But however slowly state control of education developed in Britain, from a modern perspective state control of the type so vehemently opposed by Mill was but one, apparently inevitable, part of the development of industrial economies. … What gave effect to such efforts and rendered their execution a responsibility increasingly of central, rather than local, government, was a function of taxation and representation. Universal provision as a right generally meant centralized administration since there was a clear limit to local taxation such as the poor rate, and universal provision implied the standardized services that only central control could assure.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 387