It’s Not What You Spend, But How You Spend It.

Israel’s Finance Ministry announced that increases in the country’s Education budget would not keep pace with increases in the national budget.

A budget reflects the priorities of the organization allocating funds; by not increasing the education budget, the Israeli government is making a clear statement about its view on the importance of educating its children vs. other programs and initiatives.

That said, I can’t say that I disagree with the Finance Minister on this particular point. The education budget has increased steadily over the past two decades while student performance has continued to decline and the schools themselves continue to decay. It not always about what you spend, but how you spend it.

It is time for the Israeli government to get serious about education reform. It is a crisis that must be addressed immediately. Improve the curriculum, provide training and development for teachers, upgrade the facilities. Until then, thousands of children will continue to be left behind, ignored by their government that will be forced to support an under-educated population.