The Prices Committee publishes yesterday (Thursday) for public comments a draft of recommendations on the subject of supervised nursery school rates. Upon completion of the public hearing process, the committee will submit final recommendations to ministers. Following a year-long work, the joint inter-ministerial pricing committee of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy and Industry today publishes for public comment a draft recommendation regarding the rates of supervised nurseries (“symbol” nurseries).
“Semel” day care centers are educational therapeutic frameworks supervised by the Ministry of Economy and Industry, designed for children aged 3 months to 3 years. The nurseries operate from the caregiver’s home, and provide a service for a maximum of 5 children. There are currently about 3,700 sergeant families in Israel, and about 18,300 children live there. Toddlers staying in nurseries are entitled to a subsidy from the state, the amount of which is determined according to the degree of eligibility of their family or to a subsidy according to welfare procedures.
According to the recommendations, the monthly rate in a supervised nursing home will be NIS 2,432, compared to about NIS 2,000 today. The tariff will maintain a balance between an adequate salary level for caregivers and a reasonable price for the service. At the same time, and taking into account the final recommendations, adjustments will also be made in the amount of subsidy given to parents in nurseries.
In addition, the committee recommends abolishing the different rate for infants and children, and setting a uniform rate for all toddlers staying in a daycare center. As part of the public hearing process, the committee will receive comments from all parties relevant to its recommendations, and after completing the process, it will submit final recommendations to the ministers.
The draft recommendations of the committee were formulated after in-depth professional work, in which the committee prepared full pricing for all expenses required to operate a daycare center, including monthly operating expenses, occupancy rates, actual operating hours and examination of daycare center salaries.
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