School timetable software: 8 questions before you choose

The short answer: good school timetable software does five things: it receives your constraints in a clear way, says openly what was not met and why, allows manual correction without taking apart the whole timetable, also handles substitutions in the day-to-day, and is priced in a way you can plan around. Before you sign, ask every vendor the 8 questions below, and ask to see the answer on the screen and not only hear it.

This guide does not compare vendors by name. Their abilities and prices change, and it is worth checking that directly with them, in the same week in which you decide. If you are at the beginning, start with the complete guide to building a timetable.

8 questions to ask every vendor

1. Where does it run, and who has to install something?

Software installed on one computer leaves all the work with the timetabler. An online school timetable opens in the browser, so the teachers too can take part: submit constraints, see their timetable and answer about substitutions. Ask: what do the teachers need to do? Is a password needed? Does it work from the phone?

2. How are constraints entered?

If every constraint requires filling in five fields on a complicated screen, the timetabler will give up on some of them. Ask: can you write a constraint in words? Can you mark mandatory vs wish? Can you collect constraints from the teachers without typing them in again? Details on collecting and approving are in the guide to teacher constraints.

3. What happens when there is no solution?

This is the question that separates tools. Weak software simply "gets stuck" or returns a partial timetable without explaining. Ask: if it is not possible to keep all the mandatory ones, does the software say which rules contradict each other? And if there is a timetable, can you see which wishes were not met and why?

4. Can you correct by hand without breaking the rest?

There will always be a lesson you want to move by hand. Ask: can you lock a lesson in a certain place? When you recalculate, does the software change as little as possible, or build everything from zero and confuse all the teachers?

5. How does the timetable reach the teachers?

A PDF in a WhatsApp group is not a process. Ask: does each teacher receive only her own timetable? Can she respond? Do the comments arrive in one place? Is there a clear difference between a draft and a published timetable?

6. What about substitutions?

The timetable is the beginning. Most of the ongoing work is absences. Ask: can a teacher report an absence herself? Does the software propose a substitute by rules? Can the substitute approve without a phone call to the secretary? Does a lesson with no substitute stay visible? More on this in the guide to managing substitutions.

7. Which reports come out, and in what format?

Ask: is there a monthly report of substitution hours? What happens when it needs to be corrected? Can you export the timetable to Excel? How does the data go in at the start, from a file or by typing?

8. How is the price calculated, and what happens when you stop paying?

Ask: is the price annual or monthly? By teachers, by classes or a fixed licence? Does it include VAT? What is included? And what happens to a timetable that was already published if you do not renew?

How to test a vendor in practice, not only in a demonstration

A vendor's demonstration always works, because it is built on data that suits it. The real test is on your school:

1. Take a real hard case. A teacher who teaches at two schools, one hall, a grade with groupings. Ask to see what the software does with it.
2. Ask to see a state with no solution. Deliberately enter two contradicting constraints, and check whether the explanation is understandable even to someone who did not build the timetable.
3. Move one lesson and recalculate. Count how many other lessons moved.
4. Ask one of the teachers to try from the phone. If they need guidance to submit a constraint, that is a sign.
5. Ask what happens on the first day of an absence. How many taps until there is an approved substitute?

Gefen and procurement: what to check

Gefen is the Ministry of Education's system for managing schools' flexible budget. According to the Ministry, programmes that were included in the programmes database in the suitable track can be funded from the flexible or the ministry budget, and programmes that were not included cannot (Gefen presentation, Ministry of Education, as of October 2026). A vendor enters the database through a process of registration and approval (guide for suppliers).

In addition, the Ministry of Education published a software standard for managing a timetable and teaching staff (version 1.5, 2025), which applies from the school year known in Hebrew as Tashpav. It includes, among other things, interfaces to the Ministry's systems, transfer of sensitive data by an encrypted mechanism and not by email, accessibility, information security and training (the standard on the Ministry of Education's site, as of October 2026).

What it means in practice:

• If you plan to fund from Gefen, ask the vendor for written confirmation of its status in the database. "In process" and "registered" are two different things.
• Ask which of the standard's requirements the vendor meets today, and which it does not.
• If the school pays from another budget, Gefen is less relevant, but the questions about security and accessibility are still right.

Teaching School is in the process of registration in Gefen, and is not registered yet. Until the registration is completed, schools join directly.

Price: annual by teachers vs a licence

There are two main models. A licence is usually a payment for software, sometimes with an additional payment for updates, training or modules. An annual subscription by size pays for use, and the price moves with the size of the school. There is no model that is right for everyone. What matters is to know in advance the full amount for the year, VAT included, and what is not included.

How Teaching School answers the 8 questions

Two more things: there is no student data in the system, only teachers and classes. And each school's data is isolated from other schools at the database level.

Teaching School's price

One annual payment by the number of active teachers, VAT included, and everything is included:

• Free until you publish the first timetable. The proof is a timetable that works, not a number of trial days.
• After the first publication you have 14 days to settle payment. If not, the system moves to read-only, and the published timetable stays available for viewing, printing and export.
• The tier is set by the highest number of active teachers in the period. A move to another tier in the middle of the year takes effect at the next renewal.
• You pay by credit card or bank transfer, and receive a tax invoice.

The full details are on the Teaching School price page.

Written by the Teaching team · Updated on 14 October 2026.