Considering move to good public school system in MA or RI (Barrington: how much, home)

[npkr]

I am presently sending my children to private school (ages 5, 10 and 12). I like their present schools and they are definitely learning. However, the cost is an issue. While I can afford to continue to pay for their private schooling, I cannot help but wonder if they might be able to get to the same places in life through a good public school system. It may seem a bit selfish of me, but there just might be other things I can do with that money for everyone in our family. Tuitition right now is about $24,000 a year. That is going to be serious cash over the next 10 to 15 years, not including college.

I presently live in northern RI and work in RI. I am serously considering moving to one of the "good" Massachusetts school districts (ie, Medfield) or the more rare "good" RI school districts(ie, East Greenwich or Barrington). These towns would be an acceptable commute for me. (Would like to keep it less than 35 minutes). Does this seem reasonable or just plain crazy?

We like where we live now but it is just so painful to write the checks each year. While I want the best for my children, I don't know if it will be worth it in the end. It's like paying for college twice.

I would appreciate any thoughts on this idea in general and, more specifically, the school districts and town life of Medfield, Ma, East Greenwich, Ri and Barrington, RI. Thank you in advance.

[Hollytree]

Personally, if I had kids in school I would check the state stats for reasonably good elementary & middle schools in RI (there are many possibilities in the different towns). I wouldn't even consider private tuition until high school age.

Why? Because the schools can't be completely responsible for ALL of a kid's education. If you have books in the home and encourage reading and use of the library, etc., buy foreign language learning software, take the kids out to museums, performances, etc. and keep track of how much they're learning, you can supplement what the schools provide (or more likely don't).

Colleges only look at the high school transcript, so why spend all that $$$ from day 1? Especially since you're already paying taxes for public schools- like it or not.