Samenvatting

The Netherlands is well known by its system of funded state and non-state schools. The freedom of civilians to found their own (religious) non-state schools is in theory ‘backed’ by a network of state schools, that are generally accessible and neutral in their education. Parents who can’t register their child on a non-state school, because of its restrictive access policy on religious grounds, or don’t want their child to go to it, always have the alternative of choosing a state school. But this delicate constitutional balance doesn’t exist anymore. Over the years state schools have been privatized, governed as they are now by private law foundations without sufficient guarantees for their state character. On a lot of issues, such as: accessibility, neutral character, legal position of the personnel and curriculum, state schools don’t differ from the vast majority of non-state schools anymore. What does this situation of a presence of, in actuality, only non-state schools mean for our concept of freedom of education? In general, government has to keep more distance to the system than it does now. As a consequence the arguments of non-state schools to select pupils at the gate become weaker. Also the principle of offering religious education on state schools is on the way.