Chareidi MKs scored a major achievement: on Tuesday the
Knesset plenum unanimously passed in a first reading the
Educational Institutions for Special Cultures bill, which is
designed to provide budget arrangements for the yeshivos
ketanos. The wording of the bill was approved by the
Rabbinical Committee that has been closely following the
issue.
Twenty-three MKs from UTJ, Shas, Likud, Kadima, Labor and
HaIchud HaLeumi-NRP voted in favor of the bill.
According to the bill, the yeshivos ketanos would
receive 60 percent of the per-student funding given to
comparable government schools. Although the nature of the
education is similar, in that both institutions aim at
producing comparable academic development in their students,
the per student cost is generally lower at yeshivas since
they have fewer expensive non-core activities than a regular
high school.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni, who presented the bill for UTJ, said,
"This is a bill we didn't want to have to pass, but which was
made necessary following the High Court petition [by the
Israeli Reform movement] and because without this law the
yeshivos ketanos would not have been able to receive
funding in the coming academic year. Without this law it
wouldn't be possible to provide funding for a boy who had his
legs amputated and studies in a yeshiva ketanoh."
He also expressed his surprise that Education Minister Yuli
Tamir filed a government appeal regarding the law and agreed
to rescind it only after those who introduced the bill
pledged to her that they would continue with the legislating
procedures related to the bill in coordination with the
Education Ministry, though just two weeks ago she told the
Knesset plenum during a deliberations on a no-confidence
motion that she supported the bill and the arrangements to
fund the yeshivos ketanos with no stipulations.
Rabbi Gafni thanked all those who helped advance the bill and
overcome the appeal filed by the Education Minister,
especially Shas Chairman Eli Yishai.
MK Yaakov Margi, who presented the bill for Shas, said that
those who appealed to the High Court to block the funding of
the yeshivos ketanos never imagined the move would
result in a special bill. "He meant to issue a curse and
wound up issuing a blessing."
Rabbi Gafni said even after passing the bill in a first
reading "there's still a lot of work ahead of us. Although
we've gotten past the most significant hurdle...we must get
the law passed in second and third readings, and before we
get there we'll definitely have to overcome several
obstacles. But I hope that besiyata deShmaya we'll
succeed in this task and eventually the bill will receive
final approval and go on the law books. That will guarantee
the funding of the yeshivos ketanos."
Late last week the bill was approved by the government's
Ministerial Legislating Committee after being passed by the
Knesset Education Committee. The bill was based on a draft by
the Rabbinical Committee that has been following the issue.
The bill needed government backing in order to pass as
quickly as possible with a majority of coalition votes. Four
ministers supported the bill, three opposed it and two
abstained.
The ministers who backed the bill were Meshulam Nahari and
Eli Yishai (Shas), Yaakov Ben Yizri (Pensioners) and
Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor). Opponents were Justice
Minister Daniel Friedman and Housing Minister Zeev Boim
(Kadima) and Ami Ayalon (Labor). Abstaining ministers were
Meir Shetreet (Kadima) and Yitzchak Herzog (Labor). To ensure
the bill won majority support in the committee, concerted
efforts were made to persuade the ministers before the
vote.
According to the bill, which is independent of the Government
Education Law and was made necessary following a High Court
petition filed by the Israel Reform movement, the yeshivos
ketanos have been defined as distinctive cultural
institutions and will receive 60 percent of the per-student
funding provided to comparable government schools. The bill
provides explicitly that yeshivas will not be subject to
Education Ministry curriculum, but will be allowed to focus
entirely on Torah studies.
The traditional yeshiva ketanoh curriculum had been
under pressure exerted by the Education Ministry (that has
been applied all across the levels of chareidi education) to
include a "core" set of secular subjects. Chareidi rabbonim
and educators had been and are strongly resisting this. The
Israeli Reform movement brought a court suit to try to force
the chareidi schools to teach the secular subjects, but the
ironic effect will hopefully be that the special status of
the yeshiva ketanos will be the subject of an explicit
law.
