A new storm has aroused in Israel's supervised education system after an official Education Ministry audit found that dozens of haredi daycare centers failed to pass on state-funded bonuses to classroom aides, instead retaining the money themselves.

As a result, the state has demanded that millions of shekels be deducted from the budgets of the institutions involved.

However, Education Ministry Director General Meir Shimoni has asked that the deductions be reconsidered out of concern that reducing the budgets could disrupt continuity of operations and even cause daycare centers to collapse just before the start of the new school year.

The agreement in question was signed in August 2023 and included a monthly attendance bonus of up to NIS 600 for aides with no absences, as well as an annual NIS 1,000 bonus for those who took no more than 10 cumulative sick days.

According to a report by Kan News, although the funds were transferred to the daycare centers to be paid to employees, in some institutions the money never reached the intended recipients. The government is now seeking to recover the funds by deducting them from future budget allocations.

The Education Ministry said the Director General's request was made in full coordination with professional officials in order to prevent significant disruption to the continuity of the daycare system ahead of the new academic year.

The Halamish organization, which represents dozens of daycare centers, rejected the allegations, arguing that its petition to the District Court concerns only budget deductions related to the "expanded staffing" framework and not the attendance bonuses.

The organization added that the budget deductions were applied across the entire daycare sector, including WIZO and Na'amat, and not only to haredi institutions. It also claimed that more than 90% of independent daycare centers paid the bonuses in full and have official certification from accountants to prove it, accusing the Finance Ministry of creating a false narrative and unfairly targeting the sector.