MK Menachem Eliezer Moses wants to know why the new law compelling schools to loan books to students instead of compelling them to buy books is not extended to chareidi schools. “There is no reason why my tax money will only funds textbooks for state public schools and not state recognized chareidi schools” stated Moses.

The Knesset discussed the bill this week ahead of its first reading, a bill that will compel all schools to loan books to students. Moses supports the bill but wants to understand why this does not include the recognized chareidi schools. The latter refers to many Chinuch Atzmai Schools, which are independent of the state system but subject to inspection by Ministry of Education officials and categorized as “independent/recognized schools”.

Moses explained to fellow lawmakers that he is very concerned due to the growing anti-chareidi trend, citing the elimination of the Nahari Law, a law which provided funding for chareidi schools. That law compelled local government to allocate a budget for chareidi schools recognized by the Education Ministry towards covering utility and cleaning costs. He questions if the grandmothers of students in these mosdos are expected to clean these schools and if they should bring soap and water from home. He detailed how he pays income tax too and he wants some of the money allocated to schools that his grandchildren attend and not just the state public schools.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)