Now is the time to invest in Jewish day schools for a stronger Jewish future

How Jewish day schools are creating vibrant communities and a resilient Jewish future.

By PAUL BERNSTEIN NOVEMBER 26, 2024 05:01

SOLOMON SCHECHTER ACADEMY in Montreal: Rarely has there been a more auspicious time for Jewish day schools in North America, says the writer. (photo credit: Courtesy)

Rarely has there been a more auspicious time for Jewish day schools in North America. More parents than ever before, hungry for Jewish connection and belonging, are considering full-time Jewish education for their children.

To those concerned about the increase in antisemitism, the secure environment of day schools and yeshivas make them especially attractive. Now is the time for communities and leaders who seek to ensure a strong Jewish future to invest strategically in our schools.

Over recent years, and as a result of the wisdom and dedicated efforts of school professionals, funders, and advocates across our communities, we at Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools have come to understand that expanding the impact of our schools in a significant way depends on investing in the key drivers of day school success – enrollment, affordability, talent, and excellence. This investment generates an accelerating virtuous cycle of growth for individual schools and the field, and, ultimately, our Jewish future.

As Prizmah heralds its Strategic Plan for the next five years, we are focused more than ever on leveraging our advantages. What will it take to turn this auspicious moment into a decisive one?

AN ACTIVITY in solidarity with Israel takes place at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy – Jewish Day School in Stamford, Connecticut. (credit: Courtesy)

Enrollment

Jewish day school enrollment in North America has always been a complex formulation, even as we diligently collect data as seemingly simple as the number of children attending our schools.

While the goal (“tushes in chairs,” as some say colloquially) is relatively easy to measure, the methods of achieving impact toward that goal are less simple. Even in communities where families largely choose day school education, effective enrollment management is critical.

We know that today’s generation of parents makes decisions in response to input from a wide range of sources: fellow parents, family members, social media, online research, personal experience.

Prizmah will be launching a national brand marketing strategy in the coming months in order to advance the unique value proposition of our schools. Now is a time when Jews are seeking more Jewish connection than previously. We can demonstrate the joyful value of our schools in creating community.

Affordability

If admission directors across North America could have an unlimited pool of funds to recruit new families, most would likely rush to lower tuition. However, as we have learned from dozens of tuition assistance initiatives over the past decade, tuition reduction by itself is not usually adequate for enrollment growth, especially long-term.

Experiments and research have established best practices to meeting the financial needs of middle-income families and others, such as Jewish communal professionals. We need to promulgate these methods, so that more families can consider private Jewish education an option.

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We also need to help funders understand how their support can be pooled across schools and communities to make a significant impact. More broadly, anyone who cares about the Jewish future should be connected to ways of supporting our schools, whether or not they have children or grandchildren in the system.

Talent

Strong and stable leadership drives school success. Great teachers inspire students to learn and thrive. We need to attract more teachers to enter the field, enable them to be their best selves – and stay. We also need to strengthen the path to educational leadership in ways that make the headship and other leadership roles a desirable career goal.We should enable lay leaders to perform their highest role of partnering with the head to advance the school’s mission. In the category of enrollment management itself, schools can successfully attract and retain families only with professionally trained admissions personnel.

Excellence

All schools – even those with wait-lists or in communities with growing Jewish demographics – need to attend to the basic elements of educational excellence. Only when a school can demonstrate that it delivers on its promise of a high-quality educational experience will families choose to enroll their children.

If we are serious about growing enrollment, we need to identify and develop relationships with substantial new investors to contribute both to capital and to operating costs. We need to make it crystal clear that caring about the Jewish future means caring about Jewish day schools, full stop.

Our world has been changing at a rapid pace in the past five years, and much of what we thought we knew has shifted. At these times, I find myself connecting even more deeply with what is at the heart of day school education: high-quality education, deep and lasting community, lived Jewish values, and responsibility for our people and our world.As we seek to attract new investors in day schools, we have the knowledge and experience to apply those investments wisely, to feed a virtuous cycle of growth.

I am reminded of what Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks wrote: “To defend a country, you need an army; but to defend an identity, you need a school.” What better time than now for our schools to expand their reach and their impact?

The writer is CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.