Preschool predicament

I had no idea how hard preschool could be. Not the finger painting and learning of the abc's but the finding and getting into the right preschool for my three year old daughter. Right now she is attending a private preschool because she missed the cutoff for the Chicago Public School system which is September 15th and her birthday is November 6th. But I guess part of the price of living life in the big city is the insanity of trying to get your kids into preschool. I had no idea how crazy it would be, I mean people actually put their kids on waiting lists for certain schools before they're even born! So we want our daughter to go to a public preschool for next year so this past fall we had to join in the insanity of finding and applying to all these different schools, which I have to be honest is just no fun. Most of these schools actually run a lottery to fill the spots available, and supposedly you almost have a better chance of winning the real lottery. Which would be sweet but come on! It's crazy! Our other options include homeschooling or moving to the burbs. Obviously the homeschooling thing is not going to happen because I actually want my kids to learn and if I'm stuck doing the teaching there's a very good possibility that will not happen. And moving to the burbs has been discussed for the future, but we really don't want to do it yet. Plus if we did move to the burbs most of the schools are good and we would not have to fight tooth and nail to secure a spot, but my wife's commute would go from about ten minutes to possibly up to two hours a day if not more. Which would mean daddy might lose his mind even faster than expected! The other part of the dilemma is that most of the preschools are tuition based, and not peanuts, some serious cash, the kind I hoped I wouldn't have to start shelling out until college. Anyway I really needed to get that out there and vent a little bit, so thanks!!