Israel Ranks Last in Education Spending Efficiency Among Developed Countries
Israel consistently leads developed countries in national education spending as a percentage of GDP, with 4.7% in 2022 compared to the OECD average of 3.3%. However, this high spending figure is misleading due to Israel's nearly double fertility rate (2.9 children per woman versus the OECD average of 1.5), which inflates the national expenditure relative to GDP. When measuring efficiency by comparing average education spending per student to PISA test scores, Israel ranks last among developed nations, with a gap of 1.52 standard deviations below expected performance.
The Ministry of Finance presented these findings at an emergency education conference in the Knesset in June, highlighting Israel's poor outcomes despite significant reforms. Israel placed 35th globally in PISA 2022 tests assessing critical thinking and application skills, falling below OECD averages in all three tested areas. Unlike Israel’s traditional strength in knowledge-based TIMSS tests, the 2023 TIMSS results showed a sharp decline after shifting to evaluating thinking and application skills, with Israel dropping from 9th to 23rd in math and from 16th to 25th in science.
The Finance Ministry also noted inefficiencies in budget allocation, with 9-12% of funds lost to administrative overhead due to multiple intermediaries, including the Ministry of Education districts, local authorities, and education networks. Former Education Minister and organization head Shai Piron criticized this complex funding structure and pointed to other inefficiencies such as extended school weeks and political budget allocations to sectoral groups.
Additional challenges include the large share of education funding directed to the ultra-Orthodox and Arab sectors, where core curriculum teaching is often inadequate or absent, and many ultra-Orthodox schools do not participate in PISA testing. Despite increased funding for Arab education, achievement gaps remain substantial, with a 110-point difference in PISA scores compared to Hebrew-speaking students.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch responded to the poor TIMSS results by restricting the publication of further negative assessment data and initiating proceedings to dismiss the head of the National Authority for Measurement and Evaluation in Education, raising concerns about transparency and accountability in Israel’s education system.
