On Monday, the Finance Committee discussed the budget of the
Education Ministry, always an important and sensitive issue
for the chareidi community . During the deliberation, a
startling fact became known: According to the official
figures of the Education Ministry, students of the chareidi
educational stream constitute a full 13.1 percent of the
entire system, while they receive only 3.9 % of the Education
Ministry's budget, and virtually nothing from the local
authorities who also fund part of the overall education
budget.
Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who disclosed these new figures at the
meeting, said that this is a very grave situation. "Until
today, I claimed that the chareidi educational system
receives only a third of what it deserves. Now it has become
clear that it receives only a fourth of what it deserves," he
said.
He also complained to the Minister of Education, who was
present in the Knesset for the discussion, about the proposal
to drastically cut the Torah culture budget. "The budget for
general culture was transferred to the Culture Department of
Minister Matan Vilnai, and nothing was cut from it in this
new budget. The budget for Torah culture has remained with
you, and it is greatly reduced. Don't you know how to fight
for budgets in your ministry? You know how to fight quite
well for what interests you," Rabbi Gafni complained.
"Maybe it would be best to transfer the Torah culture budget
to Matan Vilnai too," he added.
The Shas party has intensified its battle to win funding for
its Maayan Hachinuch HaTorani schools, and this past Monday
(11 Teves) it took a very drastic step, when it refrained
from voting on the no-confidence proposal under discussion in
the Knesset. Among those who abstained were even the
government ministers: Eli Yishai, Yitzchok Cohen, and Shlomo
Benizri.
Due to their unmet demands to cover the deficits of the
Maayan Hachinuch HaTorani network, Shas' prolonged battle
against the government is escalating, as the date for the
approval of the budget draws closer. This stage of the
process is the one in which they can exert the most
pressure.
Concomitantly, especially because of Shas but also due to
problems with other parties, there is still no majority in
the Knesset Finance Committee to approve the Budget Law and
also the Arrangements Law for their second and third reading.
Mafdal, a member of the government, announced that toward the
end of the week it would decide how to vote on the state
budget. The position of the party will be influenced by the
degree to which the Finance Minister responds to their
demands.
UTJ, which met this past Monday with the Finance Minster
still hasn't decided how it will vote. On Tuesday 13 Teves,
the members of the party will meet again with Minister
Shochat.
During these final weeks, all the parties are trying to get
as much as they can for the issues that are dear to them. By
law the budget must be approved by the end of the year.
