Il dimensionamento scolastico tra conferme dell’assetto normativo centralistico e uso disinvolto della potestà legislativa regionale nella sentenza n. 168/2024

This note analyses Italian Constitutional Court decision no. 168/2024, which declared the unconstitutionality of the Sardinian Regional Law no. 2 of 2024, adopted to prevent the reduction in the number of school institu- tions required by national legislation on school network rationalisation. The ruling is not particularly innovative in its reasoning but is noteworthy for the legislative strategy employed by the Region, which attempted to ground its intervention on a future implementing rule under the special Statute. The case exemplifies a distorted and instrumental use of regional legislative power, revealing broader criticalities in the exercise of legislative autonomy by special-status Regions. It also highlights the systemic crisis of Italian re- gionalism, caught between increasingly centralising constitutional jurispru- dence and the inadequacy of regional political leadership.