Is It Really Fair? A Critical Analysis of Israel's School Finance Policy

This paper investigates fairness in school-finance policy (SFP) by analyzing alternative principles of resource-allocation, using Israel as a case study. Through various statistical measurements of fairness, the paper reveals that Israel’s declared equity-oriented policy is incongruent with de-facto policies, a possible reason for its poor educational outcomes and wide gaps. Aiming at a potentially more successful implementation of fairness, an alternative theoretical SFP concept is introduced, taking into account both improvement and compensation elements. The implications concern all other countries with diverse populations who strive for fairness and aim at improving their educational achievement distribution via more effective allocation mechanisms.