The following article describes and analyzes the main characteristics of school songs specially created and used in public education in several Latin American countries during the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, the foundational period of musical education in the continent. The examination of this repertoire mainly focused on the analysis of its poetic texts, allows us to confirm the existence of a functional view of musical education centered on the moralizing aspect and, within this conception, the existence of three thematic categories with a wide presence in the school songbook: civilizing songs, patriotic songs, and Catholic religious songs. As evidence, examples of curricula, pedagogical documentation, and school songs of the time are included, which cover about a dozen Latin American countries.