With just a day to go before the school year is due to begin, agreement has been reached between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the Israel Teachers Union, and Israel’s schools will open tomorrow on schedule. Following the agreement, the hearing set down for this morning before the Labor Court on a petition for an order compelling teachers to turn up to work tomorrow has been cancelled.
Under the agreement, teachers have obtained pay rises and school principals have been given more discretion over teachers’ pay, while school vacations have to some extent been adjusted to be more in line with vacation days in the economy.
The starting salary for teachers has been raised to NIS 9,000 monthly, while veteran teachers will receive at least an extra NIS 1,100, and teachers will receive a bonus of NIS 10,000 if they remain three years in the system.
Salaries for school principals will start at NIS 19,000 monthly. Principals will be able to reward outstanding staff members with salary top-ups of NIS 400-1,000, and will for the first time be able to hire specialist teachers from outside the education system on personal contracts.
There will be extra payments for special tasks within schools, and the minimum scope of a teaching post will gradually be raised to 100%. Dismissal procedures for teachers will be streamlined, and, most importantly, the agreement stipulates that there will be no teachers’ strikes before 2026.
Minister of Finance Avigdor Liberman’s promise to adjust school vacations has been cut back somewhat because of fierce opposition from the union. Under the agreement, educational institutions will now work on the day following a Jewish holiday, on Lag Ba’omer, and on Ta’anit Esther (the day before the Purim holiday). Instead of these days, schools will be closed during the four days between Yom Kippur and the Sukkot holiday, and teachers will be given two vacation days at their own choice. "Summer school" will be extended to the end of July, and will be expanded to include grade 4.
Minister of Finance Avigdor Liberman said, "The school year will open tomorrow on schedule with a stronger and better education system. After long months of negotiations we have managed to bring about deep changes never before seen in the education system in Israel. First and foremost, the principle of compensation has been changed from one based solely on length of service to compensation according to excellence, effort, and achievement. The agreements reached answer the needs of the teachers, the pupils, and the parents, and take into account the Israeli economy as a whole.
"We have succeeded in bringing about synchronization between pupils’ vacation days and those of their parents, and this is a first step towards more complete synchronization. From tomorrow, school principals will have greater management flexibility that will find expression in retention of high-quality teaching staff who are compensated accordingly. We have succeeded in dramatically narrowing the pay gap between beginner and veteran teachers by raising starting salaries substantially. We have concluded a complicated period at the end of which we are giving certainty to parents and pupils for at least the next four and a half years."
Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton said, "After great efforts we have succeeded in reaching an excellent agreement that will enable the school year to open and will ensure stability for the coming years. This agreement, alongside professional measures that we have promoted in the past year, will strengthen the education system and take it forward."
Teachers Union secretary general Yaffa Ben-David said, "After a long struggle we have managed to bring teachers genuine good tidings, to preserve their working conditions and improve their pay, for the benefit of the education system. We are marking just a first step in the fundamental overhaul that the education system in Israel requires."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 31, 2022.
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