New Year’s Congrats and Wishes for Jewish Day Schools

By Dr. Harry Bloom, Founder and President, Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

2022//23 was a good year for Jewish Day schools. Areas of justifiable pride include:

1.Attrition management: Jewish Day School attrition levels were lower than those for overall day schools and all but Christian day schools.

2. Annual Fundraising: Annual fundraising per student by Jewish day schools was higher than that for all day schools and other faith based school segments!

3. Net Operating Surplus: The Net Operating Surplus for Jewish day schools was higher than for all day schools, Episcopal and Quaker schools, trailing only Christian schools.

4. Care of Faculty: Faculty Salaries per Student and Student to Faculty Ratio per student for the median Jewish Day school were more favorable than those for all day schools, Christian day schools and Episcopal day schools, trailing only Quaker schools. (Spoiler alert: We have a current grant program in the field helping a cohort of school establish faculty compensation and practices to maximize retention and quality.)

Now, for my 2023/24 school year wishes:

1. Enrollment Growth: I wish that Jewish day schools work to strengthen their perceived value in the marketplace as well as their enrollment management and marketing practices so that enrollment increases. Jewish day schools trail all other school segments in enrollment growth relative to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, enrollment declined 5% relative to 2021/22 levels. (Spoiler alert: Benchmarking for Good is offering a grant to cohorts of Jewish day schools in the arena of enhancing perceived value! Please contact us to learn more.)

2. Tuition Integrity: I wish that Jewish day schools would establish tuition levels closer to the intersection of operational finding needs as well as actual tuition paid. What is concerning about current practice is both the 32% absolute gap between Gross Tuition and realized Net Tuition as well as the widening of the gap since 2019/20. Such a gap invites bargaining by parents, undermines perceptions of value, and presents an unrealistic “sticker price” to prospective parents concerned about affordability.

3. Endowment: Jewish day schools’ endowment levels trail those of all day school segments except Christian schools by a substantial magnitude. Now that rates of return on invested funds have risen substantially, this is a great time for Jewish day schools to focus their advancement efforts on endowment building.

Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

Benchmarking for Good, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, is devoted to helping networks of nonprofit organizations utilize comparative benchmarking, research, and peer to peer networking to make significant improvements in their Mission achievement and sustainability. Please visit our website at www.benchmarkingforgood.org to learn more about our organization and grant opportunities and contact Dr. Harry Bloom at harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org to explore how your organization can best take advantage of our grants.