Special education budget grows by 2.5 billion shekels and will only continue to climb

This year, too, the data on the growth of special education and its budget are alarming. The special education budget has grown by 2.5 billion shekels, from 24 billion shekels in 2025 to 26.5 billion shekels in 2026. The number of students in special education has grown by 8.8% from 384.5 thousand in the 2025/26 school year to 418.4 thousand in the 2026/27 school year, which opens this week. For comparison, the growth rate in the entire education system is between 1.5% and 2% per year, meaning less than a quarter.

This year, too, no reform was implemented that would attempt to curb the growth in special education or at least make the use of its budgets more efficient. Minister of Education Yoav Kisch did adopt the conclusions of the Shapira Committee for solving the special education problem in mid-2025, but postponed implementation until 2027, effectively leaving the issue to his successor. It is clear that special education children are entitled to the best support the state can provide, but in a situation where the special education budget is becoming a strategic economic problem, it is clear that a plan is needed to answer a series of questions, such as whether eligibility for special education should be ranked and whether the decision-making authority should be returned from parents to the state.

Budgetary Burden

Since 2021, the special education budget has grown by 77%, a rate almost double the 41% growth in the Ministry of Education's budget. The annual growth in the special education budget constitutes on average 39% of the annual growth in the education budget. Thus, for example, last year the special education budget grew by 2 billion shekels out of a 5.2 billion shekel growth in the entire ministry's budget. The special education budget constituted 20.9% of the Ministry of Education's budget in 2021. This year it is already 26.2%, and by 2030 it is expected to reach 30.6% according to Calcalist's calculations.

The average annual cost per student in regular education stood at 27.3 thousand shekels in 2025. The annual cost of a student in special education with learning disabilities or emotional problems was 74.1 thousand shekels. The cost of a student with mental health problems was 116.3 thousand shekels, and that of a student on the autistic spectrum was 129 thousand shekels, nearly five times as much.

The number of autistic students in the education system has grown within four years by 114% from 31.4 thousand students in 2021/22 to 67.3 thousand in 2025/26. The number of children with severe mental health problems has grown in that same period by 113% from 15.3 thousand to 32.6 thousand. There are many reasons for this, including the change in the definition of autism, the increase in parental awareness, the decrease in stigma, and the large classes in regular schools that cause parents to try to take their child out of there.

The Definition Problem

When he took office, Minister of Education Yoav Kisch understood that the uncontrolled growth in special education is one of the most difficult strategic problems of the Israeli economy. He appointed a committee headed by former El Al CEO Amos Shapira, which reached the conclusion that the only way to solve the issue is to make inclusive education in regular schools much more comprehensive. To this end, the committee recommended reducing classes in regular schools from more than 30 students on average today to 19 on average per class, using the large surplus of teaching hours in the education system without adding teachers. The cost of the recommendations was a one-time investment of 14 billion shekels, mainly for building classrooms, and an addition of 1.5 billion shekels per year.

The Treasury strongly opposed this, stating that the recommendations are not applicable. Minister Kisch announced that he accepted the conclusions, but postponed the implementation to 2027. "Until there is an ability to provide an answer to all students in general education, the budgetary problem will worsen," warned Shapira in an interview with Calcalist last year.

Former Minister of Education Shai Piron believes that the issue is that the definition of special education is too broad. According to him, only 30%-40% of special education students are clear-cut cases (Down syndrome, blindness, autism, deafness). 60% have behavioral or attention problems, which is a significantly higher rate than is accepted globally.