The school building is a small facility rented from a religious organization, so I suspect they get a pretty good price for it. (It would be sitting idle during the week, after all...) I think that they cover the costs of utilities and wear-and-tear, and beyond that, they're probably getting a near-donation of the space.
The tuition is fairly high for the area--a smallish Midwestern city--and that's the main reason DS7 isn't there right now. (Well, that and the fact that he would be only the 7th child in a joint 2nd/3rd grade class...) Full-time tuition is something like $8000 a year, which is pretty high for these parts.
Most teachers only work part-time, so I doubt they pay any benefits. Teaching there would definitely not be a good job for a primary breadwinner. It's mostly people who do other things, lots of Ph.D.s who teach a class here or there for fun, some retirees who like to keep a hand in and work with kids. They're excellent teachers--I know some of them in other capacities--but they're not the normal professional teachers that you might see elsewhere.
And, finally, there aren't many frills. There's very little in the way of extracurriculars. No basketball or football team, etc.
I do think there were some extenuating circumstances that led the school to be smaller recently than it once was. (I'd rather not get into that...) And the small size is definitely a problem for them, so they are working hard to attract more students. For example, they were quite willing to accept DS7 as a part-time student/part-time homeschooler. Most private schools around here wouldn't consider that sort of arrangement. But the GT school would have been happy to have him.
I think that if you see a need for a GT school and you can start one, you probably should!
