Agree! Excellent public school education all the way, and like your area, no long term house rentals.
I have never regretted buying the house for the stability it provided, and I have continued to live in the same house even though my children have graduated from college and moved to their respective cities. The property taxes I have paid since moving here do not cover the cost of 26 years of K-12 schooling, let alone what a private school would have cost.
My bias is against home ownership in the early post-grad years, but that is because I lived in cities where I knew I would not remain long term, and prices were prohibitive. Also, rent stabilization in NYC (back in the day) made ownership even less attractive.