Oh I feel for you - we've just been going through this ourselves. For me most of the problem is that I've done so much reading that I have a reasonable idea now of what I'd like in a school - but it doesn't seem to exist. The semester started on Tuesday morning, and we only decided that morning that we wouldn't move the boys. So we've turned down a school that supports acceleration but has no places currently in the grade we want, and have stayed at a school that has multi-age classes but doesn't support acceleration. Fortunately DS6 has been mellow over the holidays, so he thought our indecision was quite funny.
Bloody, bloody beaurocratic departments. All I want is a school that will teach my children to learn and think. If I though this was a difficult thing to arrange then I might be less angry and frustrated.