The National Labor Court in Jerusalem accepted on Sunday a plea from the National Teachers' Union to order the government to reduce class size to a maximum of 32 students per class in middle and high schools.
The panel of judges ordered the state to allocate NIS 380 million ($93 million) towards conforming with the new class size limit. Thirty million shekels must be allocated for conforming with standards during the current school year, the court said, 150 million shekels during the next school year, and 200 million shekels for each subsequent year until the new class size protocol is implemented in all public schools.
The teachers who filed suit accused the government of violating promises made in 2008 following the Secondary School Teachers' Union strike that year. The government promised then to reduce class size but is now moving slowly toward that goal as part of an attempt to trim the national budget, they said.
The government is considering implementing the smaller class sizes in only 200 schools during the next academic year, after promising to implement the new standards in more than 600 schools. Union officials argued that the government has repeatedly postponed implementation of agreements with teachers and essentially has evaded attempts to force a reform in education.
Government representatives responded by arguing that issues such as class size and the length of the school day are national matters that are in the jurisdiction of the current, elected government and are not subject to negotiation in the context of union demands.
The Labor Court said the government must strive to fulfill its promises to the teachers. The government's actions of late leave the impression that it is attempting to shirk its obligations to fulfill previous commitments, the judges accused.