Israeli Parents Criticize Education Ministry's Separate Funding for Gender Workshops
Parents, school principals, and the "Involved Parents" forum have criticized the Israeli Ministry of Education's funding mechanism, which they claim fully finances workshops on gender identity and sexual orientation through dedicated external budgets. Meanwhile, core educational programs, special education, and support for struggling students must compete for limited funds within the schools' regular budgets. The pedagogical and managerial flexibility system (Gaf'an) allows school leaders to select educational programs from a predefined budget basket, but enrichment activities, individual tutoring, and violence prevention projects require allocation from the school's basic budget.
Critics say that for LGBTQ and gender-related workshops, the Ministry channels funds via the Psychological Counseling Service (Shaf'i) through a specific call for proposals, providing schools with dedicated external funding. This means schools do not have to use their own limited budgets for these workshops, creating a financial incentive for principals to prioritize them. Parents who spoke to Channel 7 described the situation as absurd, accusing the Ministry of creating a double standard where critical educational programs struggle for scraps while certain organizations receive full government funding.
Odelia Kadmi, representing the "Involved Parents" forum, condemned the policy as a flawed financial incentive that signals to school leaders to include these organizations without touching their budgets. She argued that the state's allocation of special funds to gender workshops instead of special education, core subjects, or reducing educational gaps reflects a failure in budget priorities and a lack of transparency toward parents.
The Ministry of Education responded that it operates dozens of dedicated budget regulations and calls for proposals annually across various fields, including this case. It emphasized that the funding mechanism is publicly announced, not unique, and participation is voluntary, subject to school leadership discretion and application procedures with established criteria.
