The Knesset passed a bill yesterday - the last day of the 15th Knesset - integrating special-education children into mainstream schools. The bill, initiated by MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), stipulates that pupils who require extra hours and special services can receive them in regular public schools. The bill, which was long blocked because of its high cost - 1.5 billion shekels -, follows a Supreme Court judgment that regular public schools must provide necessary special services to pupils who need them. Orlev argued that the Education Ministry is thus obligated to pay this money, such that the new law will not cost money that is not required to be spent in any event. The law will help children with relatively light disabilities, according to the decisions of a placement committee, to be integrated into mainstream education.
Orlev, who worked for three years on the bill, said that he sees it as the "crowning achievement" of his Parliamentary work. "These children will no longer have to be locked into special education frameworks, and will enable them to develop and integrate with children of their age," he said. The law states that the special basket of benefits will be granted directly to the child, not to his or her school, such that he can "take it with him" to another school of his choice.
Orlev, who worked for three years on the bill, said that he sees it as the "crowning achievement" of his Parliamentary work. "These children will no longer have to be locked into special education frameworks, and will enable them to develop and integrate with children of their age," he said. The law states that the special basket of benefits will be granted directly to the child, not to his or her school, such that he can "take it with him" to another school of his choice.