Federation of Local Authorities Chair Haim Bibas and Center for Regional Government Chair Shai Hajaj both came out against the decision to cut the budget for building new classrooms. That cut is part of across-the-board downsizing in all government ministries, but Bibas and Hajaj say Israel is facing a severe classroom shortage and can’t afford the cut.
In a letter sent earlier this month to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the pair asserted that there is already a shortage of special education classrooms and educational buildings in new neighborhoods. Many schools are forced to use temporary structures in place of permanent structures.
The reasons for the shortage of classrooms are a shortage of professional labor for construction and a 50% increase in construction costs, which is not accounted for in the state budget. The letter cites additional reasons for the shortage, including a lower allocation than necessary in the five-year plan for building classrooms and delays in transferring budgets from the state.
“We learned from the draft state budget for 2025 that not only did the government ministries not include the necessary budget increase, but it was determined that the missing construction budgets would be cut,” Bibas and Hajaj wrote, asking for the personal intervention of Netanyahu and Smotrich.
“In recent years, we have witnessed budget shortages, but following the war, the budgetary distress has worsened,” the two wrote.
They warned that every percentage cut to the budget is equivalent to a cut of 19 million shekels ($5 million). Bibas and Hajaj warned that if the classroom shortage isn’t fixed, there would be “a real danger concerning the start of the 2025-2026 school year.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Paul Weissfelner.
