" The truly poor would be eligable for low or zero interest loans from the state government to help pay their education expenses."
This is not fair to those not considered poor. I believe that education is a non-fiscal enterprise. There should be no difference between who makes what. Education has to be a common goal for the whole society. When one group or another gets an adavantage then we have problems.
Class warfare is not a good thing. Education is basic to a capitalist market. if only a few had a medical degree then they can go where they make the most money. We need not a monopoly but qty. The more people that can achieve greater education we all win.
Oh, you want to talk about what's fair.
Is it fair that people who don't have children or whose children have completed school decades ago are still paying school property taxes? Is it fair that a family with 5 kids crammed into a house pays the same school property taxes as their neighbor who only has two kids? Is it fair to extort money from every property owner in the town/county to pay for school sports teams when only a few dozen kids can participate?
Let each family pay for their own. Help those families which can't via low interest loans (heck, have the loan rate tied to inflation if you'd like). When families are spending their own money costs will come down and quality will go up.