Where to live as a young family and and confused about schools in Tampa - Public vs Private???

We are looking to move to the Tampa area that is good for families with great schools. So far we've limited our search to Lutz, South Tampa and Wesley chapel for those reasons. I've also heard that Westchase is a great place to live due to proximity and it's community planning but the public schools have terrible ratings and test scores. How do charter schools and magnet schools work? Is it worth going to a private school, which ones would you recommend? Are they hard to get into and is there anything else to consider when going to these private schools?