The Knesset Finance Committee convened this morning to approve a request from the Ministry of Education for changes amounting to NIS 2.66 billion in the 2025 budget, including a NIS 1 billion transfer to the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) education system. The session took place a week before the end of the fiscal year.
The document presented to the committee called for NIS 426 million to be transferred to the Chinuch Atzmai school network associated with the United Torah Judaism party, and for NIS 360 million to be transferred to the Ma’ayan HaChinuch HaTorani network associated with the Shas party. In addition, NIS 150 million will be transferred to institutions with the status of “recognized but not official” that do not teach the core school curriculum.
The document states that the transfers are for payments of teachers’ salaries and adjustments to meet actual expenses.
The transfer to exempt institutions (i.e., exempt from teaching the mandatory core curriculum) raises legal questions, since a petition concerning the supervision of these institutions is still pending in the High Court of Justice. Under Ministry of Education regulations, the condition for receiving state funding is abiding by the state education program, whereas the educational institutions associated with the haredi political parties avoid teaching the core curriculum in full.
The request also includes transfers to the general education system: NIS 480 million for high school teachers’ salaries and supplements for kindergartens. There is also NIS 111 million for the settlements’ education administration.
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich seeks to fund the transfers from budget surpluses accumulated at government ministries during this year. Transferring budget surpluses from previous years is an accepted practice in the Ministry of Finance Budgets Division, as are transfers between items within ministerial budgets. This time, however, it is a matter of transferring budgets from general reserves for spending in 2025 itself, which the government has chosen to allocate to the haredi education system.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 25, 2025.
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