Religious Education Forum Warns Delayed Funding Threatens School Year Start

Less than ten days before the new school year begins, leaders of the Religious Education Forum have sent an urgent letter to Education Minister Yoav Kish warning that without the immediate release of delayed funds for teachers' salaries, religious high schools (yeshivot tichoniyot) and girls' religious schools (ulpanot) will be unable to open on schedule. The letter, also addressed to the Education Ministry Director-General Meir Shimoni and the head of the religious education administration Rabbi Yoni Samuel, demands swift intervention with the Supreme Court to free the budget allocated for teachers of sacred studies.

The forum's directors, Elhanan Gelt and Yinki Friedman, emphasize that the withheld funds are not political grants but payments for teachers who have already worked. They note that the budget for these salaries has been delayed for nearly two years. Although a significant portion of the withheld funds was released last Friday, the allocations for sacred studies in the national-religious education sector remain frozen. The forum states, "We have reached the end of our patience. We will not be able to open the school year."

The forum calls on the Education Ministry to urgently present their position to the Supreme Court, clarifying that without releasing the funds, the opening of the school year in religious high schools and ulpanot is in serious jeopardy. They also request the ministry submit an official stance supporting the fund release today, based on the attached legal opinion. The forum stresses that expecting educational institutions to bear these costs alone is unreasonable and warns against attempts to obscure their plight.