The High Court of Justice ruled on Sunday to allow the Education Ministry to implement a plan that would change the status of "national priority areas" gradually, eliminating the need to fire 1,500 teachers in schools that will lose their funding due to the decision... In February 2006, the High Court canceled the 'national priority areas' status after the map... was deemed unfair by the Court because it heavily favored Jewish areas over Arab ones in education spending. The Education Ministry was ordered to develop a map that was in keeping with the principle of 'equality.'... 15 months after the High Court decision, the Education Ministry announced in an internal memo that it was seeking legal ways to delay implementing the ruling. However, the deadline for firing teachers - a move that would be necessary for dozens of schools if the national priority map were canceled for next year - was only two days later, on May 31.