Private Schools and State Intervention
| Author | Aalt Willem Heringa,Reiner de Winter |
| Date | 01 September 1994 |
| Published date | 01 September 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X9400100309 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Reiner de
Winter'
Aalt Willem Heringa
Private Schools and State Intervention
§1. Introduction
What exactly is the proper balance between church and state; to what extent is a state
allowed to interfere with and/or to subsidise private schools which have been established
on a religious basis? Does the principle of separation of state activities and religion
imply that no state intervention whatsoever is permitted in religious activities? These
questions (and numerous more), fundamental to democratic states, have been given
many different answers. Sometimes it has been argued that the state ought to support
and subsidize religious schools; in other countries the separation between state and
church has led to the situation where any state intervention is considered an unlawful
violation
of
this constitutional principle, and that no religious activity takes place in
public (state) schools. Recently, the French
Conseil
Constitutionnelwss confronted with
this very issue.
In this case-note we will comment on this decision, beginning with a brief description
of the specific issues that were put before the Constitutional Council. In our comment
we will pay attention to the solutions chosen in other countries in order to do justice to
the invoked principle. In this respect we have selected Germany, the Netherlands and
the United States. The reasons for our selection will become obvious from our
comments: these countries show the variety of answers provided in western style
democracies to a problem that is essentially the same.
§2. Conseil Constitutionnel 13 January 1994
On 15th December 1993 the French Parliament adopted a legislative proposal amending
the so called 'Loi
Falloux'
dealing with secondary education. According to Article 2 of
this amendment local communities were permitted to subsidise private educational
institutions with regard to investments in housing facilities. The 1850 Loi
Falloux
had
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316
Senior Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law. University of Limburg.
Senior Lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Limburg.
MJ 1 (1994)
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