THE WARNING by the Bishop of Blackburn to the government against harming schools through lack of resources or taxation policies may seem superfluous, given the priority Tony Blair has given to education.

But the Right Rev Alan Chesters' Easter Day call must, we think, be seen as one on behalf of an interest group - that of church schools - and not least because of his recent appointment as chairman of the Church of England General Synod's board of education.

Yet, if there is nothing wrong in the bishop advising Westminster of the role of the church in providing the "life-giving force" of education and of it having done so for far longer than the state, is there a need to remind the government not to neglect this sector of the country's schooling?

It seems that one of Bishop Chesters' concerns is that the secular state and local authorities may look less favourably on church schools in their allocation of resources because of their peculiar distinction from secular schools.

Perhaps, then, the bishop should go further and provide evidence of this - if, that is, such partiality is occurring at all. However, he may have a stronger point in regards to taxation. For it is an often-forgotten fact that the tax man is frequently the best financial ally that churches, charities and voluntary bodies have - as he directs to them large sums of "tax free" money that comes with the covenants contributions pledged by their brethren.

But, at the same time, a Chancellor, proudly proclaiming cuts in the rate of Income Tax - just as Gordon Brown did last month - turns out to be their financial foe as the pay-back they receive from the Inland Revenue goes down accordingly. And even if the reduction of the rate is tiny in percentage terms, the effect can be a drop in income to churches - and the provision they make for schooling - that amounts to millions of pounds.

Bishop Chesters wants some counterbalancing mechanism from the government to safeguard them from such sudden and dramatic downturns.

And why not? Church schools are, after all, a large and important sector of education - and remain a popular choice for many parents, not only because of the quality of the education they provide but also because of the moral values they impart.

That either of these should suffer by accident or design is not what a government ostensibly committed to education should allow - which, we think, is the real point of Bishop Chesters' Easter message.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.