Our LPS has gangs and no honors classes before 11th… All 9th graders have to take algebra 1 and the highest math course is pre-calc. So yeah, it’s definitely worth paying $55+k/year to avoid.
We thought about renting a place in San Francisco and sending him to the exam school there (Lowell) but the annual rent probably would be at least as much as we’d pay for BS. And he wouldn’t get as much personal attention from teachers at a huge school (2700 students) as he would at BS (most of the ones he applied to are in the 300-600 range).