I loved the campuses of the the 3 private HS in our area, but not the tuition. I also didn’t like all the fancy $$$$ weekend trips. Son could bike to the public. Since I had friends at the privates, I could compare AP grades. Our public had far more 5’s than the privates. I don’t think my son would have gotten a better education at OUR privates. Some of his peers are on great trajectories.
We have nothing like Horace Mann, but then, we have no Scarsdale. I saved my $ so son could have a wider choice of colleges.