'Unheard of.' Eldar
Photo: Yaron Brener
Minister Tamir
Photo: Yaron Brenner
Municipalities say education budget to be cut by NIS 280 million
'Crumbling government is destroying country's educational system,' Union of Local Authorities in Israel chairman claims
Adi Eldar, chairman of The Union of Local Authorities in Israel (ULAI) claimed Thursday that Education Minister Yuli Yamir briefed him on the plan to cut NIS 280 million ($80 million) from the municipalities' education budgets for the upcoming school year.
The proposed cut would likely result in the dismissal of some 4,500 school janitors, secretaries and administrators.
"The crumbling government is destroying the country's educational system," Eldar said.
The ULAI head told Tamir during their meeting Wednesday that the municipalities would not agree to the budget cut. "The government is initiating a reform in the educational system but lacks the budget to fund it? This is unheard of," Eldar said.
The ULAI claims that some NIS 3 billion ($ 870 million) in municipal taxes have already allocated to the Education Ministry.
The ministry said in response that the "proposed cut won’t exceed NIS 85 million ($ 24 million) of the ULAI's budget for the coming school year. The majority of the sum will be deducted from the budgets of the more affluent municipalities. The budget of the weaker municipalities will be cut by no more than 1%. The Education Ministry calls on the ULAI to open the school year as scheduled."
