Is there any formal document presently setting child support; e.g. court order or unincorporated/“private” agreement of some type?
Be aware that if the court gets involved, there are no real rules in NC regarding the setting of child support. Judge does whatever judge wants to do using his/her “broad discretion” in support matters. A judge may deviate from the Guidelines upon his own initiative or upon motion from either party. And thanks to Pataky v. Pataky (2003, NC COA), the Guidelines are no longer legally presumptive in all cases. What does all this mean? Don’t rely exclusively on the 2002 Guidelines commentary when attempting to determine the “correct” amount of child support.
From court’s perspective, travel costs may or may not be considered as “deductible” “extraordinary expense.” It’s all up to the judge. Furthermore, even if the court designates an expense as “extraordinary,” you still might not get credit for it in the computation that determines the actual CS amount.
If attendance at private school is truly just an “alternative” to public school and not based on any special educational need of the child, the court is not supposed to consider private school tuition as an “extraordinary expense.” But, depending upon the particular circumstances, an argument could be made that the private school is a necessity. The argument could be quite weak and easily refutable. This might not matter to the judge, though, and you’re then stuck with paying for private school when a readily available public school is quite capable of meeting child’s educational needs.