Heads of local authorities to the Ministry of Education: "Fully fund aides for integrated children"

Dozens of heads of local authorities from across the country turned yesterday, Sunday, to Minister of Education Yoav Kisch with a demand to regulate the funding of personal educational aides for children eligible for special education services. According to them, a reality in which the state does not fully fund the cost of these aides forces local authorities to absorb expenses of millions of shekels — an expense that, they argue, should not be imposed on them.

The letter was signed by many heads of authorities and councils, including Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, Chairman of the Local Government and Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas, Shai Hajaj, head of the Merhavim Regional Council and Chairman of the Regional Council Center, and the Forum of 15.

The root of the dispute lies in the implementation of the Special Education Law. According to the letter, under Amendment 11 to the 2018 law, parents of a student eligible for special education can determine the type of framework in which they study. However, local authorities claim this is often a "choice that is not necessarily optimal for the child," partly due to the reality on the ground.

When parents choose to integrate their child into a classroom, they must select from a "basket of services," which includes paramedical treatments and a personal educational aide. Here, the authorities argue, a failure arises: the ongoing shortage of paramedical therapists pushes families to choose personal aides instead of other necessary treatments.

"In recent years, we have witnessed a phenomenon where, instead of staffing teaching hours or paramedical treatments, the demand for personal aides is growing," the authorities wrote. They note that the rate of requests for personal aides has risen by about 30% annually. The result is a growing economic burden on local government, creating huge budgetary gaps that authorities are forced to cover themselves, a situation they state "cannot continue to be absorbed."

"It is inconceivable that, because of this shortage, local authorities must step into the state's shoes. The expense of staffing personal aides is growing exponentially, deepening the budget expenditure from the authorities' pockets—amounting to millions of shekels," the letter stated.

Against this background, the authorities present two main demands to the Minister of Education:

1. Starting in the upcoming school year, every personal educational aide for an integrated child must be fully funded (100%) by the Ministry of Education.

2. The issue must be regulated for the long term to prevent authorities from facing annual budgetary uncertainty and to stop the transfer of financial responsibility to local governments.

Deputy Director General of Education, Welfare and Society at the Center for Local Government, Michal Menkes, added: "The policy of integration in regular education is welcome, but it is accompanied by a widening gap regarding infrastructure and actual funding. It is impossible that, time after time, the coffers of local authority residents must bridge the state's incompetence."

Menkes added: "While the Ministry of Education chooses to ignore the crisis and refuses to reveal the true numbers of the shortage in special education staff and paramedical therapists, local authorities are forced to deal with the problem by hiring personal aides. We currently face a critical need to recruit 5,000 additional aides, on top of the 25,000 already employed, and this number is expected to climb by September. This imposes a heavy economic burden of about 72 million shekels on local authorities, directly at the expense of other services we are obligated to provide to our residents."

The Ministry of Education has not yet provided a response.