Blending Private and Public School:
How Families Find the Right Mix
By SOPHIE HAYWARD
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
January 12, 2005 10:36 p.m.
As the Feb. 1 application due date for many private schools approaches, some parents are asking: What's the best time in a child's education to spend private-school dollars?
Most students who attend private school attend from kindergarten through the 12th grade or in high school only, according to the National Association of Independent schools, which represents private schools primarily funded through tuition or donations, not church or tax dollars. There are more than twice as many ninth graders in independent schools as there are third graders, NAIS says. But some parents are deciding that limited private school dollars are better spent in the early years.
Paul Felton, of Orinda , Calif. , likes to call the approach "front loading." His eight-year-old daughter attends the private Saklan Valley School in Moraga , Calif. , but Mr. Felton expects her to attend public high school. It's the same path taken by her older sister, who is currently a senior at Miramonte High School . Mr. Felton, who runs a venture capital fund, says he is making the smart investment.
To me the logic is pretty simple and profound. I want [my kid's] foundation to be as firm and broad and strong as possible," he says. On the high-school end, Mr. Felton says, a large public school offered the kinds of social and extra-curricular dynamics harder to find in a small, private school. "The bigger the organization is, the more competitive it is," Mr. Felton said.
At Saklan, a K-8 school, about a third of the students matriculate to public schools for the 9th through 12th grades, says Jonathan Martin, head of Saklan.
Though educators say studies on the public/private path are unavailable, some say they see a shift in mindset among some parents.
"The trend we see is that more and more parents are recognizing the importance of early childhood education in establishing a foundation for learning, and are investing in the early years," Peggy Klein Mandell, director of admissions at the pre-k through 12 Springside School in Philadelphia, wrote in an e-mail. "More and more parents are saying it matters less where my children go to college and more about how prepared they are when they get there."
Ed and Paula DeMore of Boston , Mass. , took the private-public route with their three daughters, one now a senior in high school and the others both out of college. Mr. DeMore says he wanted the personal attention and intimacy of a small private school for his children during their early years, but a larger, more diverse environment for high school. While their eldest daughter was at a private middle school, Mr. DeMore and his wife has a talk. "We decided we wanted the real world for our kids, and this wasn't it," Mr. DeMore said. "We wanted them challenged academically but we also wanted them in schools with kids from all walks of life."
With the average cost of an independent school topping $14,000 a year for day school and $33,000 for boarding according to the NAIS, public school can be a huge cost savings.
"We definitely see some families making a decision in the ninth grade that they want their children to transition to public school, sometimes to take a tuition respite before college payments settle in," says Catherine Seton, admissions director at the pre-K through 12 King and Low-Heywood Thomas School in Stamford , Conn.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, private schools tend to have smaller enrollments, class sizes, and lower student/teacher ratios. A 2002 NCES study showed that private-school kids in 4th, 8th and 12th grades scored higher than their public school counterparts in science, math and reading and are twice as likely to receive a bachelor's degree or higher. In addition, teachers at private schools report having more control over the curriculum and report being satisfied with their job more often than public school teachers.
Some parents prefer the traditional route -- public school early, private school later. A good local public elementary school was one reason Meg and Peter Mason chose to live in Hinsdale , Ill. Ms. Mason says having her sons attend the same school as other neighborhood kids helped cultivate a sense of community and friendships that continued through adolescence. "It forges a bond," says Ms. Mason.
Now, her oldest son, Henry, is a freshman at Cornell University , while Ian, in 10th grade, and Peter in 8th, both attend the Latin School of Chicago. Ms. Mason is glad she didn't have to complete private-school applications before her kids turned five. "I just couldn't put my three-year-old through that interview process," Ms. Morgan says. By the fifth grade, she adds, sitting down with an admissions officer and taking an exam seemed less taxing.
