5th Congress
Florence, 13-14 December 1997
Motion on the Public Financing of Private Schools
On 24th February 1998, the Constitutional Court will issue its judgement on the appeals against previous decisions by various Regional Administrative Courts against Local Authorities who had approved forms of public financing of private schools. Should the Constitutional Court rule in favour of the Local Authorities, it would pave the way for public financing of private schools and would make it easier for the government to pass its proposed Bill to create parity between public and private schools. Over the coming two months, the Federation will carry on a campaign opposing all forms of public financing of private schools, seeking to coordinate its efforts with other political, cultural and labour forces involved in the same battle to safeguard Article 33 of the Italian Constitution (which states: "Public and private bodies have the right to establish schools and educational institutes without financial obligations to the state". A stop must be put to the dismantlement of free public schooling and the fake parity of schools that the government intends to introduce by means of deregulation and social dumping, to the sole benefit of private schools of all sorts.