Abstract
Education is a fundamental human right that promotes individual freedom and empowerment, and yields important development benefits. Yet, the issue of financing education undermines this fundamental human right. The governmental school finance is universal, and public education is accessible to many children in the western world. The objective of the policy that promotes the universal right to education is equality of opportunity. Moreover, economic literature states that when market choices allow supplements to government financing, equal opportunity cannot be achieved. This chapter examines the right to education by analyzing fairness in the educational system, using Israel as a case study. Fairness is defined in this chapter as the extent of equality of educational opportunity and equity. Measuring equity at the output side is done by calculating the extent of equality of educational opportunity. Measuring equity at the input side is done by calculating the extent of wealth neutrality, horizontal equity, and vertical equity. The Israeli example is interesting, given the societal and ethnic diversity of Israel’s population, the majority-minority balance of power, and its recent school finance policy (SFP) reform, enacted in 2009.
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Notes
- 1.
Figures represent absolute numbers.
- 2.
The situation in these countries resembles Israel’s societal diversity, and they also include sizeable ethnic minorities.
- 3.
The McLoone index compares the sum of actual spending in all districts that spend less per pupil than the median district to what total spending would be in these districts if their spending was brought up to the median. The index range is between 0 to 1, with 1 representing perfect equality.
- 4.
Measured by correlations amongst per-student local funds, and differential dimensions (such as SES).
- 5.
Though these two variables, SES and minority percentage, are both highly correlated with per-student local expenditure, they are also correlated with each other and therefore, integrating them into the regression analysis and allowing for interaction yields the understanding that SES is the differential dimension that explains, together with the per-student tax revenue, the variation in per-student investment.
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Appendix
Appendix
Box plot of local funding across SES
Box plot of eligibility rate across SES
Box plot of eligibility rate across local fund levels (in Quintiles)
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Bendavid-Hadar, I. (2021). The Right to Education. In: Zajda, J. (eds) Third International Handbook of Globalisation, Education and Policy Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66003-1_58
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