Hillel Organization Asks High Court to Halt Full Funding for Ultra-Orthodox Schools

The Hillel organization for religious freedom and equality has filed an urgent request with the High Court of Justice, seeking an interim order to halt full state funding for ultra-Orthodox educational networks. The organization argues that the Ministry of Education, under the direction of the Attorney General, should cease providing excess funding to these institutions starting in the current academic year. Hillel claims that responses from the state and the Minister of Education reveal fraudulent practices that should not be funded for even one more month.

According to Hillel, the Minister's response exposed that the Ministry of Education provided data based on flawed calculations of core curriculum hours. Instead of calculating required core curriculum hours per class, the ministry calculated the deficit from total study hours in the ultra-Orthodox institutions, inflating the results and thus the funding by tens of percent. The organization also revealed that the ministry allows a reduction of core curriculum hours by half for institutions that teach during the summer, despite this being only a short extension of the academic year. Furthermore, the ministry approved salary supplements for unqualified ultra-Orthodox teachers teaching core subjects, contrary to director-general directives.

Hillel is requesting the court to mandate an immediate change in the funding method for these networks to a maximum of 75%, similar to other recognized but unofficial institutions, instead of continued full funding reserved for institutions teaching the complete core curriculum. Attorney Dr. Yifat Solel, Hillel's Deputy Director and Legal Counsel, stated, "Sophisticated fraud methods have been exposed. If similar actions were discovered in a financial company, its managers would face serious charges for false corporate record-keeping. There is one legal interpretation that the Attorney General ordered to be followed in September 2024, and there is a minister who chose not to implement it for two consecutive years, and now the third academic year has begun, and he still refuses to act according to the law. Public funds cannot continue to be poured into those who defraud the state treasury and do not provide proper education to students."

The original petition, filed in March 2025, addresses how ultra-Orthodox educational networks, independent education, and Torani education receive full state funding conditional on teaching the full core curriculum. The petition alleges they receive full funding despite not teaching even 75% of the core curriculum, lacking qualified teachers, and the Ministry of Education failing to provide effective oversight. In February of this year, the High Court issued a conditional order on the petition. The state's response acknowledged numerous failures within the ministry and called for immediate corrections to funding, curricula, and teacher qualifications, suggesting a reduction in funding base to 75% or 55% for institutions not teaching the full core curriculum.

The Minister of Education's response, submitted last week, rejected these demands and requested the cancellation of the conditional order. The state's response indicated that only 8% of the networks' institutions meet teacher qualification requirements. Specifically, 79% lacked a qualified math teacher, 87% lacked a qualified science teacher, and 43% lacked a qualified English teacher. Despite this, 35 out of 44 institutions with no qualified core subject teacher were deemed by the ministry to be teaching the full core curriculum. This discrepancy stems from two ministry practices: summing all teaching hours, including religious studies, instead of verifying each subject per grade, and reducing core hour requirements by approximately 50% for institutions extending the academic year by six weeks.

Hillel's request asks the court to halt these practices, abolish the "range method" that allows funding between 75% and 100% instead of fixed legal tiers, and prohibit the hiring of new unqualified teachers. The organization also seeks to advance the petition's hearing date from January, arguing that waiting would mean a third year of over-funding and that the funds would be unrecoverable.