The Emergence of the Local Management of Schools (LMS) in Israel: A Political Perspective

The purpose of this study is to analyze the emergence of the local management of schools (LMS) in Israel in the past decade. The theoretical framework that guides the present study based upon political behavior perspectives directs attention to the contextual forces that generate issues, stimulate pressures, and govern decision processes by shaping the opportunity structures in which actors deliberate and decide policy. It is also known from the political behavior perspectives that government seeks responses that stabilize and legitimize the system; both are necessary for the system to function. Grounded on that theory I argue that the decentralization reform in the Israeli educational system, through the emergence of the LMS was done because of political reasons, and not for pedagogical reasons as it was presented to the public. The case study based on key persons’ interviews, published and unpublished documents, reveal that the Israeli Ministry of Education (representing the central government), which is held guilty for the performance failures of the educational system, sought to solve conflicts with various group interests (teachers unions, the business corporations, and parents’ associations) and to gain legitimacy in the public eyes, by decentralizing the educational system. By adopting this behavioral pattern the central government succeeded in reducing criticism, having the tacit consent of the teachers’ unions (who had been the main group to criticize the ineffectiveness of the educational system performance), and transfering the responsibility for the school performance to stakeholders, primarily school teachers and parents.