Below are excerpts of an article appearing in today’s NY Sun:
Parents who send their children to private schools are facing a “tuition crisis,” a group of Catholic and Jewish leaders will warn at a dinner tonight.
The warning from such luminaries as Edward Cardinal Egan, the president of Yeshiva University, and a leader of the Orthodox Union is meant to build a case to lawmakers and those seeking elected office that support for an education tax credit — something reviled by the powerful teachers union as a hit to public school funding — is actually crucial to winning elections.
Organizers of the dinner stress that 500,000 children in New York State attend private schools, saving public schools, and taxpayers, more than $7 billion a year.
They paint a dire picture of the stress those families now face as they try to shoulder the cost of education on their own.
At Jewish day schools, tuition has risen by 50% since 2001, the executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation, David Greenfield, said.
Mr. Greenfield cited the tuition at two large Brooklyn high schools: At a high-end school, a year of ninth grade now costs $23,000, up from $15,300 in 2001; a low-end school’s tuition for ninth grade is $12,000, up from $6,000 in 2001.
Coupled with housing costs that have tripled in many observant Jewish neighborhoods in recent years, he said, the tuition costs are a tremendous burden.
Rising property costs and increases in security efforts since the September 11, 2001, attacks are two reasons for the rising tuition. Mr. Greenfield said another is pressure to raise teacher salaries, following raises in the public school system of more than 40% since Mayor Bloomberg took office.
Tonight’s dinner is a fund-raiser for a coalition of private schools, TEACH NYS, which has been pushing for tax breaks for private school families.
In 2006, the coalition pushed for a $400 million tax credit for tuition-payers. Instead it won credits for all low-income families with school-age children, at a cost of $600 million.
Two follow-up efforts to expand the credits won initial support from a former governor, Eliot Spitzer, and full support from Senate Republicans, but were defeated amid fierce opposition from the teachers union.
Now, TEACH NYS is lobbying for expansion once again. The group wants to target tax credits more specifically at private school tuition-payers, and to address the needs of middle-class families as well as poor ones. The credits would be capped at an income level of about $115,000, and parents who send their children to public schools but pay for outside educational services such as test prep and tutoring would also be eligible.
The complete article can be viewed at the NY Sun website, by clicking HERE.
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19 Responses
A Dinner going to be kosher? What the business The Yeshiva World have with this?
Baruch Hashem there is an organization that does this work. With the increase of prices all over, the Yidden help the City save money by sending our children to Yeshivos – maybe now the City and State can give us our fair share. Its a Rachmonos that the Teachers Union and Shelly Siver are against this tax credit. Kudos to Rabbi Weinreb and David Greenfield who are working hard on this important issue !
WOW!! I don’t understand where is all this money going?
Our chushuve Rabbeim are moser nefesh mamesh to teach torah to the next generation of klal yisroel and they are tremendously underpaid.
Yes they have the summer off. Do you know how much they work during the year and prepare during the summer for the hatzlocho of each talmid/ah?!
They need huge increases.PERIOD!!
The only people that I know who speak about this publically are Mr. Marvin Schick and Rabbi Yakov Bender.
May they be gebentched and may our Rabbeim get the support and chizuk that they need and deserve.
How do we make sure that even if we get the tax credit the Yeshiva’s don’t raise their prices by the same amount?
Also if the state gives 600 million to this what is there to prevent them from raising our taxes to pay for this. I may get cheaper tuition but I will lose the money through higher taxes.
I also agree with lesschumras observation.
however, the yeshivot announced they will NOT reduce tuition even though they will get govt $. the catholics announced they WILL reduce tuition.
If the All-Mighty teachers union is complaining about crowded classes now, just what do you think will happen when and additional 1 million (500,000 was a low ball number) Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, and any other private school chold registers for public school come August? as is out right to do (free education). Mind you, you don’t HAVE to send your children to public school but just register. When the bean counters see those numbers of additional children, and additional dollars (more teachers, more books, new buildings, food, etc, etc, etc) (the B of E states they spend about $15k per child in public school), watch how fast they sign the law.
Just a thought…..BUT getting ALL parents to do this is impossible…but a suggestion….
Kol Tuv,
I thought Agudas Yisroel supported this? How come they are not sending anybody to the dinner?
Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a quick answerr to this problem.
It has been talked about plenty how Chicago has the %5 mandate (George Hanus) and that will help alleviate somewhat the burden of the schools. There is no reason why such a mandate couldn’t be set up in NY (although there are so many more Yeshivos in the tri-state to cover) but over time it WILL make a difference.
As far as I know, Rebbeim are underpaid, Schools are struggling, Parents are struggling to provide for families, most families have two working parents, etc… SO WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?????
YWN Junkie –
They are. I just called the Agudah and they said that their representatives will be there.
Charlie Hall:
The reason for lower parochial school tuitions is manifold.
1.
Charliehall:
The reason for lower parochial school tuitions is manifold.
1. Religious school instruction is given by single priests housed in school living quarters rather than married men with children.
2. Tha Catholic church is one of the largest landowners in NYC. They are not buying new realty.
3. Charitable donations are funneled through a central organization with greater economies of scale. We funnel everything through smaller unassociated shuls, schools and tzedakos.
4. The church runs operations like a business. Small schools and parishes are shuttered. We keep the shuls and schools open even if we can’t find a minyan.
5. Catholic schools need to be subsidized because people are generally not knocking down their doors to get in.
I just called Agudah, and they said that they ARE sending representatives there.
תנא בר תחליפא אחוה דרבנאי חוזאה כל מזונותיו של אדם קצובים לו מראש השנה
חוץ מהוצאת שבתות וכו’ והוצאת בניו לתלמוד תורה שאם פיחת פוחתין לו ואם הוסיף מוסיפין לו
(ביצה טז.)
Where’s YOUR faith?
Do you know that our actual cost per child is $480 per month PER STUDENT after government assistance which equals $5760 per yr!! What do you pay?
Thanks Yercahmiel. Who are they sending?
Why does YWN give Kavod to a galach, calling him “Edward Cardinal Egan”, in the cermonial catholic terminology, but doesn’t have the Kavod to name Yeshiva University’s President, Richard Joel, a fellow Yid and one who is Osek B’Tzarchei Tzibbur, by name?
The same goes for “A representative of the Orthodox Union”. Does he have a name?
PizzaPizza:
1. So? Both get paid.
2. And once the building has been paid for…
3. True.
4. True, maybe, but I don’t see that as the reason why some high schools charge $15-$20K and up.
5. Maybe, but who would pay $7k if they’re not knocking on the doors to begin with?
B”H
It’s not just NYC. The tuition for High School in our town is $17,500, Elementary School is $15,500, and Middle School is $16,000. How do we know? Sigh. (Brother, can you spare a dime?) Even preschool is $12,000 a year!
This article ignored inflation. Average inflation rates that I found on the internet for this decade was 2.78%. This means that a tution of $15,000 in 2001 was the same as a tuition of $18,174 this year.
The article figures do indicate that tuition on average is rising another 3.25% annually beyond inflation. That is what the article indicated was due to new security costs, higher teachers salary (factoring in inflation) and increasing property costs. Its worth noting that property costs passed on in tuition and security can both be lowered via consolidation into bigger and taller buildings. Obviously a tax credit would help also but there are other ways of dealing with this too.
appropos to this topic, i just read about a Hewbrew language and culture charter school is about to open in Englewood. Many people are very enthuiastic about it since it provides two thirds of what modern Orthodox parents are looking for in a private day school, for free; namely, Hebrew language/Zionism and a Jewish social enviornment. The Torah education can be supplemented in a Talmud Torah type after school program. Or so goes the thinking. Interesting.