The house and public schools

Yesterday we looked at the house that needs work on 10 acres. Despite the fact that the house needs quite a bit of cosmetic updating, I really liked the house. The big problem is the schools are horrible! The elementary, middle and high school are some of the poorest performing schools in the state- and they are not even City schools! One school district west of that house are great schools, but the ones for the house are really low down on the test scores, performance indicators, and parent ratings.
I have always been a very strong advocate of public schools. I strongly believe that private schools are ruining the public schools. By giving parents an alternative to their local school district, then the parents who care about education and have money move their kids to a private school. A lot of these parents also have the ability to help out more at school and are more involved with their child's education. It's not that lower income families don't care because many many do, but many of the parents have jobs (sometimes mulitple jobs) and are unable to volunteer during the day. I could be totally off, but I do have a problem with private schools.
That being said, how do you make the decision between a house and your children's education and your own personal values. If we wanted just the education, we would stay in our current house. AA county has many very good schools and the high school that my kids would go to is the better of the two in Pasadena. The Baltimore County house has more space inside (1750 sq feet on main floor and 1750 in basement= 3500 sq feet vs our house of 990 sq ft on main floor and 850 on lower floor = 1840). It also have more space outside with a huge 10.84 acre lot vs our 1.45 acre lot. It is also located on non-busy roads and way back from the road. It looks like a perfect place for boys.
I just can't get past the schools though...