Family in the woods, school vouchers to parents who choose home education: the League's proposal

The League moves in Parliament after the case of the family of the forest, at the centre of the news in recent weeks, with the resounding intervention of the judges on the three underage children of Nathan and Catherine, transferred to a family home in Vasto, due to poor housing conditions, failure to follow the educational path, lack of socialisation and health deficiencies of the home. An affair that has dominated the political debate, with so much recall made by Salvini himself at Atreju ('I am ashamed for those social workers and judges who have stolen the serenity of those children and I hope they can go home for Christmas') and immediately afterwards also by the same Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with similar tones.

At the Chamber of Deputies, the deputy prime minister's party, under the first signature of deputy Rossano Sasso, will file its own bill that aims to give a boost to those parents who decide to take care directly, at home, of their children's school education, proposing to grant families, like the one in Vasto (mentioned in the text) the 'school voucher'. A cash contribution, which could reach, based on the Isee declaration, 800 euro a year for primary schools and 1700 for middle schools. An economic aid that 'concretely supports families who decide independently to provide for their children's education', reads the draft bill, which could include amendments by the government parties, Fdi and Fi. A legislative measure designed in the wake of the case of Nathan and Catherine's children, which is aimed at an audience - that of families that use parental education in Italy - estimated at 16,000 households. The aim of the 'voucher' - it is explained - is to ensure that "every family, regardless of economic and social conditions, can freely choose between public school, paritarian school, parental education or private education, without cost being an obstacle".

The leghisti do the maths: the average cost per student in the public primary and secondary education system 'amounts to approximately 11,000 euro per year', explaining that in light of these figures, the amount of the school voucher envisaged by the proposal is in any case many dozens of times lower than the average cost per student and therefore represents a more efficient and flexible reorganisation of public resources dedicated to education'. It also provides for 'a potential containment of overall spending and an incentive to responsible choice on the part of families'. For the Salvinians, it must be "recognised that there is no single 'ideal school model' for all families". It must therefore be 'ensured that all options can be concretely accessible'.