At the initiative of former Deputy Education Minister Tzvi Hendel (National Union), the Knesset Education Committee held a special, and brief, session regarding the creeping erosion in budgeting for public religious education. The picture painted was a source of great concern for all those for whom religious education is dear to their heart.
With the participation of representatives from the Ministries of Finance and Education, as well as schools and yeshivot, the following facts were brought out:
•• In 2003, the national budget for Jewish studies was 285 million shekels - all of which went to yeshivot and religious schools.
•• In 2004, following the dismantling of the Religious Affairs Ministry and the transfer of its religious education authorities to the Education Ministry, the budget was cut by a drastic 45%, to 158 million shekels. The sum of 60 million shekels was returned to this sum, but only by virtue of the coalition agreement.
•• The budget continued to decrease year by year, and currently stands at less than 132 million shekels; the coalition addition for 2008 is still not known.
•• In 2003, then-Deputy Education Minister Hendel determined that non-religious schools that teach Judaism should also benefit from the religious education budget - at an even higher rate per student/hour than religious schools. As mentioned, the allocation dropped by more than half during the course of the following years - but must still be shared by non-religious schools. Moreover, even the paltry amount designated for religious schools does not always reach its destination because of problems with the local municipalities.
The following four operative resolutions were agreed upon in the special Committee session:
1. Education Minister Yuli Tamir [a co-founder of Peace Now and outspokenly anti-religion] and Prime Minister Olmert must be asked to stop cutting the religious education budget, and to strive to increase it.
2. The religious education budget must be anchored in the national budget, and not be predicated upon special additions.
3. The religious education budget given to non-religious schools, though a positive development, must not be at the expense of the religious schools.
4. The Prime Minister and Education Minister shall be asked to conduct a session on the matter, to be held jointly with the Knesset Education Committee.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) and heads of the various religious education networks have established a task force to work on the above. They have already garnered 25 MKs' signatures, from many parties, on a letter asking Prime Minister Olmert to act to save the religious education system in Israel.