We have friends who have started their kids in private schools to “give them a great start” and moved them to the public high school when they were confident that they were positioned to take advantage of what that school had to offer. We have friends who started their kids in private and kept them there. We have friends who did public throughout and ones who started at public and moved to private high school. There’s no right answer to this, even for two families with the same options.
It depends on your options, and it depends on your kid. Here are some of the pros and cons we considered, noting that at least for K-2, what kids are expected to learn is much the same everywhere.
Public schools often offer more services because as the “school of last resort”, they HAVE to accommodate all kinds of kids. If your child needs any of those services, from speech therapy to physical accommodations or an aide in the classroom, you may not be best served by a private school.
The educational requirements for elementary teachers may by more stringent at a public school, which can be good if they are focused on the developmental needs of young children.
A private school may find it easier to get rid of a teacher who seems to have lost his/her enthusiasm for the job.
As most public school districts are done by geography, most of your child’s friends will live nearby. This makes socializing outside school much easier, and provides the additional benefit of looping you, as parents, into the community you live in. (This can be really nice when they get a little older and you’re wondering if indeed there is a chaperone at XYZ event, etc…)
Private schools tend to be much more flexible about taking time off for vacations and travel.
Class size may differ. (Class sizes at our public were actually a bit smaller than at the private schools near us. ) yMMV.
Private schools have the luxury of “not inviting back” children who are disruptive to the classroom. Which is great until that kid is yours.
It is often hard for schools to truly differentiate among 4 year olds as to who they are/will be, so the ability to fit the kid to the school the way you can in high school (i.e., offers several levels of math beyond Calculus, amazing music program, etc.) isn’t always compelling. But you may feel that as a parent, you’ll be able to have more influence or access at one school over another.
You can choose a private school because you like its philosophy. You’re pretty much stuck with what the public offers. (Our public, for example, had the “everyone will do the same math through 6th grade” philosophy so that nobody got the feeling that he/she “wasn’t good at math”.) Or it may be a school that gives kids more opportunities to be physical, which can be great.
It isn’t always easy to switch TO a private, and if you live somewhere where you know you’ll want to be in the funnel for certain high schools, the private may represent that. Then again, if you are at a K-12 private school, you may want to consider how many students switch out and when. You may feel compelled to stay even if there are “better” options for your child simply because of friendships, etc.
In our experience, there wasn’t much difference in the early grades, but in later elementary, some schools seemed to have more engaging programs. This didn’t necessarily break down along public/private lines, though, so you’d really have to make the assessment based on your options.