2E school is $50k per year - no financial aid. Parents have been "ridiculously successful" in getting it paid for by Major City dept of ed. They have only been open 3 years and next year is the first they are expecting families to enroll their kids and commute the way we are considering. When we were in for our interview they told us the previous day another commuting family was in (same state, though, but traveling almost as far as we would from neighboring state.) They also said that the next week they were expecting a family in from Switzerland. We met one parent from another neighboring state but I assume that family lived in "normal" commuting distance and the kid went home every evening. While the tuition is high it is not too far off what super high income families are paying for private schools there. It is way, WAY more than private school tuition here though. Not an option to pay it out of pocket...
DH is dead set on the 2E school. He was REALLY angry yesterday at the way DD and I were treated. I am willing to be treated badly if that's the price to be paid for getting DD what she needs. He is less willing to see his wife treated badly to achieve that. Does that make sense? He is quite comfortable in Major City and would have no problem with the weekly commute. He would actually love to spend time living there - as an art professor there are endless ways for him to spend his time productively. In a weird way it would also be easier for him to deal with living with his mother in law than for me to live with my mother. None of this is insurmountable - just uncomfortable.
Dealing with DD's situation has been my full-time job. I have many friends and a good support network but that is less important than getting DD what she needs. I have quite a few friends in Major City but I can't expect any of them to drop what they are doing to help me settle in and feel comfortable.
Going to the 2E school would mean signing a one year contract. All but $2500 refundable by September 1. All but $5000 by October 1. After that the contract is locked. We can't just say "Sorry. Not working. Changed our minds."
My thinking is along the lines of "Where can she be this time next year?" This past school year was a total waste of time. She made some progress with reading but as far as we can see none as far as math is concerned. My hope was the focus would be getting her up to speed on keyboarding and/or voice-to-text. They so utterly dropped the ball on the AT stuff, though, that she only had a few weeks of limited instruction with her iPad. That's where looking at local options came from. If either of the local options can focus intently on getting her independent in terms of some form of writing (by hand, keyboard or dictation) and stronger in terms of her reading then next year we may have more options available to us. We could have a better idea of whether lovely little private could be an option. Or homeschooling. Or transferring to a different school district. Right now those options won't work. But since this is the focus this year the 2Eness is less of an issue than it might be in future years. I am sure cold feet is part of it but its not the only thing. At least I don't think it is...
