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How Is This Article Different From All Other Articles?

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[eJP note: This article is part of a series focusing on new ideas emerging from the day school field with relevance for Jewish professionals in Jewish education and beyond. The post contributes to the conversation on the topic of 21st Century Sustainability.]

by Rachel K. Slaton

For those particularly interested in the future of Jewish day school education (our assumption is that you fall into this category), you’re probably saying, “Hundreds of articles have been written on day school affordability/sustainability just in the past few years and they all, on balance, are saying the same thing. When is someone going to give us something new, something adaptable, not just a “band-aid” or an example of how the 2nd largest Jewish community is already leveraging millions in foundation and individual donor dollars in support of day school education?”

Believe me. I hear you and you aren’t going to like my answer.

There is no silver-bullet. In all likelihood, there will never be one solution that will work for every community and here in the City of Angels, we don’t pretend to have all the answers (despite what you may think!) We do know that a sustainable school MUST be an affordable school, and an affordable school MUST have sustainability in mind.

Our goal here is to share some general ideas that, if implemented with the real support of a community behind them, can begin addressing the issue of day school sustainability no matter the budget-size of the individual school or the number of day schools in a community or even the presence (or lack) of a central agency.

Here are three key components of the Los Angeles Affordability Model that may provide a framework for progress in your community:

1) Jargon Helps Few and Confuses Most (Define your Terms!)

a. Affordability – For every community the cost of living, not to mention the cost of Jewish living, is very different. It is essential to define affordability based on the reality faced within your community and identify the population for whom affordability is a real issue.

What is your reality? Is there a middle-income contingent that is being priced out of the school? What percentage of families is on financial aid and has that number changed in the past 5 years? What is the real cost of Jewish living?

Use statistics, chart tuition levels compared with enrollment, mind the budget- gap, and determine what it will cost to provide an excellent Judaic and secular curriculum. Define affordability for your community. Los Angeles, Oakland, Boston, and National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) have created tuition calculators – check it out!

b. Sustainability – is not synonymous with “keeping the doors open”. We need to have honest conversations about the future of the day school(s) and how it does or doesn’t meet the needs of the community. Be prepared to listen.

Questions to ask include: How many students are enrolled in Jewish day school compared to the total number of Jewish school-aged children in your community? How many empty seats are in your Jewish day school(s)? Does your full tuition cover the cost of education? What are the parents of school-aged children looking for in a primary and secondary education? How many schools are needed in the community?

Some hard decisions may have to be made to maximize communal resources and deepen the educational experiences provided. Refer to the recent publication by PEJE and Measuring Success for an example of what parents are saying about day schools.

2) Find your Champion – On both a financial and a psychological level, you must have a group of leaders who are ready and willing to commit their money AND their voice to the cause. This can be done in a variety of ways – here’s how it manifested in LA:

a. Communal Endowment Fund – this fund serves two purposes: 1) incentivizing schools to raise endowment funds by providing a 1:4 match on all dollars raised and 2) establishing endowment as a communal priority by engaging a number of communal partners (Federation) and donors

b. Tuition/Infrastructure Grants – thanks to the Jim Joseph Foundation, LA was able to provide significant tuition assistance for middle-income families at Jewish High Schools while providing scaffolding for the schools to create a development infrastructure that will enable them to sustain the level of financial aid after the grant ends (#3 will describe elements of that support).

In any community, large or small, you have to find your champions and you have to engage partners in the conversation (whether or not your community has a central agency for Jewish education). If you can’t find a champion, you should refer back to #1b and start making some tough decisions.

3) Endowment or Bust – Endowment is imperative to the viability and sustainability of any nonprofit organization, especially day schools. Endowment must become part and parcel of the overall strategic development plan and there must be an infrastructure for cultivating the types of donors that are predisposed to making an endowment or legacy (planned) gift. When you’ve identified your champion(s) here’s what to do:

a. Hire a Development Director – Without a consistent, thoughtful development plan coordinated by a competent professional, you’re going to continue to barely break even on your Gala Dinner and wonder how you’re ever going to increase financial aid to meet the ever increasing demands of your community. A professional Development Director is as vital to the school as a brilliant science teacher or becoming a 1 to 1 iPad school.

If you can’t crunch the numbers to get a development professional on board now, make sure that the Head of School is focused on development and is being supported through coaching or professional development. Surround him/her with all of the champions you’ve identified. Then, start thinking very seriously about hiring a development professional – going without one and leaving your Head of School to run this effort alone is penny-wise and pound-foolish.

b. Prepare for Battle – Changing the culture of giving in a community is hard work and will move at a glacial pace at the beginning. Arm yourself with the facts (refer back to #1A and B); leverage resources from national organizations and foundations like NAIS, PEJE, AVI CHAI Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation, and Yeshiva University; connect with other communities that are making inroads; create concentric circles representing your core team, your lay leadership, your parent-body, and your broader community and spread the message outward.

You may also be asking “how can I get my board “on board” with raising money we can’t even touch when we struggle to make payroll every month?” I’ll refer you back to #2 and remind you that changing the culture is hard, but it’s nigh impossible if you don’t have a champion who will provide a vision, attract his/her champion-friends, and work with you and your development professional to craft a message and paint a picture of what it would be like to be out of emergency mode.

A final thought for moving forward: I implore national organizations, foundations, and communally minded donors to pay attention to those smaller communities and “one-horse towns” that, with a relatively nominal investment, could ensure the future of an entire community. Consider a model that infuses cash and scaffolding now to enable a community to become self-sufficient through endowment development.

In an effort to address this issue, in the coming year BJE will be sharing lessons learned from the various sustainability and affordability initiatives here in Los Angeles. Keep an eye out!

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In the video below, Miriam Prum Hess, Director, Center for Excellence in Day School Education at the BJE, discusses the role of their central agency in assisting their local day schools with all types of affordability issues.

Rachel K. Slaton is the Associate Director of BJE’s Center for Excellence in Day School Education, overseeing the agency’s day school sustainability initiatives in support of 39 Los Angeles Jewish day schools. Previously, she served as the Coordinator of Generations LA, a day school endowment and legacy development program working with seven elementary day schools to launch strategic, sustainable endowment and planned giving campaigns. Rachel holds a B.A. in International Studies from Southwestern University (TX), a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California, and an M.A. in Jewish Nonprofit Management from Hebrew Union College. You can follow her on twitter @Money4DaySchool.

Miriam Prum Hess is Director, Center for Excellence in Day School Education at BJE: Builders of Jewish Education. During her 8 year tenure, she has worked with 39 Los Angeles day schools to make Jewish education more affordable and sustainable, establish operational and educational best practices, and develop joint purchasing/cost cutting initiatives. Miriam also created JkidLA/Concierge Program, enabling families to navigate and connect to the entire spectrum of formal and informal Jewish educational opportunities which are “right for them.” Miriam has a Masters and Honorary Doctorate in Jewish Communal Service from HUC and a Masters in Social Work from USC.

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Comments

  2. Rachel,

    LA and the BJE are useful examples of leveraging communal resources (financial, organizational, relational) to address day school affordability. Can’t wait to see what you do next!

  3. Thanks, Charles! We are grateful for the strong partnership with PEJE and excited to continue sharing what we’ve learned and hear from other communities.

  4. While the importance of affordability/sustainability and endowment giving should not be minimized, I do worry that we focus on that aspect of Jewish day schools while not paying enough attention to issues of curriculum, pedagogy, educational rigor etc. One cannot be a gain at the expense of the other.

  5. Rachel,

    to Dr. Raynor’s point – at PEJE, we try to think of affordability as the nexus of access and educational quality. How are you using that value proposition in connection with your affordability strategies?

  6. A Tale of Two Affordabilities:

    Rachel acknowledges that, in some ways, her article isn’t different from others. I’d like to suggest one more similarity: it fails to take note of a fundamental distinction between two kinds of affordability: the cost of a necessity vs. the cost of an optional purchase. For most Orthodox families, not attending Jewish day school is not an option, and so their affordability question revolves around the cost of a basic necessity. Shopping for a Jewish day school in the Orthodox community is akin to a trip to the supermarket or gas station. For most non-Orthodox families, attending Jewish day school is a desirable life choice, but far from a necessity. The price of a Jewish day school education is similar to that of gym membership or premium cable.

    Orthodox families look at the price tag of a Jewish day school knowing that, once they find the best deal they can get (not necessarily the cheapest; the best value for money, in light of their circumstances), paying the price is unavoidable. Non-Orthodox families shop for a day school knowing that, if the price isn’t right, they simply won’t incur that expense.

    Why are we conflating these two realities? Aren’t they very different in their impact on families’ finances, schools’ tuition pricing and discounting, and the philanthropic community’s commitment and response? Why aren’t they being addressed as separate and distinct facets of the overall challenge of affordability?

  7. Joyce- thank you for your important point – financial sustainability and quality education are two-sides of the same coin. I would absolutely agree with Charles’ description of affordability as a weave of ensuring accessibility (affordability) to a high quality Judaic and general studies education. A school may tout the most “affordable” day school education around but might provide a sub-par curriculum taught by uninspiring faculty – the low tuition may cover the cost but what is real value of that education? On the other end of the spectrum, I don’t believe we are looking to make every (or many?) day school a college-prep environment beginning in Kindergarten that is accessible only to the wealthy and connected. There must be a balance because unlike exclusive private schools, our Jewish community as a whole grieves to turn away a Jewish child from a Jewish education just because their family cannot afford it and unfortunately, we are having to make this heart-wrenching decision every year. Phillips Exeter doesn’t care about cultivating a love for Judaism, Jewish-living, and Jewish family in your child while providing that ivy-bound education.

    The question we are all trying to answer is how can we provide the highest quality education in a long-lasting Jewish-identity-building environment, while ensuring that any family who desires a Jewish day school education for their child is able to provide it.

    Endowment is not THE silver bullet but it certainly is ONE vital piece of the puzzle. A robust endowment enables schools to rely less on tuition income, free up funds for tuition assistance and be able to fund new and innovative programs (while recruiting and providing stellar faculty with continuing professional development!) that will enhance the quality of both Judaic and secular education. Yes, endowment is a long-term solution but if we don’t commit now, our schools won’t be around in 10 years and it won’t matter the caliber of curriculum or faculty or facilities. Period.

    I recognize that this is a catch-22… why would someone give a meaningful gift to a school’s endowment if they don’t believe the education is valuable… how can we enhance the quality of the educational experience without this additional revenue stream when we are struggling to keep the lights on. There is no easy fix – the solution for your school must be strategic, intentional and with a dogged commitment from your champions.

    The goal of my article was to outline some solutions that any community could adopt, regardless of the existence of a central agency committed to Jewish education. In communities like LA, we are able to access significant funding for professional development through programs like Title II in NCLB/ESEA, simultaneously supporting schools in enhancing the quality of the educational experience while also making endowment a priority in their overall development plan. Tragically, many communities don’t have this type of outside support, but we know that endowment can lead to self-sufficiency and diversified revenue streams that can relieve the pressure of emergency mode. This is not likely to be a sufficient answer to your point.

    Steve- you bring up the interesting point of the diverse needs of our Jewish community. You are correct, for most Orthodox families a Jewish day school/yeshiva education is not an option, it is a necessity. This unwavering commitment to Torah education should be seen as an incredible advantage for the long-term sustainability of yeshivot around the country – there MUST be a high quality yeshiva and therefore we MUST be thinking long-term about how to ensure that in 10, 20, 50, 100 years this school will not only be standing but thriving, enabling us to educate many future generations of Jews. An endowment can help ensure that future. It’s not an option, it is a necessity.

    I do think you are underestimating the non-Orthodox community’s commitment to day school education, though. I would argue that for many non-Orthodox families (however that is now being defined), a Jewish day school education is also a non-negotiable.

    While there exist many different realities and every community (and communities within that community) is unique in their needs, obligations, values and non-negotiables I believe some solutions transcend denomination, affiliation, and observance level and get to the heart of sustainability. Endowment is one of those solutions.