
I see some things where we might say, "Yes, but..."
And that is the problem.
Nobody ever says, "We could do that, but do we want kindergarten to cost more than a year at harvard?"
All Harvard students receive a subsidy - even students who do not qualify for need-based aid receive a substantial subsidy, or implicit scholarship, from the university because the price charged covers only about two-thirds of the cost to Harvard for the education provided. The remaining third is paid for largely by endowments and gifts
so yes, the public schools are inefficiently educating your kids, but equating the cost with a private school education is not accurate. i say be happy you aren't coughing up any more than your tax dollars. if you want to pay for the private school education, you can do so : )