"All that would be different is that one possible way to try to cheat would be removed"

Of course. I'm rather glad that you see that (ab)using your faith to get your kids into the best schools is one possible way to cheat. Because it just happens to be one way of cheating among all the others doesn't mean we should just let it go. Any Christian arguing for that would clearly have no sense of irony. As I said, for me removing religious instruction and worship from schools is a matter of principle. I'm not exactly over the moon either that my tax money is used to pay for faith schools, in the same way that I'm not over the moon that my tax money helps to keep private schools as charitable institutions. Seven hundred million quid a year so that rich parents can eschew those crummy comprehensives that most of those people who pay the tax have to send their kids to. Nice.