The Supreme Court is preparing to order the release of 98 million shekels that were frozen for haredi educational institutions, on the condition that the funds be transferred only to institutions that fulfil the obligation to teach fundamental curriculum subjects.
This emerged from a hearing held yesterday at the Supreme Court on petitions filed by opposition leader Yair Lapid and the Hiddush association.
The judges ordered the state and representatives of the haredi networks to reach agreements within two weeks on the precise rules for transferring the funds. Judge Yael Willner stated, "It seems so logical, so straightforward. How can anyone oppose this? The frozen funds will reach only the institutions that deserve them."
The petitions were filed after the Finance Committee in December approved the transfer of one billion shekels to haredi educational institutions for salary payments, despite their not teaching fundamental curriculum subjects. Their purpose is to provide every student in Israel with the skills, knowledge, and values needed for personal development, societal integration, and joining the workforce.
The fundamental curriculum, set by the Ministry of Education, consists of mother tongue studies in either Hebrew or Arabic, mathematics, English science and technology, social studies, history, geography, Bible studies, and physical education.
During the legal process it emerged that over 900 million shekels had already been transferred and spent, and the committee was effectively asked to retroactively approve a transfer that had already taken place, without its members being informed.
Judge Ofer Groskopf noted that, in this context, an "incorrect explanation" was given to the Supreme Court. Finance Committee chair Hanoch Milwidsky argued that this is an accepted practice in the Knesset, but the Knesset's legal adviser, Sagit Afik, explicitly rejected the claim and ruled on an absolute prohibition on retroactive approvals.
The Supreme Court froze the transfers, but in practice only 98 million shekels remained to be transferred out of the original billion. The Finance Ministry committed that from now on it will notify the Finance Committee in advance of such transfers, and that funds can be deducted in the future from institutions that are not entitled to them.
Following the Supreme Court order, the committee reconsidered the transfers last month and again approved them, amid strong protest from opposition representatives.
Judge Willner described the state of fundamental studies in haredi schools: "The situation is difficult, the situation is bleak." She also pointed to serious problems in the Finance Committee hearing: funds were granted to institutions that do not teach fundamental subjects, no deductions were made, and committee members were flooded during the hearing with 500 pages of complex data yet were forced to vote.
"I do not think the Knesset members had enough time to ask questions. They did not have the material," Willner said about the April session.
The judges wondered why the state requested an additional budget for institutions from which funds should allegedly be deducted for failing to meet requirements. Grosskopf asked why deductions are not being made now from the institutions' regular budgets.
Willner proposed a controlled release in which the funds will be transferred only to institutions that teach fundamental subjects, and the data on this must be readily available. "An institution that does not provide the data will be presumed not to have fundamental studies," she ruled.
Judge Gila Canfy-Steinitz emphasized that the distribution will be under the supervision of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
Willner added, "An educational institution that declares it has fundamental studies but does not have teachers for these subjects is also presumed to not have fundamental studies."
Wilner noted that this is apparently a fait accompli, since almost all the funds have already been transferred, but she recalled that the state has pledged to deduct them in the future.