By Leyna Krow, Assistant Editor, JTNews
More than seven months after the stock market plummeted last fall, the recession has hit home for organizations serving almost all segments of society, including local Jewish day schools.
Although accounts of changes in enrollment numbers vary, almost all Seattle-area day schools are reporting smaller budgets for the 2009-2010 school year, resulting, in several cases, in salary freezes and even layoffs. Requests for tuition assistance are, not surprisingly, also up at many of the schools consulted for this article.
Rob Toren, grants director for the Samis Foundation, which provides annual grants to five Jewish day schools in the greater Seattle area, said he feels much of the belt-tightening happening at local schools is preemptive rather than the result of real financial hardship.
“From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s more anxiety than reality right now,” Toren said.
He pointed to the success of several recent school galas and other fundraising campaigns to suggest that Seattle schools are faring far better than their counterparts in other parts of the country. Still, schools throughout the region are bracing for the worst.
As parents lose their jobs, or worry that they may lose their jobs, many families are looking for ways to cut costs. Pulling kids out of private schools is one way some choose to save money.
“There is a lot of concern among non-Orthodox schools, where public school is much more of viable option for parents,” Toren said. “In the Orthodox community, that’s not so much the case. Many may decide that in this economy, they would rather opt for free schooling rather than something they have to pay for, even if they can technically still afford it right now.”
Deb Frockt, director of admissions and marketing for the Seattle Jewish Community School, reported that SJCS has seen a 20 percent drop in families accepting offers of admission for the 2009-2010 school year in comparison to the 2008-2009 school year.
“Of those, 84 percent are going to public schools, which says to us that these decisions are financially driven,” Frockt said.
True to Toren’s observation, however, Seattle Hebrew Academy head of school Rivy Poupko Kletenik said her school is seeing enrollment numbers for the coming fall that are consistent with recent years.
The Torah Day School has actually experienced a slight increase in enrollment for the 2009-2010 school year, according to board president Mike Eisenstein. Fundraising, however, has been more challenging and he noted that TDS’ budget has been pared down as a result. The cuts, he said, will come in limits to the school’s growth.
TDS, Seattle’s newest Orthodox day school, opened in Seward Park in 2006. Eisenstein said the school, which currently has 87 students, had hopes of adding new faculty and additional programs in the coming year. Those plans have been put on hold.
“We’re doing everything in our power not to take any drastic steps,” he said “As of now, there will be no salary cuts and no layoffs.”
This is not a claim all day schools in the area have been able to make.
Both SJCS and the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle have instituted a salary freeze for all employees for the coming year as well as a one-year freeze on retirement plan contributions.
Maria Erlitz, interim head of school at the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle, has cut half a million dollars from next year’s budget. Part of JDS’ cost-reduction plan means laying off some of the school’s administrative staff.
“Everyone who is left will do more than a full-time job,” Erlitz said.
Rabbi Bernie Fox, head of school for Northwest Yeshiva High School, said that similar cuts may need to be made at NYHS as well, although he declined to say what programs or staff would get the axe.
To make up for lost funds, some schools are getting creative. Frockt said that SJCS, which bought its facility in the Northgate neighborhood last year, will try to rent out some of its space to summer camps, sports programs and adult education programs. SJCS also owns a house adjacent to the campus, which Frockt hopes to see rented as office space.
SJCS has also launched its Chai Fives program, a bridge year between pre-school and kindergarten for younger students that should bring in some extra income.
The Seattle Hebrew Academy has launched an additional Fund-in-Need campaign aimed at bolstering the school’s operating budget through donations.
“This isn’t for some special program. This is just about day-to-day operations,” Kletenik said, noting that in the past SHA donor campaigns have often been designed to help the school complete improvement projects like refurbishing the soccer field or the library.
Just as schools are looking for extra cash for the fall, so too are many parents seeking help covering tuition costs. A number of schools reported a significant rise in the number of families looking for scholarships.
This increased need poses an additional challenge for schools already strapped for cash. In his March 20 “Rabbi’s Turn” column for JTNews, NYHS’Rabbi Fox wrote that he was concerned about being able to provide NYHS families with financial aid.
“We have some families that had earlier in the year signed full tuition contracts who are no longer able to pay the full amount and now need assistance. We also have some families enrolled for next year that will now require assistance who haven’t before,” Fox said when asked about the increase in need.
Karen Coval, spokesperson for the Jewish Day School, said that although she knows a number of JDS parents have lost their jobs or are concerned about their future financial stability, the school has not seen a significant rise in requests for financial aid. She attributes this to social pressure.
“There’s a lot of stigma for people coming forward [to] ask for financial assistance,” she said.
Eisenstein said the Torah Day School does not anticipate much in the way of an increase in terms of financial aid requests for the coming year, although he added that a significant percentage of TDS students already receive some sort of tuition assistance.
Kletenik noted that SHA has seen a 10 percent increase in the number of families requesting tuition assistance. But between help from the Jewish Federation, the Samis Foundation and gifts from private donors, she said, the school will be able to grant all scholarship requests for the coming school year.
“Between those three sources, we won’t turn away anyone for lack of funds,” she said.
Similarly, SCJS’ financial aid program is set up so that families can change the amount of help they receive from the school at any time during the year. According to Frockt, this makes it easier for families to commit to a year of private school when they know there may be some flexibility in their child’s tuition if their finances take a turn for the worse.
“Our process allows people to apply [for scholarships] mid-year if their situation changes. So if something happens — if someone loses their job in December for example — they don’t have to wait to following year,” she said.
Both Frockt and Kletenik stressed that their respective schools want, in as many cases as possible, to keep students enrolled all the way through their primary school education; hence their enthusiasm for finding money for additional families seeking tuition assistance.
“Our main commitment is to maintain the quality of our program for all of our students and to see them all the way through to graduation,” Frockt said.