The request comes ahead of a court hearing scheduled for Thursday morning on petitions filed by the opposition Yesh Atid party, the Hiddush Association for Religious Freedom and Equality, and Knesset member Naama Lazimi. The High Court previously issued an interim order halting the transfer pending further review.
State: Funds Needed for Salaries
In the state’s response, the attorney general argued that the funds are essential for paying salaries and financing ongoing and vital activities in the education networks. According to the filing, most of the money is earmarked for current wages, while the remainder is intended for operational expenses such as rent, municipal taxes, water, electricity and maintenance.
Government lawyers said that due to budgetary procedures allowing wage payments to be temporarily recorded as deficits, most of the funds were effectively spent before the formal transfer was approved. As a result, the court order has frozen only about 98 million shekels.
Finance Ministry officials warned that continued freezing of the funds would significantly harm the financial stability of the education networks and impair their ability to function.
Background: Knesset Approval and Legal Challenge
On Dec. 25, the Knesset Finance Committee approved budget supplements totaling 1.09 billion shekels for Haredi education. About 800 million shekels were allocated to the independent education networks affiliated with Agudat Yisrael and Shas’ Bnei Yosef system.
Yesh Atid subsequently petitioned the High Court, arguing that the decision was illegal because large sums were transferred to institutions that allegedly do not meet requirements to teach the state-mandated core curriculum, or where there is insufficient supervision and proof of compliance.
Hiddush and MK Lazimi focused their petition on what they described as fundamental procedural flaws in the approval process. A filing by Hiddush deputy director-general Yifat Solel said lawmakers were presented with a “lacking, erroneous and misleading factual basis” when they approved the transfer.
State Rejects Claims of Procedural Defects
The state rejected allegations of a flawed process, noting that deliberations in the Finance Committee lasted around six hours and included extensive questioning of officials from the Finance Ministry and the Education Ministry.
Education Ministry representatives told lawmakers that information on the scope of core curriculum studies in Haredi institutions had been provided to the State Audit Committee, and that discussions are underway within the ministry on implementing budget offsets for institutions found to be noncompliant.
Retroactive Offsets Possible
Baharav-Miara said that even if the funds are transferred, the state retains the authority to retroactively offset budgets from institutions that fail to meet legal requirements. Additional enforcement measures could include revoking licenses and removing noncompliant schools from the recognized education networks.
At the same time, the attorney general endorsed the petitioners’ broader position that stronger oversight is needed. She said an updated supervision and enforcement plan must be formulated “without delay” to ensure that compliance with core curriculum requirements is a condition for public funding.
Such a plan, she said, should address full implementation of the core curriculum, establishment of a unified baseline syllabus, use of standardized assessment tools, teacher training, and reporting obligations. She noted, however, that Education Minister Yoav Kisch disagrees with some of these demands.
The High Court is expected to decide after Thursday’s hearing whether to maintain or lift the freeze on the funds.
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