Brescian School Vouchers Dispute Sparks Protest Over Discrimination
In the allocation rules for school vouchers, the Broletto administration unintentionally discriminated against Brescia students attending high schools in Mantua.
This is the essence of the protest letter sent by the deputy mayor of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Giuseppe Bertoli, to the education assessor of the Province of Brescia, Mauro Parolini, and to his colleague from the Province of Mantua, Marzio Uberti.
The letter concerns the school vouchers allocated by the Brescia provincial administration to support families residing in the province and attending local high schools.
“Basically,” explains deputy mayor and public education assessor Bertoli, “the Broletto government has allocated the school vouchers based on the prerequisite of residence in Brescia and attendance at a school within the province.”
Reactions and reasons for the protest
The measure has triggered protests from educational institutions and parents from Castiglione and its surroundings.
After learning from the education office that it is no longer technically possible to modify the terms of the call for applications for the current school year, the deputy mayor of the Aloisian town pointed out that “the territory of Castiglione, and more generally the Upper Mantua, is characterized by a significant influx of students coming from Brescia, and similarly, many students from Mantua attend Brescia institutions.”
What Bertoli emphasizes in the letter is how the provincial administration’s measure, by limiting the territorial choice of Brescia families, is discriminatory and profoundly unjust because it does not offer equal contributions and opportunities regardless of the location of the chosen school.
He states: “I find it deeply unfair to impose economic restrictions: for example, if a Montichiari family enrolls their child in a Brescia-based school, they receive a certain amount; but if they enroll in a Mantuan school, they receive no contribution, which I believe is extremely restrictive and unfair.”
Requests and future prospects
For these reasons, the deputy mayor of Castiglione requests that it still be possible to amend the conditions for allocating school vouchers so that the freedom of choice for Brescia families is not compromised.
If this is now technically impossible, Bertoli pleads, as a secondary measure, to inform the families concerned that in the future, the allocation of school vouchers will occur regardless of the geographical location of the chosen high school.