The approval in 1978 of the Spanish constitution is considered the closure of the tense negotiations which permitted the birth of the democratic monarchy we know today. Article 27, dealing with education was especially controversial and as result the different democratic governments passed seven comprehensive educational reforms; some aspiring to strengthen an egalitarian model of public education while others favored the freedom of parents to choose private schools, mainly catholic, supported by public funds. Both models have provoked wide social protest along the years. The social contestation against the progressive and egalitarian reforms was championed by associations of Catholic families and teachers who saw in education legislation, not only a violation of the principle of freedom by limiting the system of private subsidized schools, but also the implementation of a plural ideology that endangered the Catholic identity communal values. This paper strives to analyze the relationship between these Catholic associations and the state from 1978 until 2006. During this period, they had to adapt to the loss of their privileged status under the dictatorship, readjust to the new political setup and finally adopt a frontal opposition to many of the educational policies advanced by the government. In their struggle they have challenged the state’s concept of citizenship as it has been articulated in the educational laws and the civic education curriculum associated with it. Looking at the associations’ publications both in the press and inner circles, as well as interviews with leading figures, we trace the way they have been negotiating their notion of citizenship vis a vi the state, paying special attention to their opposition to citizenship education and the mechanisms they have used to prevent its implementation by the state.

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