TORONTO — Even before the economic downturn started last year, the high cost of sending children to Jewish day school was a longstanding issue in the Jewish community.
Paul Shaviv, director of education at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto
Dov Rosenblum, president of Netivot HaTorah Day School, told The CJN that “a substantial number” of parents at the school have lost their jobs in the past year. He personally knows “probably eight” of them.
Tuition fees rise at most day schools
Some of them have decided to start over in Israel, although overall enrolment at Netivot hasn’t been affected, Rosenblum said. He added that other newly unemployed parents have requested tuition subsidies for the first time.
Rosenblum noted that tuition subsidy requests have gradually climbed over the past five or so years by approximately five per cent.
“It’s a challenge setting tuition – a huge challenge – in this type of economy,” he said. The board has to balance “being fair to parents” with “being fair to the education of children.
“It’s a hard balance.”
For the 2009-10 school year, Netivot’s tuition remains the same for preschool, and has increased two per cent for older students.
“We tried to keep the increase very modest,” said Alan Steinfeld, the school’s executive director.
The reason for the dearth of dropouts at Netivot applies to other Orthodox day schools as well. “We don’t lose students to public school,” said Rosenblum. “Our parents are generally pretty dedicated.
Paul Shaviv, director of education at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, said the biggest challenge day schools face, “without doubt, is the funding challenge.”
Shaviv, who now spends part of his time directing the committee that’s restructuring UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Centre for the Enhancement of Jewish Education (the Mercaz), asks, “How can we sustain the achievements [regarding quality and professionalism] and keep the system affordable and accessible?”
While there has been “some additional noticed pressure on the tuition assistance program” at Toronto day schools, Shaviv said that there has been “no end-of-summer rush of cancellations” of day school enrolment.
“I think the schools will have to over the coming few years call upon the philanthropic resources of the community.”
Referring to recent mega-donations benefiting Jewish education – including a $4 million donation to United Synagogue Day School, a $500,000 tuition subsidy donation to Associated Hebrew Schools and a four-year, $4-million tuition subsidy grant to federation – Shaviv noted that “the scale of gifts is really quite substantial, and I think that’s a very good sign, but it has to be maintained and increased.”
He called it “remarkable” that more than 11,000 students are currently enrolled in Jewish day schools in the Toronto area. “I think parents understand our system offers huge value.”
TanenbaumCHAT receives more than 400 new students a year, Shaviv said. However, the numbers have dropped slightly for this year, in part due to demographics, “but our retention has been very good,” he added.
“We’ve managed to keep our [tuition] increase under four per cent, at 3.8 per cent… [through] very careful and prudent budgeting.”
Shaviv speculated that “if the economics of private school education continue to be a problem, we may find parents will choose a four-year program of high school preceded by [public] elementary school.” However, he added, that “has been said for several years.”
TanenbaumCHAT’s “new stream” program, for students who have not previously attended Jewish day school, currently serves about 12 per cent of the school’s students.
Referring to Jewish education in general, Shaviv told The CJN that he believes there is no substitute for “a high-quality day school.”
However, he added, “we may still see a resurgence of the supplementary school, as a result of economic circumstances.”
Eric Petersiel, head of school of Leo Baeck Day School, told The CJN earlier this summer that all Jewish day schools in Toronto face the challenge of “how the economic environment causes people to question the value they place on day school education.”
“We haven’t lost students, but we certainly have a handful who are finding the decision much more difficult.”
Associated Hebrew Schools – which has 550 students who receive tuition subsidies, the largest number in Toronto – will likely have 30 to 50 fewer students this year out of a total of 1,700, Arthur Landa, the school’s executive director, told The CJN last week.
“Whether its attributed to the economy, or to other factors, is very hard to correlate,” he added.
He said there has not been a noticeable increase in tuition subsidy applications.
Day school tuitions in Ontario would be halved if the provincial government would pay the cost per capita for the secular studies part of the program, Landa said.
Generally speaking, he said, 80 per cent of the budget of schools goes toward educational services, including teachers’ salaries and educational supplies, while the other 20 per cent is divided more or less equally between administrative costs and the cost of maintenance and operations.
