But once you've become sensitized to the impact of paying for daycare on your budget, it's easy to logically just continue the same budget and funnel the same money to a different school.

This. I put my kid into daycare because it didn't cost more than daycare and I'd been paying it this long, what was paying it forever when I'm financially stable. My kid is special needs and the public school would have never accommodated her like this private school has.

> If you're paying $20k for private school,

The link says the average for HS is $15.6k; if that's a mathematical mean, that's going to be driven up by a handful of very expensive schools.

> and there's a free option (public school)

Most public schools in the US are garbage.

> - you obviously have a healthy amount of disposable income.

Or make frugal choices elsewhere, or receive scholarships/ financial aid, likely both.

Yes, that's right, parents can drive an older car and skip buying a bigger TV and cook at home and save money in all kinds of ways, and private schools offer scholarships and financial aid to advance missions of service.

> Or make frugal choices elsewhere, or receive scholarships/ financial aid, likely both.

Most people are already doing that and still can't spend $20k to send their children to a non-"garbage" school.