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Passage 1 The School Years Soon after the United States was founded, Thomas Jefferson, who was President from 1801 to 1809 wrote, If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. Jefferson believed that the new republic would be served best by literate, well-informed citizens and that everyone should have a guarantee of some education with further education for those who wanted it and were qualified. The American system of public education has been built on this philosophy. Public education in this country is expected to offer equal educational opportunities to everyone enrolled in secular schools, which are publicly controlled and publicly financed, with free tuition, free books, and compulsory attendance. There is no mention of education in the Constitution, and each state is responsible for its own educational system. Public schools are financed primarily by local and state taxes, and the amount of money spent on public school students varies from state to state. Alabama, for example, spent an average of $716 for each pupil in 1974, the lowest rate of any state. New York, by contrast, had the highest rate, $ 1809 per pupil. The majority of states spent more than $ 800 per pupil. There are great differences in expenditures by communities within each state, depending on the amount of local funds available for public education. Often, well-to-do communities spend several hundred dollars more for each child than poorer towns nearby do. These figures reflect differences in expenditures . for such items as teachers salaries, the purchase of books, and school construction and maintenance. | 
