Yeshivos accepting wealthy kids vs poorer kids

shoshanim999

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 4:46 pm

Fascinating. On the other thread where a principal accepted a student because he had money over another student who didn't, there was virtual unanimous outrage. In this thread there is lots of understanding for schools that have to make tough decisions and accept wealthier students first. Strange.

amother

Plum

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:19 pm

personally I think the schools are in a tough position. I do think certain things would help though, including full disclosure of their finances and their decision making process and accepting input from the parents. If parents feel involved and that the school is being fiscally responsible they are much more likely to donate to the school their maaser money. It might just be an extra few thousand dollars from some of the full paying parents but that can counter some of the non full paying parents. .

amother

Papaya

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:24 pm

amother wrote:

IMHO every school should have parents sitting on its board.

amother

Plum

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:32 pm

so interestingly enough our school does have parents on the board but when they decided to make a certain big change neither of the parents seems to be proponents of the change so not sure how it got passed anyway... guess they were outvoted. It's not just the board members though, I think that all parents should be able to make reasonable suggestions that the school will take seriously. The school doesn't have to implement everything but the parents should feel like their opinion matters.

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:32 pm

amother wrote:

IMHO every school should have parents sitting on its board.

Our school has that.. The issue is most of the board are the wealthier parents.
So when a family comes along with 7 children and their tuition bill is 70 k and they can't afford it, the board has very low tolerance for these people.
And btw my school is the only Jewish school in my oot community.

amother

Dodgerblue

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:33 pm

Instead of appreciating the amazing job the schools are doing subsidizing the education of the majority of students, we are condemning them when they can't subsidize eveyone.

Do you think there is a place in the conversation to consider that we subsidize people who clearly could pay more?

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:37 pm

amother wrote:

That doesn't happen in my community. You need give in your tax returns bank statements, all cc statements so no they don't subsidize anyone who can pay

amother

Papaya

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:44 pm

amother wrote:

I tend to agree with you. I’m also a proponent of process. A letter to the president of the board should be considered, and presented at a board meeting.

amother

Dodgerblue

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 5:59 pm

amother wrote:

That doesn't happen in my community. You need give in your tax returns bank statements, all cc statements so no they don't subsidize anyone who can pay

And what about people who get paid in cash? Or people who get their bills paid for them? Or people who get gifts? Or people who have tax free income? Or people who structure their assets so they are in corporate names? Or structure their assets so they appreciate but are not realizing their income?

It happens in your community.

amother

Smokey

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 7:00 pm

Tuition collector's wife here.

My husband is that man you hate, the one who calls you up and asks you when your check is coming in, or if he can stop by and pick it up.

He's the one that sits this time of year for 12 hours a day meeting with parents who yell and scream at him, trying to get their tuition bills lowered, rather than raised each year.

He's the one who hears all the pain of those who just can't pay. He's the one that tries to work with them.

And he's the one the rebbies come crying to.
"Mr. Tuition Collector," they say, "I don't have money to put bread on my table! I can't imagine how I'm going to make yom tov."

And then he picks up the phone again.
"Hello Mr./Mrs. Blank, you're four months behind on tuition. Can I come pick up a check now?"

He's the one you hate, because he shleps the money from your pocket because the cries of hard working men who can't feed their own family are devoting hours every day to your children and he can't just look them in the eye and say, "I'm sorry, there will be no checks this week."

He's the man who causes my own sister to blush when he's mentioned, because he calls her too, and tells her he has to have the money. She'd do anything to get it to him, but she just doesn't have.

For once, I'm with naturalmom5. You can't blame the yeshivah. You can't blame the parents. You can only pray for siyata d'Shmaya and better laws for privately schooled citizens.

amother

Jetblack

Wed, Aug 15 2018, 7:46 am

Food for thought....what might happen if EVERY single Jewish kid was to be enrolled in the public school system all at once? What a shock/panic would ensue at the boe...the scrambling for funds,resources,buildings etc. And...if they managed to accommodate ALL those kids, which I don't believe they'd be able to,would it be awful to have your kid in a public school saturated with Jewish kids? I would speculate that the yeshivas/day schools would get some serious funding rather quickly. Alas, this will never happen, but what if?!

amother

Pearl

Wed, Aug 15 2018, 8:08 am

Sure, every school would love to have rich kids with no learning or behavioral issues, from intact, loving families. Their jobs would be a whole lot easier that way. But guess what? Schools exist to educate children and to serve the community. So they take every kid they can serve and do their best.

I'm only familiar with the inner workings of MO schools, where there's a board made up mostly of parents (and in my kids' school, there was a deliberate effort to get non-wealthy parents on the board). Also the academic and financial pieces were kept separate, so acceptances didn't hinge on money.

Bottom line, schools are expensive to run and the people who run them put in a lot of time and effort. They don't always get it right, but generally speaking, if you're in chinuch, it's because you care, and you do your best to balance individual and communal needs.

amother

Pearl

Wed, Aug 15 2018, 8:13 am

amother wrote:

What would happen is that your property taxes would skyrocket. (Not by as much as your tuition bill, but enough to make your house unattractive to future buyers.)

And if yeshivas do get government funding (unlikely in most states) so will ISIS schools.

This is short term thinking. If you want the government to underwrite the cost of religious education, no problem. It is being done already - in Israel. You can have public Jewish education, but you can't have it along with a big house in the United States.