A circular letter to the local committees and correspondence societies that had made possible the People’s Petition (see 1878.04). The circular letter urges these organizations to form a federation for biblical schooling and to raise funds for Christian primary education among those who had signed the petition.

Added as appendices to the letter were draft statutes for a union to be formed from the local committees and correspondence societies of the People’s Petition under the motto “a school with the Bible” and a short list of fifteen organizational tips and suggestions. This circular letter and both appendices were also published in De Standaard 7 (1878), no. 2024, October 28, 1878.

The Union: “A School with the Bible” was founded in Utrecht on January 23, 1879—the three-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Union of Utrecht (January 23, 1579), which had united the northern Dutch provinces in opposition to the Spanish king. A.F. de Savornin Lohman (1837–1924) was the first chairman. The national collection for Christian primary education was subsequently held annually on August 17—the day the king had signed the education bill into law (see 1878.04).

It was not until 1920 that the government passed a new primary education law that made financial support for special schools equivalent to that of public schools.