This excluded a majority of the population: slaves, freed slaves, children, women and metics (foreigners resident in Athens). The women had limited rights and privileges, had restricted movement in public, and were very segregated from the men.
The south disagreed with helping the former slaves, so the Freedmen's Bureau promised to help poor whites as well as former slaves, so that the african americans wouldn't have a greater education than any white person.
A special one-year tax to help pay for building new schools would serve as an example of how local taxes support the economy. Public school funding is usually based on local taxes and therefore, this example is most likely exemplary of this.
