The Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has nullified the resolution passed by the Lazio Regional Government last December that ordered the merger of the “Alberto Sordi” Comprehensive Institute with the “Giovanni Falcone” Comprehensive Institute in Rome’s fourth municipality. The court ruled in favor of an appeal filed by parents of students from both schools.
The appeal argued that the merger decree lacked adequate motivation, contending that the regional government failed to explain its reasons for deviating from the Provincial Plan for the reorganization of the school network. The TAR found the appeal to be well-founded.
The judges stated that while the regional school planning process involves a complex procedural sequence, the challenged decree “bears no motivation regarding the reasons for the aggregation of the two institutes,” whose autonomy had been upheld by both the Fourth Municipality and the Metropolitan City of Rome. Consequently, the court found the regional measure “lacks adequate motivation.”
Furthermore, the ruling noted that although network planning is a general, programmatic act that does not typically require detailed justification, the regional administration had radically departed from the proposal put forward by the municipality. In doing so, it should have made clear the reasons for this deviation. The TAR also identified “a substantial incompleteness in the preliminary investigation,” as the administration did not follow the full procedural steps meant to ensure the transparent involvement of all concerned authorities.
In reaction, Eleonora Mattia, a PD party regional councillor for Lazio, demanded, “The Region must take a step back and review the entire regional school plan, reformulating it based on the real needs of students, teachers, and the entire school community.”
Annarita Leobruni, School Councillor for the Fourth Municipality, called it “a historic victory against a right-wing administration that closed its doors and ears to those suggesting different solutions.” She added, “230 families had to resort to the TAR to assert their arguments. The Fourth Municipality has always maintained that the measure was unfair and unfounded, consistently recording its strong opposition to this choice, which was against the local communities.”