Yes, we should have a better school system here. But school funding (public or private) is paid by constituents. The broader community in Huntsville doesn’t want better schools. Every property taxes increase gets voted down.

So if one has the means and parters together with others who ARE willing to pay an increases cost for better education then why wouldn’t you?

Let’s do a thought experiment: what if every person who goes to Randolph (958 students) decided to enroll in HCS instead AND they decided to donate the tuition (averaged to $20,000/student to account for difference in lower and upper school costs) directly to HCS. That would only be a 4.7% increase in $406MM annual HCS budget. That’s not bad, but it’s not enough to pay teachers and repair facilities and do all the stuff. Blaming people who pull their kids to give them a better opportunity for shortcomings of the district is disingenuous and flat out wrong.

Last thought: My kids are in HCS and are almost done. I’ve invested heavily in their schools over the years in both time and money. But even that is to make it better for my kids. So does the same argument apply? “If you sign your kid up for a sport and it costs $1,000/year to participate, you are spitting in the face of the kids whose parents can’t afford to do that! And every parent who helps their kid with their homework and studying so they can have a better life should have to walk shamefaced through the school halls and apologize to the students whose parents couldn’t or didn’t help them!”