"Public schooling scares me a little. It's a great concept, but the minute a pol stops wanting to support the upkeep and maintenance of the project (yes, I know the connotation of that word), or budgets get cut, it seems like it becomes more degrading than uplifting, as well as a boondoggle to get back up to snuff."

I mean this in the nicest way possible, get over it. The historic fact of society allowing public housing to become dilapidated should only motivate us to ensure that we're in a position to prevent that from happening again if/when we build new public housing.