Treasury's Education Decentralization Plan Is Destructive, Especially for a Country with High Inequality
Prof. Iris Ben David Hadar, an expert in education finance policy, warns against the Treasury's plan to decentralize the Ministry of Education's authority to local municipalities. She argues that the move will harm equality, increase disparities, and weaken organized labor. Based on her research, she points to inefficiency in weaker municipalities and the example of Chile, which returned to centralization. She calls not to dismantle the system.
Prof. Iris Ben David Hadar from Bar-Ilan University, an expert in education finance policy, warns against the Treasury's plan to decentralize the Ministry of Education's authority to local municipalities. The plan, revealed in 'TheMarker', includes reducing the ministry's areas of responsibility, closing departments, and transferring about 200,000 teachers to be employed by the municipalities. Ben David Hadar argues that the move will harm equality, especially in a country with high inequality like Israel. She points to her research showing that strong municipalities like Tel Aviv know how to provide adequate support for principals, while weak ones do not. She also mentions Chile, which returned from decentralization to centralization after disparities widened. She fears harm to organized labor and questions the efficiency claim, noting that municipal efficiency stands at only about 40% compared to over 90% in the OECD. She calls not to dismantle the system but does not oppose systemic changes.