The right files a bill to regulate the use of the back-to-school allowance

Supervise the use of the back-to-school allowance (ARS) to combat fraud. This is the objective of the bill (PPL) tabled by part of the Les Républicains group at theNational Assembly, on August 4th. In detail, the signatories of this text, including the current president of LR, Annie Genevard, and several representatives of the young guard of the right, such as Pierre-Henri Dumont or Virginie Duby-Muller, propose in particular that the ARS is paid in the form of a special payment document called “back to school voucher», freely usable with brands meeting objective criteria.

In addition, they suggest that part of this aid be paid to the municipalities, which would then take care of “order in bulk» and to deliver to the pupils a keychain in the form of school supplies. Finally, LR parliamentarians also submit the idea that this aid delivered to families whose resources are below a certain ceiling is only subject to the effective production of a school certificate.

Indignant reactions

Published in the middle of summer on the website of the National Assembly, this right-wing bill has already aroused strong reactions. Renaissance spokesperson and MP Maud Bregeon, for example, quipped on Twitter: “Fortunately, we can always count on LR in need of new ideas, to ask a PPL in the middle of August, in order to fight against all these bad poor who misuse their back-to-school allowances”, she reacted. “If there is a safe bet at Les Républicains, it is their systematic attacks on these bastards of the poor who do not know how to manage their allowances and who would take advantage of national solidarity“, reacted the senator of the presidential camp Xavier Iacovelli.

Same indignation on the left side. “Those who refused to tax the superprofits, to condition aid to businesses are now attacking the poorest, at the heart of the holidays. Logic. Unworthy“, was for example indignant the deputy Nudes Benjamin Lucas.

A very flammable subject

This proposal is not new. The deputy LR Pierre-Henri Dumont, at the initiative on this text, had already filed the same PPL in 2020. At the time, already, the reactions had been numerous, many political figures reproaching him “to point fingers» disadvantaged families. “Those who protest do not understand the principle of this proposal. It is not intended to reduce the amount given to families or to accuse them of anything but to ensure that all children who need it can receive quality equipment.“Defends the right-wing parliamentarian.

Last year, Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister of National Education, sparked controversy by considering that the idea of ​​paying the back-to-school allowance in the form of a voucher was “interesting“, then explaining that the”buying flat screens” were “larger in September than at other times“. Within the left wing of the government, these comments were criticized at the time.

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