I never understood the paying for private school thing. If you pay taxes in a school system (and not personalty referring to op) but its not good enough for your kids then why live there. We live in one of the best school systems in the state and it blows my mind after the taxes people pay to live in this school district they still send them to a private school. In more cases then not I think its more a status thing than anything. And even in an average school if your not active in your kids life and the school/community then its not going to matter much anyhow for most kids.
There are countless reasons to live somewhere that have nothing to do with the quality of the public schools in that area. Job requirements, proximity to family, caring for an elder parent, real estate conditions, quality of life, etc.
Or maybe you live somewhere with decent schools that become lousy schools by the time your kids are ready to attend, and various economic or personal factors make it difficult to move to a different school district.
Or maybe you live in a city and send your kids to a great school. But then with the stroke of a pen, the school board redrew the school lines and now your kids have an hour long bus ride to a crappy school on the other side of town.
Or maybe you strongly value a particular method of education which works well for your kid, and that method is not generally used at public schools.
Or maybe your kid was floundering, not challenged, or bullied in your local public school, and then flourished when you tried the private school out of desperation.
Personally, due to a combination of some of the above factors, I'm happy to pay for private school for our kids. I won't speak for anyone else, but in our case it has nothing to do with status whatsoever.