When a father says that half of his salary goes to tuition: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When a rebbe, a father of 5 kids gets a salary of $42,000 a year and he is 3 months behind in pay: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When a child is not accepted into school because of tuition THAT’S A CRISIS.
When a father is working 2 jobs, and the mother working full time with 9 kids: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When we tell our kids that there is no school this week because teachers aren’t paid: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When parents are thinking not to have a large family because of tuition: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When a child is sent home from school because his parent’s check bounced: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When a mother walks out of the financial office of the school crying: THAT’S A CRISIS.
When mothers wish they can be home with their newborns but have no choice and must work: THAT’S A CRISIS.
THE SOLUTION
Our plan is to create a ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR ENDOWMENT FUND FOR EDUCATION.
This fund would generate FOUR MILLION DOLLARS in interest each year.
Our office would bring in approximately 3 3 MILLION DOLLARS for Jewish schools through the “voucher program, government grants, and private foundations. ”
SCHOOL PARTICIPATION
The Jewish Education Scholarship Fund will strictly be a scholarship fund and will not have any input in the day-to-day operations of participating schools.
There would be two conditions for schools to receive funding from the scholarship fund:
1. Scholarship Tuition Cap of $7,000 Per Child
The Scholarship Fund would pay up to $7000 per child.
When schools know there is a scholarship fund, they often raise tuition, which does not help our struggling families. This has happened in other communities. This way, the school knows they will only receive up to $7000 from the fund.
2. $70k Starting Salary for Teachers
There are two reasons why teachers need a salary of at least $70,000 per year:
a. Attractive salaries attract better teachers. This will improve the level of education, as well as increase the number of teachers with more experience and training.
b. If a teacher is making a decent salary, he can focus on teaching and doesn’t need to look for another side job.
BENEFITS FOR PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS:
VOUCHERS, GRANTS & GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
GRANTS & GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS
There are many school funding programs available, and each school is hiring their own staff to research these programs and write proposals. When we have one office, we could hire the best grant writers in the field to apply for these grants. Also, instead of writing requesting grant funding for 200 students, we would be able to write a proposal for 2,500 students.
VOUCHERS
The Scholarship Fund will help parents apply for a New York State has a voucher program where the government gives low-income families with two working parents a voucher for after school programs. It is a very complex program, with a lot of paperwork and many details. Many people don’t even know it exists. Our office would do two things:
a. We would hire people who know how to navigate the system.
b. We would publicize the program and encourage as many people as possible to sign up.
VOTING
Any family who receives money from the Jewish Education Scholarship Fund would be encouraged to vote. There is funding allocated to every district, and our elected officials have some control over where that money goes. If we can demonstrate that we have a large voting bloc, we will be able to get more funding for our programs.
We will not tell parents who to vote for, we will just present them with the information we have on our elected officials. We will educate them on what candidates have done and what they promise to do, and the voter can make a decision on their own.