Leaving traditional public - should next school be public magnet or private?

I have 2 middle schoolers in a Suburban public school. Both are pretty athletic, consistently get great grades, no behavioral issues, and all around ideal students.

We want to move them from this traditional 6A public school for several reasons, the main one being to be exposed to a more rigorous academic setting.

The 2nd big reason is the growth of the population around us. Literally everywhere we turn, entire neighborhoods are being built. Our district hit 20k student last year and is constantly growing. The district has to redraw the boundary lines every 3-4 years due to growth. It’s crazy. It’s just too many kids here.

We feel like we have 2 options for next school year: #1, apply for/get accepted into one of the top magnet programs in my state. This would be a 5A inner city public school (free, of course) and I would have to provide transportation. No biggie since the school is by my job. The school was a 2023 Blue Ribbon school, if that says anything. My girls are minorities, so there would be a lot more diversity there than in our current suburban school.

Or #2, attend a private school with even less diversity then they have right now, and that participates in 4A athletics. We aren’t SUPER religious people. We do teach our girls about the basics of being good people and attend church when we can. The private schools offered have different denominations and some were even recommended by atheists since they didn’t feel like religion was being shoved down their throats. We identify as Christians though.

I’ve never attended a private or magnet school but I want opinions on others’ experiences. I’m not really sure what all I need to consider (other than cost) to make the right decision. Would you choose private even if you had access to a top magnet? How big of a role should diversity play in the decision? What else do I need to consider? The goal is for both my girls to get either academic or athletic scholarships to any extent for college.

Looking for (nice) opinions from all angles from parents, students, teachers etc.

TLDR: Leaving suburban public school. Should next school be top public magnet in the state? Or a private school?

Submitted December 29, 2024 at 12:46PM by Infinite_Ship_3882 https://ift.tt/yurUbqG