kane

There is no doubt a ton of wasted money in the public school system, but there are real, legit reasons for the increased prices as well. For example, a private school can pick and choose how many students it lets in and which students it lets in. In a way this allows them to pick the cream of the crop. Of course there are going to be kids there that don't like school, but overall when parents are paying handsomely out of pocket they will be more engaged and overall there will be better kids that are easier to teach. Public schools don't get this luxury. They are often overcrowded and they have to handle every kid that comes to them. This means the troubled kids, the slow learners, those with special needs etc. When you are forced to deal with the masses you will have to spend money to deal with the variety of situations that are going to occur.

Certainly schools can do better with the money and could be run better, but to suggest that private school tend to cost less per kid and are better without qualifying why doesn't tell the entire story.