The 1870 Education Act stands as the very first piece of legislation to deal specifically with the provision of education in England and Wales. Most importantly, it demonstrated a commitment to provision on a national scale.
The Act allowed voluntary schools to carry on unchanged, but established a system of ‘school boards’ to build and manage schools in areas where they were needed. The boards were locally elected bodies which drew their funding from the local rates. Unlike the voluntary schools, religious teaching in the board schools was to be ‘non-denominational’. A separate Act extended similar provisions to Scotland in 1872.
Punch comments on the new law. Children may learn to read–“subject to a variety of restrictions.”