The Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Supreme Court has declared inadmissible the appeal lodged by the Viaró school in Sant Cugat. This legal action sought to overturn the Catalan Government's decision not to renew public funding for the academic years 2022-23, 23-24, 24-25, and 25-26, due to its gender segregation policy.
The Supreme Court argued that there is no "cassational interest" in the matter to justify the creation of jurisprudence. Furthermore, it recalled that the Constitutional Court has already validated that the exclusion of differentiated education centers from the public funding scheme is "in accordance with the Constitution," provided that this decision stems from a general legislative option and not from individual administrative resolutions based on the center's ideology.
The controversy began in late 2021, when the center requested the renewal of its public funding. The Department of Education denied it, considering that gender segregation contravened current legislation. Subsequently, the parents' association and the company owning the center appealed to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), alleging a violation of fundamental rights.
“"The requirement of coeducation to access public educational funding is legitimate, does not violate the Constitution, nor does it discriminate against the pedagogical model of differentiated education, which remains valid in the private sphere."
The TSJC's ruling dismissed the appeal, based on precedents and affirming the "constitutionality" and "full applicability" of the Education Law that prohibits public funding for centers that separate by gender. The appellants took the case to the Supreme Court, but it found no "objective cassational interest" in the allegations of unconstitutionality or other provisions, imposing costs on the appellants.
