by Harry Bloom
Much of my time is being spent “in the trenches” helping Jewish day schools develop active strategies to increase their sustainability. Our team is immersed in the intense but satisfying and productive work of analyzing nearly 40 schools’ comparative revenue and spending patterns (using financial “benchmarking”) comparing them to their peers, and helping them develop and implement plans to generate more revenue and reduce expenses – without reducing quality of education. This work is generously supported by The AVI CHAI Foundation and local Federations and Foundations in the communities of Bergen County, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and Cleveland. With the schools in question we are working collaboratively towards a $22 million financial improvement and to date have helped schools raise and save millions of dollars toward the goal.
But our equally important agenda is to figure out how to leverage community power in these five communities to increase revenue and efficiencies – in instances where (a) economies of scale can yield extra leverage or (b) where individual schools lack the expertise or staff or financial capacity to fully capitalize on major opportunities. An example of (a) would be joint purchasing or multi institutional outsourcing. An example of (b) would be developing the capacity of a group of schools for a blended (classroom and online learning) program. Such an effort would benefit from funds for curriculum development (e.g., to provide release time and/or stipends for staff), professional development funding to help current faculty develop the skills to master blended learning, and expert consulting support to help guide the transition to the new teaching modality.
Here are 5 hot ideas emerging from our work that we would recommend your community consider:
- Outsource key services for multiple or, better yet, all schools. A prime service example is facilities maintenance (cleaning, lawncare, snow removal, etc.). Among our nearly 40 schools facilities maintenance was an over $8 million cost item. Individual large schools have saved over $100,000 per year outsourcing maintenance – and are very satisfied with the service they are receiving. An entire community of schools’ outsourcing savings potential would almost certainly be higher (and bring with it better service terms due to more negotiating power).
- Purchase services smarter, jointly. A prime example would be to buy Human Resources services including payroll management, benefits management, HR legal advice and benefits through a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Individual schools have publicly testified in YUSP webinars about their achievement of significant savings and administrative simplification through joining PEO’s. Why do they save money? Chiefly because PEOs offer our high health risk Jewish day schools the potential to be part of very large and diverse, lower cost insurance risk pools. Experts indicate that a community of schools or even multiple communities of schools might well do even better.
- Create and market leading edge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs to build enrollment. Build in an Israeli connection. Broadbased market research indicates that math and science program quality is a key school choice criterion for parents and that they perceive Jewish day schools as weak in this arena. Individual schools including Kehila Schechter (formerly South Area Schechter) have hired a “name” educator who builds a sizzling experiential program that helps students begin to think and act like scientists – and promoted collaborative programming with Israeli universities like Technion and Weizmann Institute. Such a program can be pursued by a group of schools working together to raise the image of all Jewish day schools in a community. The community can then market the STEM superiority of the Jewish day schools through PR, social media, sciences fairs, and social media. The Israeli connection angle cannot be matched by public or independent schools.
- Launch a grassroots fundraising campaign supported by all schools. Examples: NNJKids in Bergen County, New Jersey or the Chicago Kehillah Jewish Education Fund which have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, respectively, by asking every member of the community to make even small regular donations to support Jewish day school education.
- Launch a communal endowment program supported by a Central Agency/Federation (like the MetroWest Day School Campaign or through a national organization such as the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education – PEJE’s Generations program, currently in Los Angeles, Baltimore and NYC.
Net, there is a great deal the community can and should do to make day schools sustainable. Pick one of these ideas, focus on it, and good things will follow.
Harry Bloom manages the YU School Partnsership’s division of Planning and Performance Improvement, which is tasked with developing and helping schools implement strategic planning, governance strengthening, financial benchmarking and long term financial planning and process improvement efforts. He can be contacted at hbloom1@yu.edu.
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Harry Bloom correctly suggests that Jewish day schools can leverage partnerships to create new, effective and critical models for education. A potent example of this is on vivid display in seven Jewish day schools in the New York metro area, where a partnership among the Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network (ISTSN), the Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE), and the day schools is bringing a powerful STEM-focused curricula – developed by ISTSN and used in more than 200 educational institutions in Israel – into American classrooms and enhancing STEM literacies. eJP ran an article about this partnership in April, as the first year of the program was winding down with the school year. To read it, go to http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/exporting-knowledge-israel-sci-tech-curriculum-making-impact-at-u-s-jewish-day-schools. Or, visit the ISTSN website, israel-scitech-schools.org.
not sure how these idea are in any way new or impactful. Seem like bandaids to me. If the system is broken (or broke) I don’t think you can fix it by saying “band together, buy in bulk at costco”. You need to change the fundamental underlying way that schools are run. Maybe it’s getting Rebbeim who can teach secular studies as well. Maybe it’s Kahn Academy, or something else. But relying on bulk buying power and wacky and often impractical fundraising ideas doesn’t seem like the answer.
Most of these initiatives are about reducing costs and don’t address the core issues. How about more top-line (i.e. increase revenue) and creative approaches that transform schools into community hubs, and leverage the infrastructure to provide services outside school hours to people in the community outside those who attend schools? What if each school ran synagogue services on Shabbat? What if younger people (20s and 30s) were able to use the school premises to run programs after hours and weekends?
Mark and David are correct: fundamental change needs to occur for Jewish day schools to thrive in the 21st century. And Dr. Bloom helpfully provides concrete examples of innovations schools and communities are attempting – these projects have the potential to change the landscape in each of the above-mentioned communities.
The next step is to answer Mark’s question – which of these efforts are having real impact? Over the next year I hope to look at some of these innovations, and explore what differentiates a truly transformational project from one that is missing one or two key ingredients. Hopefully communities across the country can participate in the conversation, and learn from each other.
Charles Cohen
Manager, Jewish Day School Affordability Initiative
A collaborative project of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education and the Orthodox Union
It is great to hear about the Israel Sci-Tech Schools Network (ISTSN) initiative. Kol Hakavod! I respectfully differ with the perspective that the five ideas presented are “bandaids”. These are ideas with 6-figure ($X00,000) potential in large schools (obviously smaller in smaller schools). Maintenance outsourcing has saved schools we work with over $100k per year; PEOs have also resulted in similar level savings per year for schools; adding 5-10 students per year due to an exciting STEM initiative is easily worth 6 figures per year; two communities have raised half a million dollars or more in grassroots fundraising; and the PEJE Generations endowment program is targeting $2000 or more in endowment per student. In my frame of reference these are “real” numbers which can have significant impact.
I, for one, am impressed with this post and the work that Mr. Bloom and his staff are doing. As a parent at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, which I believe participates in many of the ventures mentioned, tuition has been stable for five years.
Many are frustrated with the tuition “crisis” and eagerly await a gamechanging idea that will cut their bill by half or more. Unfortunately, barring either a change of heart (and vote) by government authorities on the issue of vouchers, or the re-establishment of a kehillah system of (tax-deductible) communal levies, there’s really not much left but “bandaids.” But these smaller savings do add up, and the more of them that are uncovered, the better off we all are.
I find it sadly humorous that many bloggers and commenters complain that the yeshivos and day schools spend recklessly, then turn around and scoff when presented with “nickel and dime” programs that the schools implement to save where they can.
Israel Epstein cites a little acknowledged but important reality emerging, which is that Jewish day schools like the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of New Jersey (YNJ) have taken seriously the responsibility of keeping tuition increases as close to zero as possible, while still being equitable to staff members who face the significant financial challenges faced by day school parents. The only way this works is for day schools to take advantage of opportunities to improve “productivity.” This means, for example, achieving a higher “return” on fundraising activities, leveraging relationships with foundations to secure grants, aggressively pursuing government funding opportunities, making sure that staff roles and responsibilities are carefully defined so as to yield the maximum benefit to students, and taking advantage of communal opportunities such as those identified in my original blog. There is no one solution to the affordability challenge, but as Israel Epstein so aptly stated, and YNJ is demonstrating, there is still much that can be done. Rav Tarfon said it best (I paraphrase), t is not our responsibility to complete the work, but neither are we absolved from beginning it.