The New Haredim organization which is now lobbying for these funds says that several tens of millions of shekels are needed for state ultra-Orthodox schools in order to make them financially viable and make them a real option for haredi parents who want to give their sons a general education, and allow them in the future to obtain higher education qualifications.
“The Israeli government and philanthropic groups have invested billions into getting haredim into academia and the workforce but the educational gap for those who have not learned general education subjects at school is too large to overcome,” said Pnina Pfeuffer, head of New Haredim.
She said that it was critical to get the funds allocated for such schools as part of the core state budget since when the budget is passed by the Knesset, it creates a legal obligation on the state to disburse such funds.
“It is a national issue for everyone that haredi boys have an education,” she said, noting that every year thousands of ultra-Orthodox boys fail to acquire a basic education which would prepare them for the workforce, while the community continues to grow rapidly.
Pfeuffer argues that it is preferable to provide a framework where haredi parents who are interested in such schools can freely chose them, as opposed to a confrontational strategy of cutting funds to existing ultra-Orthodox schools which would create conflict with the community’s political and rabbinic leadership.
The large majority of elementary school aged ultra-Orthodox boys study almost no core curriculum subjects, such as math, English, science or computer studies, along with the overwhelming majority of ultra-Orthodox male high-school pupils.
This creates severe difficulties for ultra-Orthodox men who seek to obtain higher education qualifications and ultimately enter the workforce, especially in obtaining higher paying jobs.
Although there has been a significant increase in the number of ultra-Orthodox men and women beginning higher education qualifications in universities and colleges, almost one in every two ultra-Orthodox men who start such courses complete them, a state comptroller’s report found in 2019.
The same report determined that one of the primary reasons for the high drop out rate was due to the lack of basic education ultra-Orthodox boys receive when they are of school age.
But a growing number of so-called “modern ultra-Orthodox” families have sought to ensure their boys receive education in core curriculum subjects to prepare them for employment in the future.
During the 2013 - 2015 government, then education minister Shai Piron of Yesh Atid established the State Haredi School network, as a system of schools for ultra-Orthodox boys which alongside religious studies would also teach the core curriculum.
But the new network was never established through legislation or even administrative orders from the Education Ministry, creating significant difficulties in establishing and funding such schools, says Pnina Pfeuffer, head of the New Haredim organization.
In addition, local municipal authorities must give their authorization for such schools to be opened due to their lack of national and legislative standing.
This has meant that such schools have not been opened in ultra-Orthodox stronghold cities such as Bnei Brak because the rabbinic and political leadership of the community is opposed to such schools.
This is in part on ideological grounds, in which the rabbinic leadership believes that teaching non-religious studies
Because state haredi schools are not grounded in legislation, it means that a group of families interested in such a school have to request one be establishment and cannot rely on the education ministry to set one up for them.
Sometimes, if there are only a small number of requesting families it means that creating such a school is not financially viable, another problem which would be rectified by legislation, says Pfeuffer.
And because of the rabbinic opposition to such schools, there is also often social pressure against parents seeking to establish them.
For these reasons, the network has not been able to flourish and state haredi schools comprise just 4% of all ultra-Orthodox schools.
Legislation establishing the network in law would give it greater resources and greater ability to expand, Pfeuffer said.