Coalition Forms to Rescue Israel's Secular Public Education Amid Declining Performance and Budget Gaps

A coalition of senior secular education leaders, organization heads, and local officials has been established to prioritize the crisis in Israel's secular public education system ahead of the upcoming elections. This coalition highlights the issue's absence from the public agenda despite worsening educational outcomes and systemic underfunding. Recent data from the Central Bureau of Statistics shows that while most Israelis express satisfaction with their children's schools, international assessments like TIMSS reveal a sharp decline in Israeli students' math and science performance, with Israel dropping from 9th to 23rd place in math between 2019 and 2023. The coalition criticizes Education Minister Yoav Kisch for attempts to suppress poor test results and for policies that inflate matriculation rates without improving core academic standards.

Budget disparities between secular public schools and religious state schools remain a major concern. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently announced releasing 80 million shekels for secular public education, but a Supreme Court injunction froze these funds. Currently, secular public schools receive about 38,300 shekels per high school student, 26% less than the 48,000 shekels allocated to religious state schools. The coalition demands an additional 3.6 billion shekels to equalize funding. Ariel Levy, CEO of the Council for Secular Public Education and a coalition founder, emphasized the need for binding coalition agreements to address these gaps.

The coalition also condemns the current government's education policies, including a controversial heritage curriculum and excessive school hours, which they argue do not address core educational challenges. They call for elevating education to a top priority in the next government, strengthening secular public education, and increasing support for educators. Ahead of the elections, the coalition is pushing all parties to present clear education platforms, nominate qualified education ministers, and commit to establishing national councils to oversee secular education and ensure equitable funding. Two parties have already nominated candidates for education minister: Merav Cohen from Yesh Atid and Naama Lazimi from the Democratic Camp.

Proposals to transfer elementary schools to local authorities and reduce class sizes face skepticism due to political and financial constraints. The coalition insists that empowering school principals and teachers with greater autonomy is essential for meaningful reform. Ultimately, the coalition aims to make education a central election issue and secure practical commitments to improve Israel's secular public education system and close longstanding budgetary and achievement gaps.