The history of public education in the United States has been one dependent on local, not state or national, funding. I believe the first public school opened in New York City around 1820 and was funded by public spirited citizens. And so it was in America in the 19th century. Today, tragically, we have every court in the land involved in "public" education, and most feel a badly diseased system needs saving. However, if you could check you would find that probably only one in ten judges (like one in ten in Congress) send their kids to public schools.