Most (all) modern democracies have some form of public education. In the US, this system is the primary budget element in every single state by a wide margin. It's ~80% of the NM State budget, for example—and cities spend in addition to State funding.
The rationale is presumably to create an educated (minimally) electorate. If it fails this most basic requirement, it shows how useless it is as a public expense.
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"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." — Thomas Paine
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