Thousands of Children Face Stay-at-Home Strike as Haredi Kindergarten Networks Threaten Shutdown

Leaders of major Haredi kindergarten networks in Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit warned that the coming school year will not open unless the government finds an immediate, real solution to a growing funding crisis. In a dramatic letter to Education Minister and the two city mayors, they said the shutdown threat applies to all the kindergarten networks they represent in those cities, affecting thousands of children.

The dispute began with Agudat Israel's kindergarten network and has since spread to other networks, where hundreds of kindergarten teachers are already being laid off and dozens of branches face closure. The signatories said their organizations together run hundreds of kindergartens in Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit, and thousands nationwide. They included Gil David, Israel Goldknopf, Avraham Maklev, Yaakov Rosenzstein, Israel Golomb, Gila Malakhovsky and Yechiel Zilber.

The managers wrote, "We are all in the same boat," warning that any network that has not yet closed kindergartens will face the same dead end within a year. They said veteran teachers who have worked for years deserve the benefits of the Ofek Hadash reform, "by right and not as charity," and called for urgent intervention to prevent a strike and the opening of the 5787 school year.

A separate group of about 150 veteran kindergarten teachers has also appealed to lawmakers and senior ministers, accusing the Education Ministry of creating a long-running distortion in which funding formulas make older, more experienced teachers a financial burden. They say a teacher with 30 years' experience is paid only at the minimum certified level, effectively as if she had 16 years of seniority. The teachers demand full funding by actual seniority, immediate completion of the Ofek Hadash framework for kindergartens, and a freeze on layoffs until a permanent solution is reached.