• I was raised in private schools, and I had my children go to private schools, too.
• However, we couldn't afford a private high school, so they were forced to attend a public school.
• In the public high school, they have amazing opportunities and are better set for college.

I grew up going to private schools. For eight years, my daily uniform was a blue plaid jumper and blouse with a Peter Pan collar. High school loosened some of the reins with only a (relatively strict) dress code to contend with: no jeans, no shirts with slogans, and definitely no short skirts. My private school education continued through my college years at my ivy-on-the-walls East Coast school and even into graduate school. I never knew anything different.

When I had kids, I assumed I'd send them to private schools, too. It felt like the only choice, as that is what I grew up with.

When our family moved to California, and my oldest was ready to start kindergarten, we didn't even consider sending her to public school. Instead, we picked from among a few private schools near where we would be living. Uniforms made the morning hours easy, and I enjoyed the supportive community we found at our small private school.

I had to change my thinking about private schools when my kids entered high school.

Everything changed with high school approaching

As my oldest kid reached eighth grade and it was time for us to consider high school, private school was no longer an option. The tuition cost was too high, and we couldn't afford $20,000+ a year (plus books, lunch money, activity fees, etc.), especially considering that we'd eventually have three kids in high school at once.

We registered our daughter for our local public high school, knowing very little about it. The months leading up to the start of school were filled with anxiety as most of her classmates and friends were continuing at private high schools. I was worried she'd be starting school without knowing a single person.

Luckily, our high school had a summer program that helped with the transition, and two of her former classmates ended up going to her school as well. All of this made the transition a bit easier.

Public school was the right path for my family

I now have two kids in our public high school, and my third will be joining them in the fall. While I initially felt nervous about the unknowns of public school, I can confidently say that public high school was the best thing that could have happened for us.

My son would likely say that the free lunches (including brunch-time cinnamon rolls!) are the highlight of public high school, but I can see many more benefits.

When signing up for electives, I learned that not only did they offer traditional options like art and music classes, but kids could also take woodworking, metalworking, or set-building classes. My son was proud to bring home the metal toolbox he welded for his final metalworking project. I love that these options are available.

When it came time to choose a science class, I was surprised to learn that our school, located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, has its own on-site farm. The kids can raise pigs, chickens, and other animals as part of their coursework.

My kids raised a pig last year and will do it again this year. They also participated in a community plant sale, and my son joined the school's Milk and Cheese Tasting Team, which competes at regional Future Farmers of America events.

Who would have thought these would be options at our suburban high school?

The public high school is setting my kids up for success in college

For her junior year, my daughter was accepted into our high school's middle college program. This allows juniors and seniors to take their classes full-time at the local community college, setting them up to graduate from high school with college credits or even their associate degree if they are especially motivated. She has no Friday classes, which allows her to work and pay for gas and other expenses.

I know my other kids will follow in her footsteps, allowing them to be better prepared for their college years.

While I never anticipated that my kids would go to public high school, I now see it as a blessing in disguise, as it offered programs we wouldn't have had access to at our local private schools.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won a game of brinksmanship with his own party on budget reconciliation. Now he's prepared to do the same with Democrats on government funding, lawmakers and aides tell us.

Why it matters: House Republicans are increasingly confident they can avoid a government shutdown without any Democratic support.

• "I think it demonstrated we can do things on our own," House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters on Wednesday.
• Going alone would be unprecedented but not impossible. The current funding bill runs through March 14.

🙏 Johnson will need strong buy-in from the White House that President Trump will back his approach.

• After a White House meeting Wednesday, Johnson said a spending stopgap is "becoming inevitable."

Between the lines: The appropriation process has been complicated by Elon Musk's and DOGE's efforts to cut money that Congress has obligated to departments and agencies.

• That's caused a Democratic uproar and raised the possibility they won't give Republicans the votes they could need to keep the government open.
• But Johnson said Wednesday that Republicans shouldn't expect to get DOGE cuts written into a spending stopgap.
• The speaker told reporters the "most reasonable" thing is to avoid a shutdown by pursuing a "clean" CR.

Zoom in: House and Senate GOP leaders met with their appropriators Wednesday morning to discuss their next steps.

• Republicans are united, for now, on a single point: they will not give in to Democratic demands to block Musk's cost-cutting efforts.
• "The Democrats have had completely unreasonable conditions assigned to this," Johnson said. "They want us to limit the power of the executive branch."
• "That's a no-go," Cole said. "We're not moving."
• "The Democrats need to be working with us on a realistic basis," Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told Axios.

The bottom line: Republicans will need some eight Democratic votes in the Senate to break a filibuster and pass a government funding bill.

• In the House, they have always relied on Democratic votes to fund the government.
• House Republicans passing a funding bill without Democratic help is unprecedented but not impossible.

Hamas transferred to Israel the bodies of four hostages on Thursday morning local time as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal, the Israeli prime minister's office said.

The big picture: The return of the bodies completes the release of 33 hostages as part of the first phase of the deal.

• The 42-day truce is due to end on Saturday, but the deal stipulates the ceasefire will continue as long as the parties continue to negotiate on the next phase.

Driving the news: Hamas and Israel announced on Tuesday that they have reached an understanding that will end the crisis that erupted when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to delay the release of 600 Palestinian prisoners last Saturday.

• The parties agreed that Hamas would return the bodies of the four Israeli hostages a day ahead of the original plan.
• In return, Israel would release the 600 prisoners and several other prisoners who were supposed to be released thus week.
• Hamas also agreed not to conduct any public ceremony around the return of the bodies, Israeli officials said.

Situation report: The bodies of the hostages were transferred via the Red Cross without any ceremonies.

• Egyptian officials assisted in the mediation and were on the ground during the exchange, the Israeli prime minister's office said.
• As the bodies were being transferred and Israel started the process of releasing some of the prisoners, with the rest expected to be released after the four bodies of the hostages have been identified.

What's next: An Israeli delegation is expected to leave on Thursday to Doha or Cairo to start negotiating the next step with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, an Isralei official told me.

• The Israeli official said the goal is to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas on an extension of another 42 days to the ceasefire during which more Israeli hostages and more Palestinain prisoners will be released.
• White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to the region as soon as Sunday to join the negotiations.
• President Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the transfer of the bodies is the end of the first phase of the deal and the beginning of the second phase.
• "Now Israel will have to decide what it wants to do," he said.

The price of eggs is expected to rise by 41.1% this year as the bird flu continues to rip through the nation's agricultural economy, the federal government projected in a new report.

Why it matters: That's more than double the 20% increase predicted in January.

• Egg prices have been climbing to record highs daily and shortages have been growing, which has led stores to limit how many eggs any one shopper can buy.

The big picture: The outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza that begun in 2022 has recently intensified.

• In January, it affected 18.8 million egg laying hens, the highest monthly total of the three-year crisis, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

By the numbers: The USDA's Economic Research Service provided a range for its 2025 price-growth prediction of between 15% to 74.9%.

• Egg prices already increased 13.8% in January after rising by 8.4% the prior month, the report said.
• Prices this January were 53% higher than they were 12 months earlier.

State of play: Restaurants, including Waffle House and Denny's, have added temporary egg surcharges because of high egg prices and shortages.

• But McDonald's has no plans to add an egg fee and is expanding its breakfast menu and offering a deal on Egg McMuffins this Sunday.
• Michael Gonda, the fast-food giant's McDonald's North America chief impact officer, wrote on LinkedIn Tuesday that "unlike others making news recently, you definitely WON'T see McDonald's USA issuing surcharges on eggs, which are 100% cage-free and sourced in the U.S."

Trump admin plan to "make eggs affordable again"

What's next: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said today in a WSJ op-ed that the Trump administration "will invest up to $1 billion to curb this crisis and make eggs affordable again."

• "We are working with the Department of Government Efficiency to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending," Rollins wrote. "We will repurpose some of those dollars by investing in long-term solutions to avian flu, which has resulted in about 166 million laying hens being culled since 2022."
• Rollins noted prices should "start coming down maybe this spring, this summer as we work to implement some of these bigger picture solutions."
• "Once we're past Easter, then we'll hopefully have some really good solutions for the American people," Rollins said.

The intrigue: If egg prices are still high for Easter, expect families to turn to alternatives like painting and hiding potatoes, an idea that sprouted in 2023 because of high prices.

More from Axios:

• Tooth fairy payouts drop to lowest rate in years
• Crafts retailer Joann going out of business; 19,000 jobs lost
• Peter Rawlinson out as CEO of luxury EV maker Lucid

The Washington Post's Opinion Section editor David Shipley resigned after owner Jeff Bezos mandated the section prioritize two topics, personal liberties and free markets, and not publish dissenting views in those areas.

Why it matters: The changes will dramatically reshape The Post's opinion coverage, which has focused on a broad array of issues, especially politics and policy, for decades.

• "This is a significant shift, it won't be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision," Bezos wrote in a note to staff Wednesday. "We'll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction."

The big picture: The new announcement, following a controversial move by Bezos to kill presidential endorsements last year, shows how much Bezos is willing to assert his power to shape public opinion as the owner of one of the country's largest newspapers.

• The Post lost thousands of subscribers last year over Bezos' endorsement decision. Members of the Opinion Board resigned in protest.

Zoom in: Bezos said the Post will cover other topics "but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others."

• "There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader's doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job," Bezos wrote.
• "I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity," he added.
• "I'm confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I'm excited for us together to fill that void."

Between the lines: Bezos said he offered Shipley the opportunity to lead the section under the new guidelines, but "after careful consideration, David decided to step away," he wrote.

State of play: Bezos' announcement quickly drew backlash from journalists online, including at The Post.

• "Massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post's opinion section today — makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there," The Post's chief economics reporter Jeff Stein posted on X. "I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will be quitting immediately and letting you know."

Zoom out: The vast majority of America's largest newspapers by circulation didn't endorse a presidential candidate this year, marking a stark departure from previous election cycles and a turning point in the history of American opinion journalism.

• Opinion sections become a major source of contention within newsrooms during the first Trump administration, with journalists at major newspapers urging their bosses to reevaluate their policies.

What to watch: Efforts by the Trump administration to scrutinize media have forced media, entertainment and tech companies to make difficult decisions about how far they will go to defend their editorial values.

• Most notably, ABC in December settled a lawsuit filed against it by Donald Trump, even though some legal experts said ABC could've won the case.
• CBS News faces pressure to settle a $20 billion lawsuit with Trump, as its parent Paramount awaits regulatory approval to merge with Skydance Media.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Bezos is mandating the section prioritize coverage of personal liberties and free markets (not publish articles on those topics only).