The Education Ministry announced on Sunday 21 Adar II that it is setting guidelines that will impact a talmid torah’s ability to charge tuition to parents.
The guidelines state that educational institutions may charge parents tuition not to exceed the amount required to fill the gap between current state funding and the cost per child.
This means that exempt institutions that receive 55% funding from the state and recognized schools that are not part of the public school system, excluding Mayan Torani/Shas schools and Chinuch Atzmai, which receive 75% from the state, may charge tuition between 45% and 25%, no more. The ministry points out that this is in addition to other limitations set forth by the state.
Mosdos that are part of an educational network may not charge tuition since they receive 100% state funding. They may however compel parents to pay for other expenses that are approved by the contract with the ministry.
Alongside the legal regulation of the budget, the Ministry of Education is working these days to reinforce the supervision of educational institutions, to ensure that there is good governance. In this framework, the ministry will oversee tuition payments to mosdos by parents.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
that educational institutions may charge parents tuition not to exceed the amount required to fill the gap between current state funding and the cost per child. –
ISN’T this fair for parents, not to be overcharged?
Don’t institutions that charge tuition typically expect to make a “profit” from the more affluent families in order to subsidize the poorer ones? It would seem this would prohibit any sort of “sliding scale” tuition or would prohibit adjusting tuition based on ability to pay.
This seems to reflect Israeli socialist principles (the government must regulate and control everything with its central planning and state supplied wisdom) rather than anti-frum bigotry.
The institution can charge for after hours as they see fit, therefore we will continue paying whatever pay today!
I would hesitantly add, that the article has made it clear that they care about maintaining chareidi schools in the long run. Charging extra is not the same as seeking “sponsors” for poorer students. May we make every penny count.
Generally, I find akuperma’s anti-zionist comments to be too accusatory, often saying that the secular zionists are conniving and evil. Here he did not say that.
But in this case, I will take the more critical view of the secular government. Remember that Shai Piron of Yesh Atid is in charge of Ministry of Education. Yesh Atid has shown a pattern of attacking the charaidim beyond the whole conscription thing.
I fear that they are trying to reduce the amount of money that the schools collect in order to shut them down or at least reduce the student base. First make “fair” tuition. Then go after donations. Yesh Atid has been trying to squeeze the charaidim, and I fear that this is another attempt.
akuperma says:
March 24, 2014 at 9:22 am
the rich can donate the money or put it in a pool to subsidize the poor.
My guess is that some yeshivas where charging more for everybody that allowed by the law
no surprise