Public school

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

In the United States, Public schools are schools that are funded by the government and open to all students who live within a specific area without any charge. They are usually paid for through property taxes that are applied to everyone who owns property in the school district.

Public schools have operated in the United States since the 1800s. Every U.S. state now guarantees free public schools.

Many people think that public schools in the United States are in trouble and are doing a bad job of educating students. One solution has been to give "vouchers" to parents that help them send their children to private schools. Critics say this takes money away that could go to improving public schools and also causes religious schools to be funded with public funds.

Some courts in different states have decided that public schools cannot get most of their funds through property taxes, because it causes districts with poor people and lower property values to be unable to support quality public schools. These courts have usually not ruled that each district must get equal funding, but they have instead decided that their state constitutions promise an "adequate" education to everyone that the poorer districts have not met.

In the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking nations, public schools are independent schools and are normally funded by fees charged to their students. They are 'public' in the sense of being open to all students from anywhere, without any geographical restriction. For that reason, most of these schools take some or all of their students as boarders - that is, they live at the school and not at home.