So in CT, public schools pay more than most private schools. They have vastly better insurance and job security. If you are competent enough to get certified, where would you choose to work? I don't live in Shelton, but I'm not far away. Our parochial schools around here take the teachers that aren't able to pass the state certification requirements. I was a public school teacher here, and saw a young teacher who failed her student teaching at my school (she just couldn't manage a classroom at all) get snapped up by a Catholic school, making half what a first year teacher got in my district. Another friend worked at a VERY fancy private boarding school which shall remain unnamed. She had an Ivy league PhD, so they hired her for that credential alone, but no teaching experience at all. She was honestly kind of a (self-admitted) disaster in the classroom, and still didn't make any more money than a public school teacher. The truth is that passing the tests, coursework, and student teaching requirements for certification isn't easy, and a LOT of people quit along the way, and then go to work in private schools because that's the only option they have.

I've tutored kids from private schools in the area, and not been impressed. I teach at the college level now, and don't find private school students to have any academic advantages. If I was considering a private school, I would ask tough, specific questions about the experience, credentials, turnover, and compensation of the teachers, and ask yourself if a good teacher would really choose to work at that school. I know one teacher in Shelton, and she's phenomenal. With her credentials and experience, she would easily be hired by any private school in the area. But she chooses to teach in the public schools, and that says a lot.