<P> When the Republicans came to power in the Southern states after 1867 , they created the first system of taxpayer - funded public schools . Southern Blacks wanted public schools for their children but they did not demand racially integrated schools . Almost all the new public schools were segregated , apart from a few in New Orleans . After the Republicans lost power in the mid-1870s , conservative whites retained the public school systems but sharply cut their funding . </P>
when did the us public school system start
When the Republicans came to power in the Southern states after 1867