I am also curious as to how the government funds public schools. If I understand Kozol right, most of the money going into public schools comes from the surrounding areas property taxes; so, the wealthy areas often have good schools while the poor areas suffer. Does the federal government stay out of public schools’ budgets? Wouldn’t it make sense for all public schools to be awarded the same amount of money per pupil? I obviously do not know enough about how this system works, but it does not seem right that the rich stay protected in their closed off happy environments while the economically disadvantaged schools rot away. Should the term PUBLIC school mean something?