Government Funding is the Only Future for Jewish Day Schools

The single greatest injustice facing American parents today is that they are financially forced to send their children to schools not of their choosing. If you want to understand the level of unfairness you need look no further than my home state of New Jersey. Saturday's Wall Street Journal reported that our state's Supreme Court has "taken control of the $11 billion Property Tax Relief Fund," funded by our astronomical, highest-in-the-nation, property taxes. The Journal reports, "The court sends more than half of the state aid to 31 largely urban "special needs" school districts with the remaining 554 largely suburban towns fighting over the rest."

Want to know how badly abused our tax dollars are in the State's education system? A single community, Asbury Park, gets thirty thousand dollars per pupil -- enough to send them to the country's best prep schools -- and still "they produce dismal test results."

But I knew well before the article appeared what suckers we New Jersey tax payers are from my own community of Englewood where you have to sell a kidney to afford the sky-high property taxes that fund an approximately twenty-three thousand dollars per pupil public school expenditure that likewise produces poor test results.

Included within our community are approximately six hundred hard-working orthodox Jewish families that make up the lion's share of the tax base. But not one of those families gets even a ten dollar subsidy from their taxes to help pay the tuition for their children's religious school, which is curious when you consider how much money the government saves by having children in a values-based education system which produces far lower delinquency rates.

Now, since we read daily of the non-stop corruption and waste that seems endemic to our state, why do we in New Jersey take it? Why aren't there protests in the street? Honestly, I have no idea, other than to say it's becoming prohibitive to even live here and many have indeed begun moving out.

But be that as it may, I personally know scores of religious Jewish families for whom this injustice is beginning to break the bank. They are slowly being bankrupted by the combination of high taxes and high tuition. There is no way on earth they can pay both. And this of course applies to Catholic parents, evangelical parents, and Islamic parents. Why does our country so strongly discriminate against responsible parents who want their kids to pray every day and be more spiritual people? What does our country have against families who believe in ethical, religious traditions? How long will parents whose only sin it is to want their children to know and love G-d be punished?

And let's not march out the over-roasted chestnut of separation of Church and State. This is not the State's money. It's the parent's money. It's their tax dollars. Why is it taken from them without any benefit to their kids?

And what if you're a parent who isn't even religious but simply disapproves of co-education? What if you're of the opinion that children, and especially girls, do much better in environments where questions of popularity among the opposite sex is minimized? Should you be forced to contravene your conscience for money?

At this stage in my life, with two children in College and another six in private Jewish schools, the tuition burden has become almost prohibitive. There is no way we can save anything since, by the time we pay Englewood property taxes and Jewish day school tuition, there simply is nothing left.

And still the Jewish community refuses to seriously address the tuition crisis with the only real solution which is to finally allow public funding for at the very least the secular departments of parochial schools. Hebrew Charter schools are a necessary first step. But walking on egg shells to forestall any kind of accusation of imparting a Jewish identity is simply not a complete solution. Less so is sending your kid to a public school and supplementing it with a Jewish tutor. That still doesn't provide for immersion into a Jewish school environment in which a child wears tzitzis and a Yarmulke, washes their hands for bread, and makes the proper blessings before eating various foods.

Let's not kid ourselves about there being any real replacement for a Jewish day school education when it comes to instilling a Jewish identity and guaranteeing that a graduate make Jewish choices later in life. Daily Jewish education amid total immersion in a Jewish environment is the single greatest guarantor that our children will proudly choose to be Jewish. The same applies to having more Jewish kids. Our community's number one threat today is not intermarriage but the pitifully low Jewish birthrate. And more families are choosing to have less children because in their minds they simply can't afford them, especially the tuition.

Next week the GA will take place in Washington, DC. Sure enough, on the lengthy agenda there is one breakout session entitled, "Accessing Federal and State Support and Services for Jewish Day Schools." That is nice, but it's nowhere near enough. Creating the political will to provide government funding for parochial school education must be our community's number one priority. It cannot be just one of many subjects. And I am declaring my willingness to work with individuals and organizations who are dedicated to seeing this become a reality.

My passion has always been to bring Jewish values to the outside world and help heal an increasingly valueless society. But that cannot and will not happen unless we raise a generation of Jewish children who are versed in Jewish texts, Jewish wisdom, and Jewish history. And if over the next decade we don't find a way to secure permanent funding for Jewish day schools the edifice will come tumbling down.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is the founder of This World: The Values Network and is the author of 'Ten Conversations You Need to Have with Your Children' and 'Parenting with Fire.' www.shmuley.com.

 

Comments

[KIVPossum]

You are off base here. Taxpayers have a moral need to support public education and offer a basic level of education to all students. A minimum level of education is good for the society as a whole. I am content that some of my tax $ builds a bridge I'll never travel because it serves others who may provide a service to me. I am content to pay taxes to support education even though I do not have a child in school.

Taxpayers do not have a responsibility to fund religious indoctination. I say the same to you as I would to Catholics, Jehovah's Witness', or anyone else - send your kids to school to get an education, to church to learn the religion you want to give them. Or better yet take on the parental responsibility to teach your children the religion you want them to follow.

[Catriona]

Rabbi,

Providing you and yours with the means to maintain your community, and to do so in a manner that you find suitable so that your community can flourish and even grow at others' expense, is not the responsibility of the American taxpayer. That you expect this support as your right is pure chutzpah.

We have more important priorities, such as providing our fellow citizens with health care. Millions of Americans are sick and suffering. Do you know that? Do you care?

It's your job to teach your kids the Sh'ma. Rabbi, just as it's my job to teach my kids the Creeds. It's in the job description under 'Parent'.

Rabbi, as a native speaker of Gaelic – Scots Gaelic, please, none of that Irish or Manx keech – I feel your pain. We have a culture, with brilliant music and dance, literature, and even a cuisine (of sorts). We even suffered some wee pogroms, the Highland clearances. You see, yours isn’t the only community that feels it deserves to survive. However, I can’t expect my fellow citizens, people with names like Sanchez, DiDonato, Jaruszelski, DuBois, Smythe and Cohen to support Scots Gaelic-language schools. It is my job to teach my children our language, culture and values.

(Yes, we goyim do have ‘values’.)

This expat shiksa sends you a cheery Shabbat Shalom from Glasgow Scotland, a city long split by sectarian hatred and where even now Catholic and Protestant children go to separate schools

[TheBlackCat]

great post!

[LincolnParkChicago]

Anyone who thinks that Rabbi Boteach’s blog is too far out of the mainstream to happen should familiarize themselves with the village of Kiryas Joel's (in the town of Monroe in upstate New York) battle for an independent school district.
KJ has its school district! The Governor(s) and state senators and representatives chose a large guaranteed voting block over common sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York
"The court, in an opinion by Justice Souter, held that the funding of a school district designed to coincide with the neighborhood boundaries of a religious group constitutes an unconstitutional aid to religion. … In creating the district in question, New York crossed that line.""
" Scalia argued that the Satmar school district aided the Satmars as a culture rather than a religion, and thus did not constitute impermissible aid to a religious group. The majority, Scalia asserted, would "laud this humanitarian legislation if … concluded that "creation of a special, one-culture school district for the benefit of those children would pose no problem. The neutrality demanded by the Religion Clauses requires the same indulgence towards cultural characteristics that are accompanied by religious belief.""
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Education_of_Kiryas_Joel_Village_School_District_v._Grumet

[TheBlackCat]

Quoting Scalia probably isn't going to help your argument on a liberal website.

[LincolnParkChicago]

That depends on what my argument is. Read carefully.

[LincolnParkChicago]

Thank you very much for your advice and insight. I have certainly learned something today to keep in mind always.

[TheBlackCat]

From the Rabbi's other posts here on HuffPo, I know that the Rabbi is the father of a large family. And that is his right, to have many children. However, he now wants us to pay for HIS decision to have a large family.

My parents wanted to provide a certain lifestyle for their children. They only had two children (and later fostered a third) specifically so they could make sure that the children they did have would be able to be provided with all the things our parents wanted for us. They didn't have 8 children and then demand tax payer dollars to supplement THEIR decision to have a large family.

My husband and I know what kind of life we want for our children, and we will not have children until we are financially ready to provide this for them. We also will only have as many children as we can provide said lifestyle for. If something happens which will prevent us from being able to raise even one child in the lifestyle we want for them, we will not have any children.

If you want to have a ton of kids and send them to private school, that is absolutely your choice, but make sure you can afford to do so. Why should I have to pay for other people's economic irresponsibility?

[RobNYNY1957]

This is really silly. I don't have children in public school, either. Can I get a voucher to buy a car and some pizza?

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro - Huffpost Blogger]

i'll take a volvo p1800 with pepperoni, please.

[Wisconsin Dave]

REAL ISSUE

Should the public pay for religious education
that does not agree with all religions?

First Amendment, U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

A most excellent issue to discuss, as it would be a violation of the
Constitution, it would offend a great many religions, and the rich
ruling class is pushing us in this direction, with all their corporate media
demanding that all public schools be replaced with charter schools.

Charter schools: privatized schools run by corporations.

[teletom]

You make some crazy leaps in interpreting a pretty simple clause. Some funding going to an education that has some religious influences is a far cry from establishing an official state religion, and prevents exactly whom from practicing their faith?

[Wisconsin Dave]

Our First Amendment right of religious expression,
this has absolutely nothing to do with what you call
"an official state religion."

If you use my tax dollars to fund your religion, that
violates my conscience, and that violates the
Constitution.

[benfunks]

Under the Rabbi's thinking, I shouldn't be paying any property taxes used for education because I don't have children. I'm sorry Rabbi, I don't want my tax dollars supporting religious education, whether it be my religion or anyone else's. As all citizens regardless of their status as parents of school age children pay taxes to support public school, I don't want my taxes supporting ANY religious education.

[mlaiuppa]

Parents can send their children to any school they want.

The can send their children to public schools for free because their tax dollars provide that educational resource.

If they choose an alternative method, be it a private school (I.E. Jewish school) or home schooling, they pick up the tab themselves.

Public tax money for public schools has no business being used to subsidize private schools, be they Jewish Schools, Catholic schools, Montessori or any other school anyone chooses to create.

Public schools have a plethora of regulations and codes that must be followed. Private schools do not. If private schools want public money then they must adhere to the same regulations, standards, etc that public schools do, including in staffing. (I.E. teachers must be credentialed, etc.) Private schools refuse to do this. That is why they are not public schools. Public taxpayer money should not be given to any school that will not fully adhere to the same standards, codes and regulations that a public school is required to meet. Charter schools do. Private schools don't.

This is just another attempt at a voucher system.

I refuse to have my tax dollars spent on any private school, no matter what it is.

If you're unhappy with the way public school money is provided to schools (and you're right, it is inequitable) then by all means propose legislation to level the playing field. But siphoning money off for your own private school isn't the answer.

[lightningbolt]

I think the best solution to this problem is to allow people who send their kids to private schools to pay lower property taxes. It is not fair that people who pay for private school also have to pay for the public school of other kids. The state cannot fund religious schools because it is illegal, but they can make the property tax burden a little easier by lowering property taxes for people who don't use public schools.

[Wisconsin Dave]

If you do not have to pay for public schools because your children
are in private schools, then my kids having graduated and out of
school, neither should I pay for public schools. Surely blind alley logic.

[noudidnt]

I don't have kids...I shouldn't be taxed for public schools at all.

[Wisconsin Dave]

I agree.
For public schools first came about after the Civil War,
they were voluntary, they were only for age 12 to 16,
and they taught only reading, writing and arithmetic.

[teletom]

Just because you got your kids into a private school wouldn't exempt you forever. Your logic is bunk. It's real simple, you submit proof of tuition to get a tax break, when that's gone, no more tax break.

[JBVT]

Rabbi,

You reinforce my belief that organized religion is the problem.

Heck, I understood that an hour after my Bar Mitzvah checks cleared the bank!

[lightningbolt]

Getting Bar-Mitzvah checks is a problem to you? Why?

[Wisconsin Dave]

CHARTER SCHOOLS ---- CHURCH AND STATE ARE ONE

In 1981 a small group of us home schools, 8 families actually, got a
law passed that saved the State of Wisconsin millions of dollars in
legal expenses. For the law declared that one family private schools
were in fact church schools and did in fact, “rise to the level of religious
expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

For Wisconsin at that time had over 60 home school families being
charged with the crime of causing children to be truant.

For all Christian religions declare a school of theirs to be a house
of worship, a church in the truest sense of the word. So what the
good author above is proposing is that we use tax dollars to fund
houses of worship.

The words “charter school” refers to any school funded by taxes. And
surely this is opening the door to a can of worms destined to destroy
the moral fabric of America. For just as Christianity and Judaism is a
religion so is atheism.

For each man is a religion unto himself, and be one an agnostic or no,
be the unknown a spiritual realm or the realm of nonexistence, such
an infinite thing is beyond the mind of man to comprehend.

[Jimmyboyo]

NO! Just as vouchers for xtianista religious schools are an afront to a secular nation so to no funding for Jewish private schools

Israel is seeing debate on cutting off gov funding to its own religious schools because all they turn out are kids who can read the torah in hebrew and do very little else

Fix your state gov. Run for office yoruself or get better managers of state funds elected. fix your local public schools

No gov funding for any religious private schools either jewish, xtianista (catholic.­.mormon...­etc) , or muslim day schools

NO!

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro - Huffpost Blogger]

if you want these schools, fund them yourself and send your kids there.

do not ask me for tax money to fund your religion. i resent it just as much when the parochial schools come with their hands out too.

when you take your kids out of public school you are actually helping to seperate your religion from the rest of society.

how do you want children in the public schools (or other religious schools teaching their way is the only way) to react to your kids on the street or after they all graduate if they never come into contact with a Jewish person?

Likewise how will your children react to the rest of society when they graduate?

Are you really preparing your kids to handle the "valueless society"?

we are all doing our damnest to teach values to our kids. your values may not line perfectly up with my values, but seperating your kids from mine doesn't help my kid appreciate your kid.

we are a hetrogeneous society that needs proper training to deal with each other. taking your kids out of the equation creates an "us vs. them" mentality that needs to be destroyed.

I would ask you to instill your children with Jewish Identity at home or at Temple. As I will instill my kids' Catholic-I­talian-Arm­enian-Iris­h-German idenitiy at home or in church.

We have let them meet at school to learn how to get along with each other.

[Rockerbabe]

I agree. Public tax money for public schools and private money for private or religious schools. And why do I say this? Well, public tax money comes with lots of strings on what standards are used, what books, what cirriculum, what courses, teacher credenials, etc. Private and religious schools always seem to want to do what they want and are not accountable for anything, except pleasing the parents. Private and public schools do not use the same testing procedures as the public schools, so who knows exactly what these kids are being taught?

NO tax money to fund religion or non-accoun­table-to-t­he-public private schools!

[TheBlackCat]

agree completely. We are a heterogenious society and separating our kids along ethnic or religious lines isn't going to do anyone any favors.

And I find asking tax payers to fund private schools at all offensive as well, especially religious ones. I don't have children at all, but I'm not bitter that my tax dollars go to fund education. However, I would be extremely offended to have my tax dollars go to raise someone else's kid in a religious tradition. That is solely the responsibiliy of the parent and their religious instituttion. My parents wanted to raise me Catholic, they sent me to catechism. And paid for it themselves.

Also, I find the idea that a child MUST be raised in a religious tradition to have values extremely offensive. I used to live in the Netherlands, where (aside from new Muslim immigrants) the vast majority of the population is atheist or agnositc. Yet violent crime is rare over there, as is divorce, teen pregnancy rates (including aborted pregnancies) are the lowest in the world, and I found their society to be much more tolerant, more generous, and more civil than our own.

The same can be said for largely atheistic Scandanavian countries- their social ills and crime rates are the lowest in the world. Meanwhile uber religious South and Central America are rife with corruption and violence.

[Leadsled]

Ahem, Rabbi, have you ever heard of a little thing called the First Amendment? Not only constitutionally but morally there is no way, shape or form, in which one religious group has any right to lay claim to everyone else funding their segregationist tendencies, or in any way fund any aspect of their religion. Public dollars cannot go to support religious groups, of any sort. If you want public funded education, go to a public school. If you don't go to a private school. Its that simple.

[batguano]

Segregationist tribalism is not a good model for a pluralistic society. Understanding and respect for the differences of others is best taught in the great "melting pot" that America has traditionally been. For a group of people who wants to raise large families, "teach" them a narrow mostly religious construct in schools limited to their own viewpoints at taxpayer expense, is destructive of unity and the concept of nationhood. It could be argued that our tax dollars already support Jewish religious schools by our massive aid to Israel that may be near 10 billion annually when all aid is counted. This suggestion that we fund separate religious schools for Jewish children I suppose also contains the argument for funding of other religious schools for other religions and none is acceptable or wise. If public schools need fixing as they surely do, then fix them but do not segregate yourself or others. A wide education is, IMO, always better than a narrow single faceted tribal "education" that is more indoctrination than education.