Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On said Monday that his ministry would not increase the budget allocated to teachers despite recent threats of a teachers’ strike.  Bar-On said that the only money given to the teachers would be the money granted in an education reform agreement with the Education Ministry.  He sharply criticized Union of High School Teachers head Ron Erez, saying Erez was “allowing himself to enter a ditch.”

Erez responded by saying that Bar-On was “finally telling the truth, and everything that happened until now was foot-dragging meant to keep the teachers’ money in the ministry account.”  Teachers need to know that no one else will stand up for them, Erez said, and that they must work for a salary increase on their own.