Last fall, I wrote extensively about our dilemma of whether to send the boys to public or private school. After doing some research, I concluded that our local public school would be more than adequate. But then came California’s budget crisis and uncertainty about what that means for our local school. (I feel much like this local mom.)

Marc and I had just decided that we’d apply to one of the private schools I visited a few months ago and if Alex got in, we’d send him there. But his pediatrician has encouraged to go with our public school because there would be more opportunities available to him through LAUSD’s gifted program (which he thinks Alex would get into).

So now I’m torn again.

Fortunately, Alex won’t start kindergarten until 2010, so we have a year to see what changes are made at the public school. Hopefully they’ll be minimal!

My friend Beverly kindly sent me a link to the California Charter School Association, which has a handy charter schools locator that you can use to find charter schools in your area.

I haven’t found a national charter schools locator, but the U.S. Charter Schools web site seems to have some interesting basic information about charter schools. I didn’t even really know what a charter school is, so this definition was helpful:

Charter schools are nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The “charter” establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school’s contract. Charter schools are accountable to their sponsor — usually a state or local school board — to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for this accountability. They are accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups: the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them.

It looks like there are several charter schools within our area, so I’ll be adding them to mix in deciding where to send the boys to school.

As I mentioned previously, the LAUSD Choices Program Informational Fair was held this past weekend. The main attraction was the three seminars, which were each held three times so that you could attend each one, in whatever order you chose. I know for sure that two of the seminars addressed Magnet schools and Gifted/High-Ability Magnet schools. I think the third seminar covered the Public School Choice program, which allows children whose local school is classified as needing academic improvement to transfer to a better school.

I didn’t know what to expect at the fair, but I did come away with the information I was hoping to get: details on the application and selection process for magnet schools. I attended the Magnet school seminar and learned some things I didn’t know about the priority points system. For instance, there are a maximum of 12 Wait List or Matriculation points, but you can add points for other criteria. You get 3 points if a sibling will be enrolled in the same school. And you get 4 points each if the school is designated as “Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or Other Non-Anglo” or overcrowded. Thus, a child could have a maximum of 23 points at the time of application. I’d been under the impression that the maximum was 12, but it turns out that’s just for the Wait List/Matriculation points. (For more info on the points system, see page 3 of the Choices Program Brochure (pdf).)

It was interesting to learn how the selection process works. The children with the most points are accepted first, and only when there are more children with the same number of points than there are slots does it become a random lottery. So, for example, say you have a school with 100 openings and 150 applicants, as follows:

• 20 applicants – 23 points
• 25 applicants – 20 points
• 30 applicants – 15 points
• 50 applicants – 12 points
• 25 applicants – less than 12 points

The applicants with 23, 20 and 15 points all get in, so that’s 75 slots filled.

That leaves 50 applicants with 12 points competing for 25 slots. That’s when the random lottery comes into play. It’s also where race comes into play: There are two lists, one for “white” and one for “non-white.” And each school has a certain racial percentage to reach – some are 70% non-white, while some are 60% non-white. So the way I understood the explanation, the number of kids that come off of the two lists in the lottery process is determined by the number of such kids needed to achieve the desired racial profile of the school. And you really only have two choices for race in the application process: white or non-white. So for a child who’s of mixed race, checking one box or the other could be the difference between getting in or not getting in.

The lecturer recommended checking a box at the end of the application to allow your name and address to be shared with other magnet schools. That way, if you’re wait listed at the school you applied to, other schools that have slots to fill will be able to call you and ask if you’d like to attend their school instead. Declining such an invitation does not affect your wait list priority points. But the lecturer suggested that before you accept such an invitation, you call your preferred school first and find out what your chances of getting in there are, because you will be removed from the wait list once you decide to go to another school.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to attend the other seminars. We attended the fair as a family, and the boys were ready to go home after the Magnet seminar. That was fine, since I’d learned what I really wanted to know. But if I’d realized that there was a hall where each school had a representative, I would have stopped by some of those tables first. However, the good thing about starting my research early is that I’ll be able to attend next year’s fair before Alex starts kindergarten, and I’ll have a better idea of what to expect then.

I had a couple of friends who also attended the fair, so if they tell me anything noteworthy from the other seminars, I’ll be sure to pass the info along.

About a month ago, Madison of My Dollar Plan wrote about getting a $50 Target gift card when you open a new California 529 account at Fidelity. I was pretty excited because we don’t have 529 accounts for the boys yet. (I opened Coverdell Education Savings Accounts for them when they were born, though.)

This bonus offer is just the motivation I need to get those 529 accounts opened. The $50 Target gift card is a huge return in and of itself, and having the accounts open means that family can contribute to the boys’ college funds if they are so inclined. It also gives me a place to transfer my Upromise earnings, so I don’t have to go through the hassle of requesting a check.

I am disappointed that California provides no state tax deduction for contributing to a 529 account. And with the state needing all the money it can get, I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Notable fine print: The offer expires on December 31, 2008, and is limited to California residents. You must establish an automatic monthly investment of at least $50 per month, with the initial $50 automatic investment contributed and invested within 90 days after the account is opened. There’s a limit of two gift cards per person, and each account must have a different designated beneficiary and be individually owned (no trust, custodial or other ownership arrangements).

As Madison points out, the fine print states that you should allow 8 to 10 weeks from qualification for the mailing of the gift card, so you might end up having to make up to three monthly contributions of $150 per account before you can terminate your contributions. Even if you end up contributing $150 before you get your gift card, though, you’ll still get a 33% return on your investment, and you’ll have that money sitting there and growing until your child heads off to college. That’s a pretty good deal all around!

This is timely, in light of this morning’s post on paying for private university: CampusGrotto has a list of the most expensive colleges for the 2008-2009 school year.

Here’s the top 10 for tuition only:

1. Bates College – $43,950
2. Middlebury College – $42,910
3. Colby College – $42,730
4. Union College (NY) – $40,953
5. Connecticut College – $40,900
6. George Washington University – $40,392
7. Vassar College – $39,635
8. Sarah Lawrence College – $39,450
9. Bucknell University – $39,434
10. Colgate University – $39,275

And here’s the top 10 for tuition plus room and board:

1. Sarah Lawrence College – $53,166
2. George Washington University – $50,312
3. New York University – $50,182
4. Georgetown University – $49,689
5. Connecticut College – $49,385
6. Bates College – $49,350
7. Johns Hopkins University – $49,278
8. Skidmore College – $49,266
9. Scripps College – $49,236
10. Middlebury College – $49,210

Here’s a list of the 100 most expensive schools by tuition. And here’s a list of the 100 most expensive schools by total cost.

In case you were wondering, the school my dentist’s daughter is attending is not in the top 10, but is in the top 25. Yikes!

Via The Consumerist.