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Paying for Jewish Education

Question

I am in a very uncomfortable predicament. I send my three children to a Hebrew school. For the coming school year, the school has decided to raise tuition by 30%. In order to receive an abatement, we need to complete an intensive and invasive financial survey, which we refuse to do. However, the school is now threatening that they will deny admittance to my kids if we do not pay the tuition. Isn’t that contrary to all Jewish values, that they will deny my children an education?

Answer

I am very sympathetic to your dilemma, but I’m not entirely sure that my limited understanding of the situation will allow me to offer a conclusive position. Nevertheless, let me present some basic information.

The Talmud (Bava Batra 21a) records how Rabbi Yehosha ben Gamla (acting, it seems, as a cover for the embattled Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach) established a binding requirement on every Jewish community throughout the world to create and fund Torah schools for every Jewish boy above the age of six. The financial burden rested on the shoulders of every permanent citizen of a community, whether or not he happened to have children of his own in the school system.

This legal obligation is codified in the Shulchan Aruch (Yorah Deah 245:7). In the early decades of the 20th Century, this community obligation was extended to girls’ education, following pretty much the same standard.

Therefore, as long as a parent is paying his fair, proportional share of the cost of a school (calculated according to the total number of Jews in that community), he can’t be pressed for more. That should mean that each individual should face a relatively light tuition bill.

Nevertheless, in light of the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to define community membership (most cities include many fragmented sub-communities that often don’t recognize each other or their institutions), and the fact that many Jews have no interest in funding Torah education, the primary yoke of educational funding has, by default, fallen on the shoulders of parents. With the rising costs of education, schools are faced with significant budget shortfalls and many are forced to pass along the cost to the parents. This obviously leads to arguments between parties over whether a particular family should be paying more or less.

As it is really impossible for me to know whether your children’s school is really placing too great a burden on you, I can only leave that part up to you. I do hope, however, that these ideas prove useful to you, and that you will, one way or the other, successfully find a way to instill significant Torah knowledge and values in your children.

With my best regards,

Rabbi Boruch Clinton

Answered in cooperation with STAR-K Kosher Certification, Baltimore, MD

Follow-up question

Question

I read with great interest the article posted about Jewish Day School funding. What does Jewish law say regarding a school using funds to beautify a building, rather than provide scholarship for children to attend the school? Granted that a school should not be a slum, but is there anything in the Torah that dictates the use of cheaper materials (wood floors instead of marble) or a limit on spending for vanity projects?

Also, what does the Torah have to say about Jewish schools refusing to admit children with learning disabilities?

Answer

I would certainly agree with you that excessive spending and “vanity projects” should probably not be considered in calculating a school’s real educational expenses. However, things could get complicated if there were potential students whose families would only consider investing in a Torah education if the school building was up to their (excessive) standards. Perhaps, then, the argument might carry some limited weight — much like the talmud in tractate Kesubos, which describes the requirement, where possible, to support each poor person according to his specific needs, even if that might include echoes of his former luxury.

The issue of disabilities is similar to that of general tuition: The community has an absolute requirement to provide a full Torah education for every Jewish child regardless of his special needs. However, as there simply aren’t the resources to cover every need, a balance needs to be found to serve as many children as possible, in a way that is as efficient and humane as possible. If it can be legitimately demonstrated by a specific, privately owned school that they simply cannot afford to provide an appropriate special program and that the child cannot reasonably be expected to sit in a mainstream class without disturbing the others, then I would imagine the school would have the right to refuse to accept him. However, only someone who is familiar with all the relevant, practical details, as well as with many Torah-considerations involved, should address this kind of question.

I hope this helps,

Rabbi Boruch Clinton