Bucking national trends, Jewish day schools in Florida have seen a major period of growth in enrollment in recent years, apparently owing to a combination of state-sponsored scholarships, innovative educational approaches and strategic investments.

According to recent research by the Orthodox Union-affiliated Teach Coalition’s office of Jewish Education Policy and Research, in partnership with Step Up for Students, enrollment in Jewish day schools grew by 58% — from 8,492 students in 2007 to 13,379 in 2023. 

The study attributes much of this growth to Florida’s state-sponsored education choice scholarship programs. The author of the study, Gabriel Aaronson, director for policy and research at Teach Coalition, told eJewishPhilantrophy, “In 2011-12, only 10% of Jewish school students in Florida received scholarships, but by 2022-23, this number had risen to 60%, with the average scholarship amount doubling from $3,820 to $8,090. These scholarships have made Jewish education more accessible to a broader demographic, encouraging more families to choose Jewish day schools for their children.” 

Daniel Mitzner, director of government affairs at Teach Coalition, emphasized the importance of these scholarships in promoting Jewish enrollment across both Orthodox and non-Orthodox schools. “The numbers here are incredible and point to the effect of state scholarship programs on promoting Jewish enrollment across the Orthodox and non-Orthodox spectrum,” Mitzner said. “Advocating similar scholarship programs in other states should be a top priority for the Jewish community.” (While Teach Coalition supports such voucher programs for private schools, as do most other Orthodox groups, non-Orthodox Jews tend to be less supportive of these measures.) 

Though the growth was more pronounced in Orthodox schools, non-Orthodox institutions also saw a 21% increase since 2017-18. This is a sharp contrast to the general decrease in enrollments at non-Orthodox Jewish day schools nationwide.

Beth Emet School in the Broward County community of Cooper City, exemplifies the expansion of non-Orthodox schools in the region. Michal Medina, assistant director at Beth Emet, attributes its growth to the school’s holistic approach to education, which integrates advanced academics with Jewish values, promoting both scholastic excellence and social-emotional development. “The school’s pluralistic approach has made it a welcoming environment for families from diverse backgrounds, including those transitioning from public schools seeking a more personalized and value-driven education for their children,” she explained.

Beth Emet has seen over 20% growth in enrollment in just the past year, a trend Medina believes is linked to both the expansion of their middle school and the state-sponsored scholarship programs. “State-sponsored choice scholarship programs have significantly impacted our enrollment, as for many families, the regular cost of private school is not feasible,” Medina explained. She also noted the impact of pandemic-induced migration, with many families moving to Florida from northern states during the COVID-19 pandemic, further boosting enrollment — a phenomenon also visible from data in the study.

However, the rapid growth has also brought challenges. Beth Emet is now at full capacity, with some grade levels closed to additional enrollment. To address this, the school is considering a capital campaign to expand its facilities and accommodate more students.

As the study found, many schools are struggling to keep up with the demand, facing difficulties in expanding due to limited suitable properties and rising real estate prices. Danny Aqua, southern states political director at Teach Coalition, warned: “Without legislative and regulatory action to reduce the hurdles to opening new schools, the lack of school building space may throttle growth in Florida’s Jewish day schools.”

While these school vouchers have had a major impact on enrollment, tuition costs for Jewish day schools can still remain high. The Jewish Leadership Academy (JLA), a Jewish middle and high school that opened in Miami last fall, which relies on “need-blind admissions” and “deeply values socioeconomic diversity,” has found that 77% of its students cannot pay full tuition, creating a substantial financial challenge.

To address this, the school is pioneering a new approach to providing scholarships through what it calls the JLA Scholarship Fund.

Gil Perl, head of school at JLA, explained that because the institution is new, it “does not have a large donor base to rely upon,” requiring it to develop an alternative fundraising strategy. The JLA Scholarship Fund operates as a “fund of funds,” a widely used finance term referring to a hedge fund that invests in other hedge funds rather than directly into businesses.

“The advantage of creating a fund of funds, rather than launching a brand-new hedge fund, is that the funds we’re investing in already have track records, which helps investors feel more secure about putting their money in,” Perl told eJP.

The JLA Scholarship Fund, launched in July and now fully operational, is managed by Kawa Capital Management. Kawa has committed to waiving fees on investments of up to $20 million from its flagship fund to support the initiative. Investors in the fund agree to donate 50% of their gross returns to the school.

“For investment managers, managing a small amount of capital pro bono is often significantly easier than actually giving hard dollars. And given that generally 30% to 40% of the returns in a traditional hedge fund are retained by the investment firms, investors are also giving up only a small part of their returns,” Perl said.

“We’re essentially asking philanthropists to invest in something they believe in, with the potential for significant financial returns, all while making a tangible impact on education,” Perl said.

Currently, the fund is open to U.S.-based institutional investors and foreign-based individual investors, but JLA is working to open it to U.S.-based individual investors in the near future.

The JLA Scholarship Fund has raised $14 million so far, and if the fund achieves an 8% annual return, the school would receive $560,000 in scholarship funding each year — significantly supporting its mission of affordability and access.

Perl believes that this model could be replicated across the Jewish day school network and beyond, potentially tapping into the billions of dollars currently managed by donor-advised funds and foundations. “It requires fund managers willing to work pro bono, but the potential impact is enormous,” he said.