'Moms Talk' Q & A: Public or Private School?

Each week the council will answer a question on parenthood posed to them by readers or another member of council.

This week, the Moms Council addresses the question of whether to enroll children in a private or public school.

For me, the choice was made by economics. Although my siblings went to Catholic school, when you're the youngest of five children costs start adding up at that point.

I know expense is just one factor in deciding which route to take, so I thought I'd put the question to someone who has made that decision.

Kim Zannetti: We were debating this ourselves. Being an educator for 22 years, I truly believe that you get out of your education exactly what you put into it.  I also felt it was important to give children exposure to diversity. While there are wonderful private and parochial schools available, there just seems to be a little more diversity in public schools.

With the implementation of "No Child Left Behind," public schools have truly raised the bar as far as expectations/demands on its students. While I was attracted to the opportunity for parochial schools to implement religion/values discussion in classroom, I also realized that the most important provider of that ideology is the family.