In a school canteen in the Alpes-Maritimes.
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SYSPEO
The Council of State ruled in favor of the city of Besançon by considering that the municipality could "legally refuse" to admit a student to the canteen if it did not have the material "capacity" to welcome him, he said. we learned on Friday.
The town hall of Besançon had seized the Council of State to contest the obligation imposed by the administrative court, then confirmed by the administrative court of Nancy, to register in the canteen a schoolboy excluded for lack of place.
Against the opinion of the Besançon administrative court
In its judgment rendered on Monday, the Council of State recalls the Equality and Citizenship law of January 27, 2017: "Enrollment in the canteen of primary schools, when this service exists, is a right for all schoolchildren" and "it no discrimination can be established according to their situation or that of their family ”.
The "principle of equality" between pupils must be respected for their access to the canteen, but the provisions of this law "do not prevent local authorities from legally refusing to admit a pupil there when, on the date of their decision, the maximum reception capacity of this public service is reached ”.
In December 2017, the Besançon administrative court ruled in favor of the mother of a 7-year-old boy, who complained that her child had not been able to obtain a place in the canteen.
Right of access vs limited places
School catering is "a right", at the time considered the court in an unprecedented decision, "likely to affect many municipalities" in France.
"Public authorities which choose to create a school catering service for primary schools (…) are required to guarantee each student the right to be enrolled there".
The town hall of Besançon, for its part, maintained that its “reception capacity” in school restaurants was “limited”, and that “welcoming more children would be likely to create serious difficulties in terms of safety and supervision of children. children ”.
Difficulties for 14% of communities, according to the AMF
The decision of the Council of State, which asks the administrative court of Nancy to re-judge the case, thus has the value of jurisprudence for the many municipalities faced with the problem of the lack of space in school canteens.
According to the daily of local elected officials Maire Info, the Association of Mayors of France found in a survey on school catering published in 2020 that "the right of access of all students to the existing service, when parents request it , continues to raise difficulties for 14% of communities ”.
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