When did we not have public schools? We are protected, as a nation, by our high literacy rate. For all get out -- have you read the Legend of Sleepy Hollow? The main character is a school teacher. Washington Irving, the author, wrote in our early days of nationhood.
We've had public schools, in some form or another, since before we were a nation. We have always had a expectation of literacy among all citizens.
Why do you assume that the existence of a schoolteacher implies a government school?
We've had public schools, in some form or another, since before we were a nation.
Link for that?