for decades the school was supported by tuition payments but gradually the state began to assume a share of the financial responsibility in  a law authorized townships to levy a tax to pay the tuition of poor students by  townships had the power to tax for general school purposes the state itself began to contribute money in  and in  every township was required to raise as much money each year for schools as the state itself contributed the last tuition assessment for residents occurred in  and thereafter the columbia school was entirely supported by public taxation