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Jewish Day Schools: It’s Time for a Tuition Revolution

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By Shawn Evenhaim

The future of the Jewish people depends in part on the future of Jewish education. It is more important than ever to instill our children with pride in their heritage and the knowledge to support it. A study from Brandeis University and the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, “The Impact of Day School,” found that students who attend Jewish day school are twice as likely to say that being Jewish is important compared to other Jewish students.

Yet, Jewish Day Schools across the country are seeing significant declines in enrollment. According to Builders of Jewish Education, Los Angeles has experienced a 14 percent decrease in enrollment among community day schools in the last five years, mirroring a 9 percent decrease nationwide.

We need to revolutionize the way our Jewish Day schools operate. Now is the time to make the changes necessary to ensure that these schools are accessible to all Jewish Americans, from coast to coast. Right now, in Los Angeles, there are fewer than 10,000 children enrolled in Jewish day school education, out of more than half a million Jewish residents and 150,000 Israeli-Americans.

Jewish families are willing to pay for private school education, but the value proposition must be clear and powerful for them to choose this option over free, public schools. Why is it that many Christian schools have significant enrollment of Jewish students? It is often because many provide excellent educations at a fraction of the cost of most Jewish schools. To compete in today’s market, we must bring down the cost of Jewish day school education.

Part of the problem is that Jewish Day Schools have significant fixed costs, given that their curriculum includes general studies, Judaic studies and Hebrew language. In recent years, this has been compounded by declining enrollment, which drives up your costs per student.

Until now, Jewish Day Schools have typically set tuition higher than the cost of each student’s education and provided financial aid to those who couldn’t afford that price. Several years ago, at Kadima Day School, where I serve on the Board of Trustees, we sought to tackle the challenge of affordability. My wife and I provided a tuition assistance grant to lower tuition to between $10,000 and $12,500 for families with annual incomes of up to $250,000.

Enrollment numbers increased, but still we saw challenges in recruiting.

Why? Many parents making six-figure incomes do not see themselves as “financial-aid families.” At the same time, for these families, the cost of putting multiple children through Jewish Day school with annual tuition skyrocketing to well beyond $30,000 a year was untenable.

Kadima Day School is now implementing a bold new model to address this issue in a way that will lead to increased enrollment and create a more sustainable financial model – a model that we believe can be replicated in day schools across the country.

Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, Kadima will reduce tuition up to 11 percent for preschool families, to $11,600, and by an average of 43 percent for elementary and middle school families, to between $13,900 and $14,900. This major reduction will make Jewish Education accessible to many in our community and will eliminate the complicated, time-consuming and sometimes uncomfortable process of applying for financial aid.

This change will foster a sense of equality and pride for all families who attend the school. There will no longer be a separate group of families that face an onerous financial aid process. Those who can afford to contribute to the school beyond tuition will do so in the form of philanthropy. And we will continue our efforts to assist those who cannot afford the reduced tuition by helping to identify outside scholarships and support.

Since announcing the model, Kadima has already seen a 200 percent increase in enrollment year over year. We’ve also found most of those whose tuition will go up plan to stay at the school.

As we bring down tuition, we will increase enrollment, and lower our cost-per-pupil. At the same time, Kadima is implementing a range of changes to make our educational model more strategic and cost-effective. We will adopt integrated and differentiated learning, and improve our hiring and training practices to deliver Jewish education in an entirely new way. The net result of all these changes will be much greater financial sustainability for Kadima over the long-term.

The bottom line is simple: to make Jewish education an attractive option for more families, it must be both excellent and affordable – one cannot be sacrificed for the other. This new model makes that a reality for a much larger segment of the community – and is a better way to get the most families into Jewish education.

For too long, we have been talking about the crisis facing Jewish education. We need to face difficult truths and embrace the need for radical change. The time for action is now.

Shawn Evenhaim is a Jewish philanthropist, real estate developer, and a past president and member of the Kadima Day School Board of Trustees.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. This is wonderful news!
    Thank you Sean for making such an important impact on our Jewish schools.
    All the Jewish day schools would be wise to follow
    Your example!

    Linda Wasserman

  2. Very impressive but I am wondering what was the financial impact on the school? Did the school experience a net increase or decrease in revenue? Did total costs increase or decrease as enrolment increased?

  3. I think its time that the Jewish Day Schools also focused on the “quality of the educational product”. We understand the significant constraints of the economic constructs of teachers unions, double curriculum programs and high costs of maintaining aging buildings. If the “educational product’ does not improve and innovate, I’m fearful that subsidies and generous donations will not be sufficient. I say that as a proud Jewish parent who has supported children through the Jewish Day School system and now Jewish high school – – and can clearly see the significant gaps and deficiencies.

  4. Evanheim’s heart is in the right place. He has donated and supported Jewish schools for many years, and his generosity is meaningful and significant. However, this article makes assumptions that have not been proven to be true. All of the data that the Jewish Day school world is aware of. continues to show that for the most part, lower tuition does not equate to higher student enrollment. In fact, quite the opposite. While the idea “seems to make sense”, there have been many studies and much data about the impacts of lowering tuition (see all of the Measuring Success data and research) such as the one that Evanheim describes in this article. There is a danger that perception of the community will be that the lower priced schools are lower in quality, will not be able to support important learning components including differentiation and technology.

  5. Am I not understanding correctly? It’s been lowered to around $15,000 a year per child? Huh? That seems like the average tuition here in northern NJ and is still is quite a chunk especially for a family with more than one child.

  6. Your mention of 150,000 Israelis in Los Angeles appears to me to be VERY inflated. First, while I am not all that familiar with LA, it seems unlikely that 30% of Jews in any American Jewish community are Israeli.

    Second, my research in 2008 puts the number of Israeli Americans at no more than about 330,000 for the entire country (using the Public Use Microdata Sample from the American Community Survey) and I used a very expansive definition of being an Israeli. (The 2000-01 National Jewish Population Survey put the number at 130,000 Israeli born in the US).

    For more information on this topic, see the chapter by Steven J. Gold in the 2015 American Jewish Year Book “Patterns of Adaptation Among Contemporary Jewish Immigrants to the US.”

    Ira Sheskin
    Department of Geography
    University of Miami

    Director
    Jewish Demography Project
    Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies
    University of Miami

    Affiliated Professor
    University of Haifa

    Editor, with Arnold Dashefsky
    American Jewish Year Book

  7. Our tuition is set at $15,600 in line with most of the private schools in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts (Northampton/Amherst). We are very fortunate to have a subsidy ($4000 per student) for families not eligible for financial aid, which reduces our tuition this year to $11,600. Families that are eligible for financial aid and have need (determined by an online application and a decision by a financial aid committee) would receive more than the subsidy.
    Yet, enrollment is down this year. Strong public schools and innovative charter schools, which include a Chinese Charter School present a real challenge. We have invested in all sorts of publicity both through social media and radio and are feeling pinched by enrollment.

    Just not sure Jewish Day School is a priority for families in our area. Maybe the perception that when you send your child to a Jewish Day, you are labeled as “that kind of family – too religious”.

  8. Gail, I agree with your point re: labeling “too religious” if they are a day school family. Of course, similar perceptions affect American Jewry as a whole so it certainly affects parents. In addition, even though there’ve been some reduction in tuition dollars, many parents would opt for a free public or much less expensive private education for their kids. Serious Jewish living simply isn’t a part of their lives to make it a top priority.

    I’m more concerned about families who actually DO want to send their children to Jewish day schools but find thousands of dollars per child terribly oppressive. We know parents and families many times sacrifice quality of life just to pay that bill (even with tuition help).

  9. The best place for tuition assistance for Jewish day schools is in Phoenix, Arizona, where tax credit programs make affordable for everyone. It is the best model in the country.