Muslim High School in Lille Wins Legal Battle for Regional Funding

The administrative court of Lille once again ruled in favor of the Averroès association managing the Muslim high school, which had filed an emergency appeal in October after the establishment was deprived of its annual subsidies. The judge of the interim relief court ordered the Hauts-de-France Region, chaired by Xavier Bertrand, to pay the annual subsidies due to the Averroès Muslim middle and high school under the external grant for the 2022-2023 school year, according to SaphirNews. In its decision, it recalled that the external grant, "provided for by the Education Code, corresponds to the participation of the regions in the operating expenses of private schools under contract" and "is calculated on the basis of the average cost of schooling a student in the public high schools of the region". In addition, "the legality of the region’s decision was tainted by serious doubt", the magistrate observed.

As a result, the court suspended the region’s decision and ordered it to pay the Averroès association, on a provisional basis and pending the judgment on the merits, the sum of more than 300,000 € claimed by the Averroès high school under the external grant, within a period of eight days from the notification of the order, i.e. Thursday, November 16, "under penalty of 500 euros per day of delay". The Hauts-de-France Region is also required to pay 2,000 € in legal costs to Averroès.

This is the fourth legal battle that the Muslim establishment has won against the regional council. Currently, the prefecture of the Hauts-De-France Region threatens to terminate the association contract that has linked it to the State since 2008. In a letter dated October 18 addressed to the president of the Averroès association, Mohamed Damak, the prefect of the Hauts-De-France Region, Georges-François Leclerc, mentioned the possibility of terminating the association contract that has linked the private denominational establishment to the State since 2008. The management is summoned to a meeting of the private education consultation commission to be held at the end of November at the prefecture.