Parents are paying thousands of shekels for private daycares in March, even though they are closed due to the war, and it is unreasonable that the government does not reimburse them, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel (New Hope-United Right) told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
On Tuesday, in a letter to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, she said a new framework should provide direct financial reimbursement to parents for their payments to private daycares in March.
The war has caused the shutdown of schools, daycares, and kindergartens across the country, leaving many parents without childcare while still paying full monthly fees for private daycares.
“Employers are asking parents to return to work and function as usual,” Haskel said in an interview. “But those [daycare] frameworks don’t exist right now, even though they’re still paying for them. So, in order to work, they have to hire a nanny or a babysitter – anything just to get through this.”
The expense of private daycare can amount to thousands of shekels a month for parents, especially for families with several children.
As a mother of three children, Haskel said, “I know what it means to pay NIS 10,000 a month for a private daycare for twins.”
Many workplaces have resumed operations after the Home Front Command eased restrictions. As a result, parents must return to work despite a lack of childcare options.
“On the one hand, these families [returning to work] include most of the people serving, such as reservists and emergency workers,” Haskel said. “On the other hand, the state shut down all educational frameworks. I’m not saying that was wrong. It was right, but many people rely on private daycare.”
Current compensation policies don't work 'in practice'
Under the current government plan, the state compensates daycare centers and businesses, expecting that reduced expenses, such as unpaid staff leave, will allow them to refund parents.
Nevertheless, the system is failing, Haskel said.
“In practice, it doesn’t work,” she said.
The policy has been creating unnecessary tensions between parents and daycare staff, Haskel said.
“The state says, ‘We compensated the businesses, so why aren’t they returning your money?’” she said. “But this creates conflict between parents and the very caregivers who look after their children every day with dedication.”
“Parents are paying twice, and they’re fighting with the very people who take care of their children day and night,” Haskel said. “The whole framework is unreasonable.”
“Taking care of children all day is incredibly hard,” she said. “The staff works tirelessly, even now, with Zoom [remote-learning framework] and everything, it’s not easy for them either. And in the end, a fight is being created between them and the parents. That’s not reasonable.”
Instead, Haskel suggested to the Finance Ministry that it provide direct compensation to parents for the cost of private daycare, bypassing the need for daycare centers to issue reimbursements.
“Take the funds allocated for unpaid leave and business compensation, and give them directly to parents who present daycare receipts,” she said. “Parents already have receipts, since they pay for 12 months in advance. Reimburse them for March, and they can use that money to pay for alternative childcare so they can return to work.”
“It’s the most logical solution; we just tend to complicate things,” she added. “In the end, the state avoids paying, and that’s not reasonable. Parents, especially those serving in the reserves, are carrying the heaviest burden.”
Asked whether the government could have better prepared for the war by creating these financial frameworks in advance, Haskel said, “I think earlier preparation was needed. We already saw before that their framework didn’t work properly, so it should have been updated.”
“We talked about this a lot in the [Knesset] Finance Committee and the Education Committee,” she said. “It could have been handled better, unfortunately, but it wasn’t.”
Smotrich had not yet formally responded to her letter for a new compensation framework as of Thursday afternoon, Haskel told the Post, adding that her office would pursue the issue.