I am joining this thread late, but Massachusetts has a number of public school systems that I consider to be as good or better than all but a few of the nation's best private schools. And I'm talking about schools available to anyone in the town, not exam schools like Boston Latin.
Our school system does not encourage grade acceleration, nor is there really separate classes for gifted kids. Yet my son's grade has has 3 of top 100 math students in the country, and recent high school grads have included an IMO gold medalist and Davidson Scholarship award winner. The average SAT score is above the 90th percentile.
And there is another public school system in Massachusetts that is arguably even better. These schools are admittedly rare, and the towns are somewhat expensive to live in. But given the cost of private school tuition, they are an absolute bargain. I am sure there are similar schools in many other states as well.
I disagree. Somewhat expensive = $300,000 to $500,000 premium on housing. Even the super expensive $40,000 a year schools are less than that, and I've heard they give generous aid to even wealthy families.
But, even that's assuming that these prestigious districts are appropriate for gifted kids rather than highly pressured hothouse kids, which is (from what I've heard) debatable. Several people have told me that a mediocre district is more flexible for kids beyond the norm.
