Stately Laquedem McMansion stands on a quiet lane in one of the Metro area's top three school districts. The school district's reputation and high college placement rate helps keep property values high.
At least fifteen percent of the houses on our lane send children to private schools instead of to the public schools. (This is before accounting for households with no children, so the actual percentage of children here who go to private school is higher.) A few days ago I learned that one of our Noble Employers, who lives a few blocks away in the same district, is moving his child from public to private school next year. Another of the Noble Employers said that he's moving into our district from one recognized to be inferior, but will continue to send his children to private school.
In many other cities, parents send their children to private schools because the public schools are objectively bad. I recall reading something in the Big O a few months ago to the effect that in the Portland area, the better the public school, the more likely parents are to send their children to private schools instead. One reason is economic: the better public schools are in more expensive areas, and parents living there are better able to afford private school.
Something's wrong when we move our families to the best school districts in order not to send our children to those schools.