As Guardia explains in the article, the agreement only covers part of the cost of a place at semi-private schools, which obliges schools to ask for voluntary financial support from parents. “In a way”, explains the lecturer in Administrative Law, “this lack of public funding is a real sword of Damocles over the state-subsidised sector”. With the current administrative practice, says Guardia, “it is difficult for this funding to really support subsidised centres and for free education to be feasible”.

As such, Juan José Guardia explains that “it is necessary to rethink the regulation of the economic module of this kind of funding for education. New variables could be introduced to make it more realistic, such as a coefficient according to the number of pupils per school unit, or a supplement for the number of students with specific educational support needs”.

The solutions are not simple, says the lecturer. In any case, we need more transparency, “from all the actors involved, starting with Educational Administration”. To achieve a more equitable system, Guardia concludes, it is necessary to carry out "a real calculation of the cost per school place and a state pact with all educational agents. This would, without a doubt, involve an increase in public spending.”