Members of the Knesset Education Committee on Monday heard details of a comprehensive report citing illegal charges that parents are compelled to pay, at times several times the permitted maximum under law. This is especially true in the religious education network. Schools commonly tax parents to generate necessary funds to compensate for lacking Ministry of Education budgets.

The Free Education Law is painfully a far cry from free, and in many cases, parents are compelled to make payments or have their children ousted from schools even if the payments are contrary to the law. Hardest hit are junior high and high schools in the dati leumi system, where payments far exceed maximum sums set by law. The data is based on information provided by 200 school principals around the country.

Charges to parents are divided into two categories, optional payment to cover cultural activities such as school library, school trips, parties and the like and mandatory payments include additional classroom hours added by a school above the Education Ministry budget. 51% of the principals admit that parents are compelled to make mandatory payments exceeding the amount permitted by law, generally averaging NIS 452 per student. 6.5% of the schools admit compelling parents to pay over NIS 1,000 over the legal maximum to cover many costs, including ‘optional’ cultural activities.
 
Pressure on the parents is significant since it is difficult not to pay and thereby making a child an outcast, locked out of trips or school events.
 
The illegal trend appears in 78% of dati leumi schools, significantly higher than the secular public schools.
 
The average payment demanded from parents this year for students in 10th-12th grades is NIS 5,618 per student but in dati leumi schools, that number stands at NIS 8,383. The law sets the ceiling at NIS 1,960 per student.
 
The Education Ministry surveyed 540 schools. Following are the results.
Grades 1-6, the maximum charge under the law is NIS 1,960 per child.
In public schools the average charge is NIS 1,393. In dati leumi public schools the amount is NIS 1,896 and in chareidi affiliated schools, NIS 3,602.
 
Grades 7-9, the maximum charge under law is NIS 2,487 per child.
In public schools, the average charge is NIS 2,527. In dati leumi public schools the amount is NIS 5,993 and in chareidi affiliated schools, NIS 4,662.
 
Grades 10-12, the maximum charge under law is NIS 1,934 per child.
In public schools, the average charge is NIS 3,524. In dati leumi public schools NIS 8,385 and in chareidi affiliated schools, NIS 5,526.
 
In a related matter, the Knesset Education Committee on Monday approved a payment schedule for parents for the upcoming 5770 school year. The maximum payments range from NIS 571 (1st and 2nd grades) to NIS 1,363 (12th grade).
 
Committee chair MK Zevulun Orlev explained he hopes to totally do away with the payments, preferring a cross the board education tax. He explains that the current practice is not acceptable since children from poor homes do not participate in school trips or many other cultural activities in schools.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)