Top Court Says Separate Tel Aviv Schools for Foreign Children Create Racial Segregation

The Supreme Court ruled that, given the high concentration of foreign children in just two schools in south Tel Aviv, the municipality and the Education Ministry had to formulate a plan to integrate the students into other schools as well

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled Sunday that the concentration of foreign students in two schools in south Tel Aviv amounted to racial segregation in compulsory education, and ordered Israeli authorities to take steps to integrate them into other schools as well.

“The concentration of the children of undocumented residents in the aforementioned schools, alongside the departure of Israeli residents’ sons and daughters from these schools, created, in practice – though not intentionally – a situation of racial segregation in compulsory education,” Justice Alex Stein wrote.

Stein deemed the situation “intolerable.” However, the justices rejected the appeal by the students’ parents against a lower court’s decision, in which they sought an order to close the separate schools – Bialik-Rogozin and Gvanim.

They explained that the situation on the ground had changed since the District Court ruling: according to municipal data, 47 percent of children without legal status in primary education are already integrated into schools across the city, thanks to integration efforts accelerated by the petition, as well as the extensive departure of foreign families and their relocation away from Tel Aviv and Israel in recent years.

The court further ruled, contrary to the petitioners’ demands, that closing the Bialik and Gevanim schools shortly before the start of the school year could create chaos in the registration process.

Alongside rejecting the appeal, the justices ruled that the authorities have an active obligation to work toward integrating the students. The ruling directed the municipality and the Ministry of Education to consider solutions that had been proposed during the hearings on the petition, including expanding school enrollment zones, introducing controlled school choice, and expanding transportation services. 

In addition, despite rejecting the appeal, the Supreme Court ordered the municipality and the Ministry of Education to pay the appellants’ legal costs amounting to 30,000 shekels.

The proceedings began with a petition filed by human rights lawyers on behalf of hundreds of asylum seekers in 2021, which was rejected by the District Court, ruling that placement according to place of residence was consistent with the registration regulations and that the parents would be required to arrange transportation themselves. 

Following the appeal to the Supreme Court, the Tel Aviv Municipality and the Ministry of Education formulated a plan in 2023 under which about 90 children were integrated into 11 schools in northern and central Tel Aviv.

The plan was implemented after a decade of de facto segregation. A 2020 Haaretz investigation found that 91.5 percent of the city’s foreign children attend schools that are for foreigners only.