The school system is 100% state funded. Despite that schools enjoy full autonomy. It should be said that just like Rome was not built in one day neither the Finnish education system was. It’s a result of decades of consistent and systematic work. The Finnish government came to realize that to educate generations they need educated teachers and therefore the stress was put on highly competitive and skillful teachers. Effective school education should start with teacher education in the first place. Perhaps this is the cornerstone of the Finnish education.