Among the many deficiencies cited in the Treasury's report, officials
documented that 30 Shas schools operated ithis school year without
the necessary permits. Even so, those schools received funding illegally from
the Hareidi Unit of the Ministry of Education. Likud – which sees the
haredi parties as its only natural allies – controlled the Ministry of
Education until a few months ago and apparently turned a blind eye to the illegal funding. But the Education Ministry is now controlled by Yair
Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party, and that means these haredi schools will likely be defunded for the next school year.
Yeshiva World reports:
Following the recent damaging Finance Ministry report on the [Sefardi haredi] Shas [Party’s] affiliated Mayan Chinuch education system; it appears many mosdos [nonprofits; in this case, schools – FailedMessiah.com] will no longer be eligible for national government funding. Amid the many deficiencies cited in the treasury report, officials documented that 30 schools operated in the closing school year without necessary permits. They nevertheless received funding [illegally] from the Chareidi Unit of the Ministry of Education. [Likud – which sees the haredi parties as its only natural allies – controlled the Ministry of Education in the previous government. It is now controlled by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party. – FailedMessiah.com] This however appears to be history and such schools will not be funded in the 5774 school year [i.e., the coming school year beginning in late summer – FailedMessiah.com].
For some of the schools, the situation will be even more severe as they are likely to face a closure order due to the array of safety and health violations.
The fact that schools which are “recognized” but not officially public schools, which is the case for many chareidi schools, permits them to operate under the radar regarding operating permits. The treasury report however changed this as state officials are scrutinizing requests for government assistance and schools lacking the required paperwork will be without funding or event shut down.
This is likely to create more stress in the chareidi community, which is already suffering from severe school overcrowding.