It's the same in the UK; generally, people are happy with one of the local state schools (a 'public' school here is a posh private school). However, there are d

It's the same in the UK; generally, people are happy with one of the local state schools (a 'public' school here is a posh private school). However, there are definitely a certain set of parents who go to extreme lengths to get little Bobby in the Right State School, since the quality varies so much. There are frequently TV programmes and newspaper articles about parents who move just to get their kids in certain schools; who have second homes and pretend they live there; who buy to sublet etc; all just to be in the catchment area for particular schools. It's understandable on one level, but still ridiculous.