Having lived in The Woodlands area of Texas and being likely to return, we’ve looked into private education there quite extensively in order to avoid the religious and political constraints on state education as well as the overemphasis on standardized testing. We’ve put our son’s name down for a secular private Jewish school near to where I would work. They had no formal requirement for our children to be Jewish, and I was much more satisfied with the curriculum and we will sign exemptions from religious practice as with many of the other families.
In terms of private insurance, it should be covered by your husband’s work, but look at the documents closely in terms of policy limits and coverage out of state, especially dental/optical. It is possible to get pre existing coverage via work, it’s a negotiation they anticipate having. I have substantial spinal damage from a work injury and that was covered. I was very happy with the medical care received, they even paid for a follow up spinal operation in Ohio at the specialist clinic I’d previously had operations in.
In terms of crime, Texas seemed amazingly safe. My background is around military/defense, though we do not keep guns as a family, it may have made me more comfortable. For reference, my husband is of visibly Arab descent and he never suffered any problems in terms of racism there. He speaks solely in Arabic to our son, and while people found this interesting, no one said anything negative. I speak a mixture of Hebrew and British English to our son, and that seemed weirder to them. We admittedly did live in an affluent neighborhood, which may have contributed to that, but we were pleasantly surprised.
We didn’t have particularly high bills, cheaper than our homes in the Middle East for sure. However, there is close to zero functional inter city transport other than driving which can be annoying - driving isn’t optional unfortunately. Gas is cheaper than the UK. The only thing I found problematic was grocery shopping: I’m extremely sensitive to penicillin and we lived there during a period where animals were still being given it as part of standard treatment at farms. This meant my diet was quite restricted. Alternative diets were not catered for well, and I felt a bit awkward in restaurants ordering sides only or asking them to leave the meat off. This may well have just been British awkwardness at play, as people are very polite and keen to help.
Ultimately, I’d go. Our son has travelled between cities with us since birth, and he astonishes me every day with how wonderfully open he is to different ideas and cultures, how insightful and respectful his questions are and how easily he adapts to new places. I wouldn’t take those experiences away from him for the world, even though moving can be stressful. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, I’m happy to help if I can.