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| Arie Crown Hebrew Day School |
Those of us that have or had children in religious schools know the financial burden of parents who want to provide their children with a decent education. It is also no secret that prior to the pandemic, tuition was back-breakingly high. Most parents struggled to meet their tuition obligations regardless of how they otherwise fit into middle class (or even upper middle class) brackets. The pandemic may very well go beyond that breaking point. For both parents and the schools.
It was not always that way. When my children first started school back in the mid seventies, full tuition was actually affordable for middle income people like me. At least here in Chicago. For several years after that I paid full tuition for all of my children. That eventually changed, causing me and other middle income parents to apply for at least a partial scholarship.
What happened was that religious teachers used to make peanuts for their time. They needed second jobs and summer jobs just to pay for the beat up old car they were driving and to pay the rent for the 3rd floor walk up apartment in a 75 year old building they lived in.
That was the state of education back then. The overhead in the school was low. There was one principal, one vice principal, one or two secretaries and a janitor. No real other expenses. As the Mechanchim (religious teachers) started to age, new blood was sought. The board of directors (on which I served for many years) quickly realized that no Mechanech worthy of the name would work for peanuts anymore. If we wanted top quality teachers, we were going to have to pay them something close to a living wage.
As the school grew so did the teaching staff and the administrative staff. Valuable enrichment programs were added as well as other professionals whose services were unknown to parents when my children first started school. Someone had to pay for all these things. Long story short tuition had to be substantially increased as did the school’s fundraising.
This is where we are at today. Schools with great programs and great teachers cost a lot of money. Which most parents cannot afford to pay via tuition. And fundraising rarely meet their budgetary goals. Schools often operate on deficits. in worst case scenarios, teachers do not get paid on time.
This is a real conundrum. On the one hand we have the legitimate cost of a good Jewish education being high and on the other and the inability of the vast majority parents to pay anywhere near those costs. Additionally those costs keep going up at a faster pace than does most parental income. If we want a quality education for our children, then how are we going to pay for it?
This is not a new problem. But the current pandemic has exacerbated it tremendously. Fundraising has perforce gone down. A main staple for fundraising are annual banquets that raise substantial amounts of money through sponsorships and ad books. Another main staple is concerts - which also has sponsors. Neither of which is possible now. How the money those fund raisers generate will be replaced is a question no one can answer. Except to say they can’t be.
Meanwhile teachers, administrators, and all the ancillary staff and programs still need to get paid. Many teachers are in fact working harder now trying to be creative via zoom lessons than they were before in an actual classroom. Same thing administrators that have to coordinate all those things. And yet it is quite well known that these zoom classes are no substitute for the classroom.
This is quite the crisis! Costs are the same, education is not what it was before, fundraising is way down. And many parents are earning less or not at all because of the pandemic.
Which brings me to a couple of articles suggesting solutions of a sort that in my view cannot work. They will result in less revenue for the school and an even greater budgetary deficit.
One proposal actually asks schools to provide greater scholarships during these times because of the financial hardships parents are having. The point being that if these scholarships aren’t granted, a lot of parents will simply be unable to bear the burden and will stop sending their children to a religious school. Which would very likely have tragic outcomes in many cases.
Without a decent Jewish education and sending a child to public school, the chances are pretty strong that a child may abandon his Judaisms at some point. Either because of a lack of sufficiently understanding and valuing their Judaism or because of the non Jewish influences in the public schools. Or both. Even if there are attempts at homeschooling their Jewish studies.
Under these circumstance the chances of retaining their Judaism has a dubious chance of success. There is no substitute for the kind of religious education a child gets in the religious environment that a school provides.
I understand the need. But giving scholarships at a time when fundraising is so drastically down cannot happen. Schools will ultimately shut down if teachers aren’t paid what they deserve.
Another proposal is to base scholarships as a percentage of the adjusted gross income (AGI) listed on a family’s tax return (their 1040). That might seem like a simple and fair approach to providing scholarships. But as the article notes (and yet dismisses) that does not take into consideration assets that are not taxed as income - which can and should be available for tuition. For example contributions to a 401K or an IRA.
Nor does it take into consideration how a family allocates their their discretionary income. Such as sending their children to an expensive summer camp where scholarships are rarely if ever given. Why should their children’s school subsidize their summer camp? Is 4 weeks at a religious summer camp more important that the 10 months a year where their children get their primary Jewish education?
A 1040 is a valuable document to help determine what kind of tuition assistance a parent will be granted. But it is only one thing that should be looked at – if one is going to be fair to the financial needs of the school.
I am sorry to say, that neither of these well intentioned solutions will work. Especially now during COVID.
What the solution to this conundrum might otherwise be would in my view require the wisdom of Solomon.