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Deferral of budget threatens to close educational programs: "Will not take place this year"
Disputes over the state budget led to the freezing of programs for dropout youth and children in the periphery, after the use of the budget already prepared was blocked by the Accountant General. According to sources in the Ministry of Education, the proposal to postpone the approval of the budget could land another blow to the students. "We will have no way to renew the plans"
Tags- Ministry of Education
- State budget
- budget
- Deer Hauser
Dana Yarkatzi
Tuesday, August 11, 2020, 7:00 p.m.A number of educational programs for children and youth at risk, dropout youth and students in the social and geographical periphery have been frozen due to the political controversy surrounding the issue of state budget. According to the Ministry of Education, about four billion shekels are missing to budget the supplementary programs. Although the ministry has a ready budget of about NIS 1.44 billion, the Accountant General does not approve the use of funds until the crisis is resolved and the budget is approved in an orderly manner.
Despite the freeze on educational programs, and while Israel has been operating since the beginning of the year with a monthly funding ratio of 1/12 of the previous year's budget, MK Zvika Hauser (Derech Eretz) introduced a bill to postpone the budget transfer deadline by another hundred days - until November. Solves the problem of educational programs, but is only expected to worsen their situation, and even bring about their final closure, while tens of thousands of students and youth will open the school year without a proper response to their needs, and find themselves trapped in the midst of a political conflict.
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A source in the Ministry of Education said that if the law promoted by MK Hauser passes in the Knesset, the educational programs will stop their activities in the coming school year. "According to the Accountant General, we can not use the NIS 1.44 billion we have, because they were given to us without coverage," he explained. "If we could use that money legally, we could at least solve the critical problems of the significant plans,"
he said . A law that would delay budget transfers would continue the existing problem. This means that in fact we will not have a way to renew the programs until November, and they will simply not take place in the coming school year. "
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Tens of thousands of teachers and students will be harmed: The programs that will be closed due to the budget crisis
To the full article
Another source involved in budgeting the educational programs, argued that there is no other solution to the problem other than transferring the budget. "Postponement of the budget approval for November is not expected to lead to a solution to the cancellation of the educational programs," the source said. "This means that these plans will not have a budget for this period."
He added that "if this was a problem that could be solved, they would have already found a solution to these budgets. The reason there is no budget for the educational programs is that we are running on a continuous budget, and the ministry has no capacity to fund them." He said, "If the ministry had the money to run the programs - it probably would have done it today."
The plans will be closed due to lack of budget
Among the plans that will be frozen due to the lack of budget, HILA, which works for dropout and at-risk youth. In the background of the announcement of the intention to freeze the program, the Ministries of Education and Finance and the Community Centers Association tried to negotiate to prevent the move. However, it was finally decided to send hearing letters to the program staff before dismissal. The budget for the program, which annually addresses about 8,000 teens dropped out of educational institutions, has not been approved by the Ministry of Education, and more than a thousand people could lose their jobs.
Another significant program that could be canceled this year is "Battle", which works to reduce gaps in Israeli society through enrichment and empowerment actions in the education system. The program, which is run by the community center company, has about 4,000 teachers and operates in 114 authorities. Discussions are currently taking place between the chairman of the committee and the ministries of education and finance, on the instructions of the Labor Court.
The Milat program, which provides additional study day frameworks for children in the periphery, is also in danger of closing. This is a nationwide program for the advancement of students in the academic and social field, which extends the school day The program is active in hundreds of educational institutions, including elementary and middle schools, and has an annual budget of NIS 135 million, for about 26,000 children in 55 localities. Currently, about 2,500 employees are at risk of dismissal.
In addition, the training for national service volunteers, who play a crucial role in the education system, youth villages, boarding schools, special education schools and more, will also be frozen. A document sent by the Ministry of Education states that "there is no approved state budget and we are operating within the missing continuum budget. In the absence of a full budget to operate the national service for the entire period September-December, there is currently no approval to run summer trainings." The ministry clarified that according to the rules of accounting, they will not be able to pay retrospectively for trainings performed without approval.
The Virtual High School of Volleyball (the Center for Educational Technology), which allows 850 students from across the country to study for matriculation in mathematics, physics, English, chemistry and biology at the five-unit level and virtually - was also hit by the budget crisis. The high school has been operating for eight years, and provides classroom completion with the help of outstanding students who mentor students from the social and geographical periphery and hold a weekly meeting with them in groups of four students.
The Ametz and Talam supplementary programs, for the prevention of dropouts, will not begin their activities in the 11th and 12th strata. The announcement from the Ministry of Education states that "We would like to inform you that at the moment it is not possible to issue calls for calls to hold the allocation and budgeting committees of the supplementary programs." The AMZ program, which enrolls about 5,500 high school students, provides unique teaching methods for students from weak economic backgrounds or students who have difficulty studying for full matriculation. The TLAM program, which is also in danger of closing, identifies students at risk of dropping out as early as ninth grade. For full maturity.
