My son is at the age where it's time to start looking into elementary schools. Let me preface this by saying education is very important to me and I want to give my son the best education I possibly can. Where I live public schools aren't great, not really impressed with the charter schools and there is only one private school. The only private school is Catholic, which after some research I'm not at all concerned about the religious aspect of it. I am incredibly impressed by the curriculum, the culture and everything the school has to offer. It has consistently ranked one of the best private schools in the country. I even think the private school price tag is reasonable.

A bit of background. My son's father doesn't value education like I do. He also has two other sons with his girlfriend and has made comments about all the boys going to the same school. I simply don't care where his other kids go to school. Which may sound cruel to some, or that I don't care about my son's relationship with his half brothers but I want the best for my child and the others aren't my concern. We have a civil co-parent relationship but come from very different backgrounds which has caused some tension and most likely always will. I have a feeling school is going to be one of those issues.

Now here is where I need advice. How do I bring this up without sounding like it's my way or no way ? At this moment this is a non-negotiable to me, but I don't want my tone or phrasing to come off this way. When it comes to my son's father I have a hard time not sounding like a controlling twit. It's something I'm working on and getting better at. This school just seems like the best option and I'm not asking for my ex to help pay. I am more than capable of handling the financials on my own. On the extreme side (because brain goes to worst case scenario) if he flat out says no, do I have any recourse? Can I say too bad, it's where he's going and deal with it? I don't want it to come to that, I'm just curious. This school does have different tuition tiers based on income/need so I thought about bringing this up so he knows it's a possible option for his other kids. Anxiety is getting the best of me as I just want this to go smoothly. Thanks in advance!