As a counterpoint, the us post office is expected to make money as well. There's a number of onerous rules around that in fact..

During the Trump administration the head of education was a big fan of charter schools, which is a way of turning public schools into subsidized private schools.

The concept of government providing services that are taxpayer funded and do not turn a profit is something that the Republican party became opposed to around, I guess, the Regan administration.