DCHP-1 Online
free school † Hist. 
a school supported by the municipality through payment of school taxes; a public school.
- 1839 Among the topics insisted upon in the governor's speech, was a recommendation for a grant of money for free schools for the instruction of the rising generation in the first rudiments of useful learning, and in the English tongue.
- 1899 At length Egerton Ryerson introduced the "Free School" system. This system, where adopted, did away with the fee formerly charged, and provided for the expenses of schools by levying a tax on every acre of land, occupied or unoccupied, within the section.
- 1942 It took a generation and a half for English settlers in Victoria to accept the Canadian public school which they insisted on calling the "free school." They turned their noses up at public schools. . . .
- 1839 Among the topics insisted upon in the governor's speech, was a recommendation for a grant of money for free schools for the instruction of the rising generation in the first rudiments of useful learning, and in the English tongue.