BOCS in Andalusia: bullfighting, concerts and the education debate

Andalusia: BOCS plan pits bullfighting, the Church and subsidised sixth forms against each other

An Andalusian father has just paid for his son's sixth-form education at a publicly funded private school, and hopes that the BOCS proposal – VOX's programme for the region – will save him from paying twice next year. According to the debate, the measure would also extend public funding to sixth forms at schools that already receive it for compulsory education. A kind of expansion of the publicly funded private network which, for its supporters, allows families to choose a school without paying twice; for its critics, it is public money going to a private company with no oversight.

The discussion comes in a broader package: point 43 defends bullfighting as a tourist draw; point 111 calls for reducing environmental protection and protected areas; point 148 backs the ley Concordia (a law on Church-state cooperation) and the "biba el rey". A mix that some call "drawing-room liberalism" and others "electoral posturing". Meanwhile, the left reacts predictably, according to BOCS supporters.

Positions are sharply divided. Those who back public funding for sixth forms argue that the cost per place is lower than in the public system – an argument they do not quantify – and that it allows families to escape "violent or indoctrinating" state schools. On the other side, the response is that publicly funded private schools are not immune to discipline problems or ideology either, and that many, run by the Church, are "proge too". The suspicion that VOX is only acting for campaign purposes hangs over the debate, but some point out that in regional governments where the party is in office, its points are indeed being trinc.

The economic crux remains unresolved: how much does a subsidised place really cost compared with a public one? The thread leaves the question open. With tight regional budgets, the decision to extend public funding to sixth forms could have non-trivial fiscal implications. Meanwhile, bullfighting and the ley Concordia act as identity banners that mobilise both bases.

The scene of the father hoping for a regional rebate illustrates the underlying issue: in a context of double payment for education, the BOCS promise sounds like relief to some and disguised privatisation to others. The uncomfortable fact is that there are not even firm figures on whether subsidies are cheaper. Without them, the debate remains stuck in the trenches of ideology.