Money approved for education reform
Education Ministry's budget will receive an additional 5 billion shekels by 2013 and another 1.3 billion to reform the system. Will this agreement pave the way for the courts to force the teachers back to the classrooms?
Cabinet ministers on Sunday unanimously approved a plan for reform of the education system that will now make its way to the Nation Labor Court. The court is likely to issue a restraining order in the coming days, thereby forcing middle and high school teachers to return to work after an exhausting strike that has already lasted 46 days.
In the measure proposed by Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On and Education Minister Yuli Tamir, NIS 100 million ($26 million) will be added to the Education Ministry's budget for 2008 in order to add class hours in schools. Likewise, Bar-On and Tamir are being instructed to present the government with a multi-year proposal for limiting classroom size and adding hours for instruction.
The allocation for this project will be examined by the Treasury after the budget for the 2008 fiscal year meets with Knesset approval.
The cabinet also decided on a gradually increasing budgetary allocation for the Education Ministry in the years 2008-2013. It was also determined that additional resources will be allocated to the ministry's budged until 2013 totaling NIS 5 billion (about $1.3 billion), expressly for carrying out reforms in the education system and improvement in the salary of all instructors.
Cabinet: Continue negotiating
The government furthermore asked Tamir and Bar-On to continue negotiating with the Teacher's Union and the Middle and High School Teachers' Association to consolidate a proposal for comprehensive reform in the educational system.
The two ministers will thus need to determine the full extent of the reform and when it is to be enacted with the help of the teachers' organizations.
The education minister said that the Israeli education system had initiated a series of meaningful reforms in primary schools that would strengthen the position of Israeli teachers.
She added that the Israeli government had allocated essential resources for the purpose of reform and that Sunday's cabinet decision constituted another step towards true improvement in the education establishment.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had this to say at the meetings conclusion: "I call out to the teachers from the bottom of my heart. The government of Israel does not wish to defeat you; we have committed to raising your salaries in a meaningful manner, as shown in the cabinet's decision. We wish to improve Israeli education but first of all you must stop striking."
And what do the teachers say? Members of the Teacher's Organization claimed that they were already close to signing an agreement on Saturday which would have ended the longest strike in Israeli history.
According to them, the Finance Ministry backed off of the agreement at the last moment and cancelled a meeting between Teacher's Organization Chairman Ran Erez and the director-general of the Finance Ministry, Toram Ariav.
