Advocates Call for Personal Budgets to Follow Children with Special Needs in Israeli Education

Parents of children with special needs often face a challenging reality in Israel's education system, where funding is tied to institutions rather than the individual child. This means that children must adapt to available frameworks instead of receiving tailored support. Although a 2018 reform promised personal budgets for special education students, it largely failed in practice, with around 40% of eligible students still placed in separate settings and resources remaining institution-bound.

Currently, nearly 390,000 students qualify for special education services, including approximately 56,000 on the autism spectrum, with the special education budget increasing by 60% over four years. Despite this, many children encounter closed doors and insufficient support because schools lack incentives to accommodate them. The proposed solution is to assign budgets and entitlements directly to the child, enabling resources to move with them across different educational settings.

Erik Mandelbaum, CEO of Adam for Equal Life from the Amal and Maavar Group, argues that this shift would motivate schools to compete for students by improving their services and expertise. He stresses the need for professional courage and leadership to implement personal budgets, transfer special education expertise to mainstream schools, and launch a national program to train missing professionals.

Mandelbaum also highlights concerns about support beyond age 21, noting that only about 30% of autistic adults are employed compared to 61% of the general population. He advocates for continuous support into adulthood, emphasizing that children with special needs should be seen as individuals rather than institutional cases. The goal is a system where the child is the central figure, and the state competes to provide the best education and care.