ABSTRACT
Private providers are responsible for the education of approximately onethird of all schoolchildren in Spain, although the percentage varies considerably across phases, and across the different autonomous communities. Most schools providing privately for the compulsory education of children are dependent on state funding, and cannot charge fees for such education. The Catholic Church is the single largest provider in this category. Since 1990, Catholic schools have established their own representative body, Confederación de Centres de Educación y Gestion (CCEG), independent of the Confederación Española de Centros de Enseñanza (CECE), which had previously represented almost all private schools. In a move to concentrate church interests further, CCEG has helped to establish a separate negotiating committee to focus solely on the interests of the direct-grant sector of the private sphere in which most church schools are located. Now subject to state regulations governing community participation in school management, freedom of conscience and of education, the social power of the Church through schooling is much less significant than it was during the Franco regime. This chapter outlines the struggle for education between Church and State over the last two centuries, but with particular reference to their respective positions in the debates leading to legislation under the PSOE Government, especially LODE (1984) and LOGSE (1990).
