He is moving here to Orange County from our NY office next year. He has been grilling me on the schools out here where we live for several months and he and his wife decided they weren't up to snuff and decided on private school. $20k a year.

The public schools out here are excellent (lots of 9's and 10's). To each their own but it feels to me like a giant waste of money for an 8 year old. I would understand if you are in an area where public schools are really crappy and you feel that the private school route is the only choice, but throwing away $20k/year (once you account for all the costs) for a 3rd grade education when there are excellent public schools seems so dumb to me.