16 Responses

1. Sour grapes

2. Obscene and ridiculous letter. You get things for free for so long that now you blame the world for having to pay for water usage that was clearly not the intent when it was given for free?

   Classic, “it’s antisemitisum”… or, maybe churches and other types of schools are not running camps, dorms, event halls and other for profit rentals in their facility with the free water?

   How about you stop writing letters to YWN and do your job. Cut costs, raise funds, and save the parents a whole lot more then this water bill will cost by unloading dead weight in your payroll and operating costs.

   Chutzpah the way you speak to hard working families in such a forum about “coming to speak to you about tuition”. Your attitude is indicative that you are unfit for this job and burned out.

   Newsflash; if you were better at your job a water bill wouldn’t be your financial crisis that has you lashing out at the world. Cut costs and increase income, don’t talk down to the customers.

3. If you use something pay for it

4. Ok here we go again:
   I am sure the majority of parents struggle to pay their share of tuition and both parents work 40-50 hour jobs to make ends meet and every dollar increase in tuition is taking bread away from their table.
   But for those who bought summer homes for 300-400 thousands of dollars and sent all their kids to summer sleep away camps and the husbands dine every other night at the finest steakhouse and now they return home to shop at all exclusive clothing stores so their kids look like the queens children Do not cry poverty when your Yeshiva raised your tuition with 5-10 %

5. Its scary that the executive director of a well known yeshiva is either so uninformed or deliberately distorting the New York rules on exemption from water and sewer charges. Under the so-called Silver Law (named for convicted felon Sheldon Silver (Chapter 696 of NYS Law as amended in 1980 by Chapter 893 and 894) there are 17 categories of not-for-profit organizations that are exempt from water/sewer charges. These range from private schools, religious facilities,hospitals, veterans organizations as well as some arcane categories of libraries, public baths etc. These groups are essentially exempt form paying for the water they consume and the sewage they discharge shifting their share of the costs to others. At the same time, New York City’s water and sewage system infrastructure is failing and needs between $10-20 billion in long-delayed capital investment. Rates have to rise substantially to raise the needed funds. At the same time, New York is reviewing ALL the 17 categories of exemption and auditing all those who have filed for exemption (which once granted is permanent) to assure they still qualify under the rules. In the private school category, there are rules requiring exclusive use of facilities for education year-round and NOT for any other quasi-commercial activities. All the categories of exemption is being examined and audited for compliance given the massive funding requirements of the water and sewage system and the growing percentage of water users who pay nothing for the services they receive. I’m sorry this administrator is complaining about having to pay his school’s fair share of costs the rest of us pay and calling upon politicians to protect Shelly Silver’s legacy of “free stuff”. There is no free lunch (or water). Who does he suggest pay for the water used by his facilities??

6. I don’t know about anyone else but for most people I know Yeshiva tuition goes up every single year.

7. You want to beat the tuition crisis? Move to Israel – Yeshivas are practically free over there. But if you are not so Zionistically inclined the State of Ohio gives out tuition vouchers to all which drastically reduces tuition costs at the Yeshivas. When you live in NYC with its nearly 1 million dollar attached shoe boxes for homes, what exactly do you expect Yeshiva tuition to cost?

8. they say that innumeracy is as bad as illiteracy. this executive drekhter is definitely innumerate. if a school has 300 registered children and gets a water bill of $1000 then that is $3.33 per kinte. there are bigger issues to worry about.

   i do not think he passed third-grade arithmetic,

9. I am having a hard time understanding what this administrator is complaining about. In his own words ” If you have a dormitory, you have to pay water for the dorm. If the school is not in session for the summer, you must pay for summer water. If the dining room is used for simchas as well, you have to pay proportion water.” I don’t see what any of the above has to do with MY child attending the school and why it should be my responsibility to cover the cost? If the school has a dorm for the summer – charge the occupants for the extra water. If the dining room is being used for Simchas, I am sure the schools make money on the rental – once again, why do the parents have to pay for the water being used when the school is making money on the use of the facilities?
   I don’t know what school this administrator hails from but my kid’s schools raise tuition by about 10% per year. I sincerely doubt that their staff get a 10% raise every year. Now you want to charge us for water on top of that? Seriously? How much water are they using already – especially in the summer when no kids in school?
   It seems to me that rather than fiscal responsibility, this administrator is choosing to add another expense to the parent’s bill. Who knows? It may be another money maker for the school

10. I hear the panic and pain in your letter and I’m sure you’re under a great deal of pressure to deal with increasing expenses without any corresponding increase in income.

    However, before we go blaming our askanim who are moser nefesh for our community institutions In New York and before we go pointing fingers at parents who aren’t calling out to their elected officials to reinstate the water bill exemption for our mosdos, I think it is more appropriate to make a cheshbon hanefesh of our institutions’ spending habits versus their income.

    Pretend you are a baal habayis who needs to limit his spending to that which he can afford based upon his own salary and other income. A baal habayis is called upon to be very creative in cutting unnecessary (and sometimes necessary) expenses fully in compliance with halacha in order to meet his budget since he cannot simply call on his neighbor or the community at large to make up his monthly shortfall. How about if our institutions’ administrators start thinking like this baal habayis?

    I am hearing that yeshivos and day schools in New York are now facing a new reality of diminishing numbers of talmidim due to families moving out of town to be able to meet their expenses. School buildings, I am told, are now partially empty and tuition levels are dropping due to the decreasing enrollment. What are we going to do? Lets be creative and come up with ways to combine classes and rent out empty space in school buildings before we go out and increase parents’ tuition costs by 10% or more when their own personal incomes are increasing perhaps only 1 – 2% annually.

    We need to emphasize creativity in dealing with these challenges before we turn to the parent body and demand they cover the shortfall if there is something else that can be done to ameliorate the situation. Klal Yisroel are highly resourceful and now is the time to put those resources to work in meeting this latest challenge to funding our precious mosdos ha’chinuch.

11. With all the requisite sympathy for the yeshivos who are in constant struggle to balance their budgets, I suggest a more comprehensive review of the subject.

    1. What percentage of the receivables of the yeshiva is tuition? There are other monies coming in, between fund raising, campaigns, donations, and various government subsidies.

    2. How is tuition calculated? Is it a flat fee, or is it determined by the family income? If the latter, how is that verified? Are there dispensations given for larger families, and for those with other major expenses (family members with medical or other conditions)?

    3. Are the expenses of the school under any form of scrutiny? How about extravagant events that reduce the amount of revenue, publicity, travel of the hanhala for events not directly related to actual chinuch, etc.?

    4. Are the faculty members appropriately trained for their positions? Is there any form of ongoing training and supervision?

    5. Are there disciplinary policies that are questionable, such as barring entry to the classroom for children whose parents have outstanding balances?

    It is much more than a water bill. But maybe this situation can make the subject a target of examination. I would hate to be the one that needs to balance a yeshiva budget. But I am not so sure that all is kosher in many yeshivos, and perhaps there is more to fix than lobbying our elected officials.

12. If we expect the City to provide “free” water, shouldn’t ConEd be required to provide “free” electricity, Verizon should provide “free” telephone and internet service, Golden Flow should drop off several hundred gallons a week of “free” cholov yisroel…..I think you get the point. For decades, Shelly Silver, with the acquiescence of the upstate Republicans in the NY State Senate added mandate after mandate for NYC to provide “free” or “discounted” goods and services to non-profits in return for political support from various constituencies, both the frum jewish community and others. Some were warranted, many not so much. However, we have reached a point where the City and State are unable to further raise tax revenues, most New Yorkers will be capped at $10K in their deductions for State real estate and income taxes for their Federal Returns and they have killed the goose that laid the golden egg. I’m sorry if yeshivos and other worthy mosdos may have to work harder to pay their share of the services they receive from the City and State but that is their decision. There is no magical formula for the State to shift their costs on to others. Most frum parents will still prefer to send their kids to yeshivos although they pay for free public education their taxes, but that is their personal decision and higher tuition bills will simply be a cost they will have to accommodate if they make that choice.

13. Gadolhadorah
    why was it neccessary to write convicted felon??
    you’ll say but he is, even if true, if you’re ugly should i go around calling you ugly?
    It’s Elul, you should figure out how to do teshuva for that comment.

14. If there is an issue here it’s why should hospitals a private business, get free water??

15. Gadolhadorah, I just want to complete your comments since you mentioned Upstate Republicans. Sheldon Silver is a Democrat, and former Democrat Speaker.
    chesedname, Sheldon Silver was convicted by the State of NY for corruption. Gadol was correctly stating the fact. We shouldn’t say if being a convict for corruption makes him good or bad, or makes one evil or righteous, just statingthe court’s ruling. Asking if you should call someone ugly is a mere opinion of one’s appearance where some may agree and some may not.

16. As I enter my 24th and final year as a tuition paying parent in Brooklyn I share with you some words of wisdom. The only ones to blame are us parents. Schools are a business and they are businesses that seem to be doing very well. Without mentioning names look around Flatbush at the school owners what they drive, where they live and how their married children are doing. For years we have allowed them to squeeze every last nickel out of us and boy do they do a good job. The only way this will ever change is if enough parents stand up to this failed system. Its to late for me I wish you young families much hatzlacha.