I keep starting posts and running out of time to finish them but aquinas has posted most of what I was trying to go for.
We've been through a similar decision with both kids and I'll add a couple more things to consider....
Friends - leaving our neighbourhood school has meant that getting together with classmates can be up to a 45 min drive rather than the kids across the street or a few blocks over.
School involvement - I used to volunteer regularly and attend most school functions when they went to the school 5 minutes away and going to a craft day or the science fair was no big deal. Now it is a lot more challenging which has meant that we often skip those types of activities and DH and I are basically not involved at all with the school.
Peers - I would recommend talking with the school about what they mean by gifted and what their program is. I would want to have a sense of how kids are determined to be gifted. Is entrance based on IQ, achievement or a combination? What is their criteria? Is it about acceleration, depth and breadth or a mix? A program designed for high performing MG kids will likely look different than a program aiming to meet the needs of 2E PG kids for example. It isn't necessarily that one is better or worse but you're looking for information to see if it is a good fit for your particular child.
How do they handle kids that still need more? If their answer is "differentiation" then I'd press for specific details of what they've done for their most extreme outliers.
I have two very different kids with different needs so I've looked at this through different eyes each time we went through the decision. There have definitely been some trade-offs but nothing that surprised us. In the end the gifted program has been worth it and it has been a decent fit for each of them in different ways. The peer group and level of classroom discussion has made up for some of the things that aren't as ideal but for every child and program there are different variables at play.
Good luck!
