diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
index fae806d3318..621a251a10e 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package cel
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/cel-go/cel"
@@ -66,6 +67,27 @@ type CompilationResult struct {
 	MaxCost uint64
 }
 
+var (
+	initEnvOnce sync.Once
+	initEnv     *cel.Env
+	initEnvErr  error
+)
+
+func getBaseEnv() (*cel.Env, error) {
+	initEnvOnce.Do(func() {
+		var opts []cel.EnvOption
+		opts = append(opts, cel.HomogeneousAggregateLiterals())
+		// Validate function declarations once during base env initialization,
+		// so they don't need to be evaluated each time a CEL rule is compiled.
+		// This is a relatively expensive operation.
+		opts = append(opts, cel.EagerlyValidateDeclarations(true))
+		opts = append(opts, library.ExtensionLibs...)
+
+		initEnv, initEnvErr = cel.NewEnv(opts...)
+	})
+	return initEnv, initEnvErr
+}
+
 // Compile compiles all the XValidations rules (without recursing into the schema) and returns a slice containing a
 // CompilationResult for each ValidationRule, or an error.
 // Each CompilationResult may contain:
@@ -82,13 +104,11 @@ func Compile(s *schema.Structural, isResourceRoot bool, perCallLimit uint64) ([]
 	var propDecls []*expr.Decl
 	var root *celmodel.DeclType
 	var ok bool
-	env, err := cel.NewEnv(
-		cel.HomogeneousAggregateLiterals(),
-	)
+	baseEnv, err := getBaseEnv()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	reg := celmodel.NewRegistry(env)
+	reg := celmodel.NewRegistry(baseEnv)
 	scopedTypeName := generateUniqueSelfTypeName()
 	rt, err := celmodel.NewRuleTypes(scopedTypeName, s, isResourceRoot, reg)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -97,7 +117,7 @@ func Compile(s *schema.Structural, isResourceRoot bool, perCallLimit uint64) ([]
 	if rt == nil {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
-	opts, err := rt.EnvOptions(env.TypeProvider())
+	opts, err := rt.EnvOptions(baseEnv.TypeProvider())
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -111,9 +131,8 @@ func Compile(s *schema.Structural, isResourceRoot bool, perCallLimit uint64) ([]
 	}
 	propDecls = append(propDecls, decls.NewVar(ScopedVarName, root.ExprType()))
 	propDecls = append(propDecls, decls.NewVar(OldScopedVarName, root.ExprType()))
-	opts = append(opts, cel.Declarations(propDecls...), cel.HomogeneousAggregateLiterals())
-	opts = append(opts, library.ExtensionLibs...)
-	env, err = env.Extend(opts...)
+	opts = append(opts, cel.Declarations(propDecls...))
+	env, err := baseEnv.Extend(opts...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation_test.go
index c0b914dae99..8f7d9df52a9 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/schema/cel/compilation_test.go
@@ -1605,3 +1605,19 @@ func TestCostEstimation(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkCompile(b *testing.B) {
+	_, err := getBaseEnv() // prime the baseEnv
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	s := genArrayWithRule("number", "true")(nil)
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		_, err := Compile(s, false, uint64(math.MaxInt64))
+		if err != nil {
+			b.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+}