Our area enjoys the same "benefits" for private school, but also adds:
2) A requirement for parents to put in a set number of service hours for the school.
Our public schools do this.
LOL. If ours tried it, I'd mail them a copy of my property tax bill.
I'm right there with you! I feel like sending them our property tax bill just as a reminder to do their job anyways! lol
As for private vs. public .... our privates require a lot of hours put in as well or they will charge you certain amount of $ if you don't do the hours plus since all privates in the area are church schools, you get charged considerably more $ if you're not their supporting parishioner. So for us it will always be a matter of choice between public and homeschooling rather than public vs private.
Oh, yeah. Ours are mostly Catholic schools as well, so it's either higher tuition, or regular attendance at church for the whole family.
We do have one non-parochial private school. It's more expensive than the parochial ones, it also loads down the kids with homework, and it's adamantly anti-grade skipping. It says it does teach kids one year above grade level, but I don't see how that helps our DD. As a bonus feature, it comes across as somewhat military in nature. Our DD does not need more discipline, thanks.
So yeah, our options are also public or home. The private options are non-starters.
