'School year will not open because of budget cuts'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
A week after local authorities warned that they would not open the upcoming school year, due to start in three weeks, an emergency meeting was scheduled to be held on Wednesday morning with Education Minister Yuli Tamir. The threat from the local authorities comes in protest to the proposed budget cuts of NIS 280 million by the Education Ministry to the local budgets. Director of the 15 Large Cities Forum, Adv. Eitan Atiya was quoted as saying that "under the current circumstances, we stand by our decision not to open the upcoming school year. Tel Aviv Mayor and Chairman of the 15 Forum added that "parents should make other arrangements for their children for September 1st, because the school year will not open." Education Ministry Director Shlomit Amihai said that the budget cuts are necessary in order to implement reforms in the education system. She promised that the cuts would be gradual and would take into account stronger versus weaker authorities.