Education Minister Kisch asks High Court to preserve proportional funding for haredi schools

Education Minister Yoav Kisch has asked Israel’s High Court of Justice to keep a funding system that gives haredi schools state support in proportion to the core curriculum they teach, placing him directly at odds with the attorney-general.

The dispute involves hundreds of schools operated by the Independent Education Center and Ma’ayan Hahinuch Hatorani Bnei Yosef, networks affiliated with United Torah Judaism and Shas. The schools hold state recognition but do not belong to the state school system. A special legal provision allows the two networks to receive funding on the same basis as state schools, while other recognized but unofficial schools generally receive 75% of equivalent state-school funding.

Religious freedom advocacy group Hiddush argues that the networks should receive full funding only if they teach the full core curriculum, including mathematics, English and science. It says schools have continued receiving funds despite failing to meet those requirements, and that Education Ministry supervision has not accurately shown what they teach.

Kisch rejects that interpretation. He defended the ministry’s practice of adjusting each school’s funding according to its assessed share of the required curriculum. A school judged to teach 85% of the program, for example, could receive funding at a similar rate. The minister says this approach has encouraged schools to expand their core studies, while an all-or-nothing rule could drive them out of the networks and into frameworks facing fewer state requirements.

Kisch also cited earlier attorneys-general and court rulings that he said accepted proportional funding. The attorney-general maintains that the arrangement was, at most, temporary and never created a permanent legal basis for funding schools that do not meet their full obligations. Kisch obtained separate legal representation instead of joining the response filed for the Education and Finance ministries. The court has sought information on the required studies, compliance calculations, teacher qualifications and other aspects of the system.