Purim Torah on Day School Affordability?

(For our non-Jewish readers out there:  The Hebrew month of Adar is a time of celebration in Jewish life, but also a time of good natured joking and sometimes practical jokes.  Think April Fools Day, OK?  Read on, and you'll get it.)

"Abba, you've got to take a look at this!  The Hebrew Academy is cutting tuition to $1,000 per student and giving their staff a 75% raise."  My first thought in response to my son was "Well, about time.  They've needed a raise.  Um...how much did you say tuition was going to be?"  I finally looked up the posting on the Young Israel web-site and found the following:

The Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva High School announced today that they have developed a new joint financial plan that will allow them to reduce tuition to less than $1000 per student while increasing faculty salaries by at least 75%. Services will not need to be cut, and the debt should be retired within three months. "In retrospect, it was obvious that we should have been doing this all along," said Epstein President Mark Drazen. "This way, parents will not need to sacrifice any more and we will be on a solid financial footing." 

 The posting closed with a link that offered "click here for more information."  So I did, and downloaded the following text which flashed impishly across my screen:  "You've got to be kidding."  I smiled.  They got me.  Yes, it's Adar folks.

Our local synagogue's Purim joke should remind us as educational leaders that the easy solutions around school affordability remain just that...easy answers that don't merit more than passing consideration.  Earlier this winter I met with a board  president and her treasurer to discuss challenges which their school faced.  The most difficult moment in the conversation came when she shared that "We are heartbroken at the idea that Jewish families won't get a day school education.  We're offering even more financial aid than we had budgeted, and want your advice."  I took a deep breath, looked her in the eye and said, "If you bankrupt your school, I promise you that Jewish families won't get a day school education."


In the coming month (after Purim), I'll be publishing another white paper on day school affordability.  I hope to offer a global view that continues to push for outside of the box solutions while remaining focused on responsible fiscal management.  Stay posted.  In the meantime, before they toggle  back to the non-Purim version, have a look a the web page of the Young Israel of St. Louis.  And don't forget to smile.  It is, after all, still Adar.