According to the first sentence of the first article of the Dutch Constitution, persons have to be treated equally in equal cases. The second sentence of this provision prohibits discrimination. What equal cases are, and what discrimination is, depends on value judgements as to (a) what cases “count” as equal and (b) what reasons “count” as sufficiently justifying differential treatment. Article 3 of the Dutch Constitution determines that every Dutch person is equally eligible in the civil service. The concept of “civil service” also comprises public-authority schools. [This provision does not exclude the eligibility of foreigners in the Dutch civil service. In our opinion, for instance the exclusion of qualified teachers from other ECcountries contradicts Article 39 EC Treaty; Article 39(4) cannot be invoked to justify such a course of action.] According to the third paragraph of Article 23 of the Constitution, education provided by public authorities must pay due respect to everyone’s religion or belief. This implies that public-authority schools must be neutral and accessible to anyone; it furthermore implies that these schools may not select their teachers on the basis of denominational criteria. These provisions concern governmental organs, and are as such not applicable to private, denominational schools that are governed by corporate bodies under civil law. Denominational schools have the freedom to express their own religious and philosophical views on man and society in their curriculum (Article 23(2) Constitution). This implies the freedom to appoint only those teachers and to accept only those pupils that subscribe to these views (Article 23 (5) and 23 (6) of the Constitution). Article 23, paragraph 7 of the Constitution demands that private schools that satisfy the conditions laid down by Act of Parliament shall be financed from public funds according to the same standards as public-authority schools. We submit that Article 23 (7) is merely one manifestation of an underlying principle flowing from Article 1, that schools in similar situations have to be treated equally. From this principle there can be derived other rules: − denominational schools and non-denominational schools have to be treated equally even outside the field of government funding; − all schools, irrespective of their denomination, and irrespective of whether they are run by the government or by private organizations have to be treated equally; − schools which are clearly in different positions, irrespective of their denomination and irresprective of whether they are run by governmental or private organizations, have to be brought in the same starting position by means of compensating measures, and thus have to be treated differently to the extent of the difference (this aspect of the equality principle justifies socalled “positive discrimination” of socalled “black” or “multicultural” schools).