We are encouraged to want the best - the best car, the best house, the best education. We plan our children's education like we plan our lives. They want to fill their classes with the brightest. Children must learn to think for themselves, make choices and take decisions. Children's lives CAN become too regulated.
All schools nowadays are more or less in charge of their own budgets.
A well-run school will do more with the same amount of money. It is true that money is much scarcer in the state sector. State schools have to have strict priorities. Some state schools manage to have excellent facilities like computers despite their small budgets. But state schools do say that things are getting really too tight now.