Public school, or private?

Private, or parochial?

Charter, or cyber charter?

How about a magnet school, a boarding school or even home-schooling?

A sprawling marketplace of options in kindergarten to 12th-grade education has emerged in the region.

Parents can choose from institutions steeped in tradition or schools so new the lawns have yet to be seeded.

They can pick a school that is free because it is public or free because it is a charter and the local school district must pick up the tuition.

And schools, both public and private, are learning to hone a competitive edge.

Across the region, private schools report that applications remain strong even in a weakened economy. Still, officials say, they are not resting on laurels or on ivy-covered walls; fund-raising goes on year-round to pay for upgrades and new construction.

The all-boys' Haverford School has a new sports arena. So does Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne. Construction is on the calendar at the all-girls' Springside School in Chestnut Hill.

There is also a healthy number of applications to schools focusing on youngsters with learning difficulties and parochial schools in exurban suburbs. Catholic enrollments in the city continue to fall, however.

The situation is especially interesting in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia, where exclusive private schools and established Catholic and Quaker high schools have family allegiances across generations.

No matter that the local public schools report stellar state test scores, impressive SAT results, and a litany of programs to attend to every sort of learning problem. Nonpublic schools have siphoned at least one of every five school-age children in numerous suburban districts, according to Inquirer survey results.

Ten districts reported especially high numbers not attending public schools: Norristown Area, Springfield (Montgomery County) and Bensalem, 30 percent; Haverford and Bristol Township, 32 percent; Neshaminy and Cheltenham, 33 percent; Lower Merion, 36 percent; Marple Newtown, 39 percent; and Upper Darby, 40 percent.

Parents are drawn to the nonpublic schools for such reasons as small class size, security and safety, and a strong focus both on academics and on character-building.

Those points are not lost on public schools, which have begun to tout small classes, secure environments, strong academics, and emphasis on character and service. School uniforms are increasingly common in public schools, especially at the elementary level.

Public districts have taken pains to spruce up their images, sending newsletters to residents touting accomplishments and hiring public-relations consultants.

The competition, though, is not the various independent and parochial schools established in their communities, but the upstart charter schools.

The charters also tempt families pinched by tuition. The median tuition in the region is about $6,500 for nonpublic schools. There is no charge to students opting for a charter-school seat.

To help Pennsylvania families strapped by tuition costs, the General Assembly last year authorized $30 million in tax credits for businesses that make contributions to scholarship organizations or educational-improvement groups. Critics characterized the plan as a "back-door" vouchers effort by the Ridge administration.

And most private schools offer financial aid in varying amounts as a means of encouraging a diverse student population.

In this region, charter schools have tended to locate in districts where local schools lack resources and fail to perform at high levels on standardized tests.

But one variety of charter school - the Internet-based charter that has no schoolhouse but an abundance of home computers - is garnering wide attention from an eclectic mix of families, including home-schoolers.

The cybers also are coming under scrutiny from the local districts, which view the schools as costly and underregulated, and from the Pennsylvania legislature.

"They are an extraordinary phenomenon, and public education is going to have to run like heck to stay competitive with what they can offer," said Joseph Bard, a Harrisburg consultant and former state education official.

Both public and private schools must respond to the challenge posed by cyber schools' interactive approach to education, said Bard, adding: "Nobody's going to put that genie back in the bottle."