By Cindy Mindell

Rabbi Joshua Lookstein

STAMFORD – For the past decade, Jewish Stamford has engaged in an annual communal conversation about the challenges inherent in Jewish education, issues affecting religious schools and day schools alike. This year, the Challenges in Jewish Education panel discussion program marks its 10th anniversary with a focus on day school affordability. The Jan. 11 event at Congregation Agudath Sholom in Stamford will feature Rabbi Joshua Lookstein, head of Westchester Day School, and Dr. Harry Bloom of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE).

“As well-documented in Jewish population studies, there is a direct correlation between Jewish day school education and future Jewish affiliation, in-marriage, and communal involvement,” says Rabbi David Israel, rabbinic dean of Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford and panel moderator. “For this reason, schools like Bi-Cultural have long felt that we have a responsibility to provide a Jewish education to every Jewish student who desires one.”

However, says Israel, as many parents have discovered, day school tuition is “staggering.”

The panel will address the questions many American Jewish communities are grappling with, Israel says: “How do we continue to make day school education affordable for growing families? Are there opportunities to cut costs while maintaining the excellence in Judaic and secular studies that our community demands? Are there new models that are finding success or perhaps even a few that have yet to be fully explored?”

Before taking the helm of Westchester Day School, Lookstein was a major gifts officer at UJA-Federation of New York, where he led the $300 million Day School Challenge Fund. He says that the organized Jewish community must try everything possible to make a day school education available to all who want one. “But we must also be realistic about some of the tuition-reduction ideas out there,” he says. “I think the increasing revenue streams – government, Israel, foundations, individual donors, loans – will allow for a quality educational experience better than the various cost-cutting experiments. But I’m open to new ideas and will try those ideas that have the most merit.”

Dr. Harry Bloom

Panelist Harry Bloom is strategy manager for day school sustainability at PEJE, helping day schools develop strategies to reduce expenses. “PEJE has a vital role to play in bridging a gap that has grown larger and larger between Jewish day school costs and what parents can pay,” says Bloom, who holds a doctorate in education from Yeshiva University. Before joining PEJE in July, he worked as director of day school planning and performance improvement at Yeshiva University, focusing on community affordability and sustainability programming. The problem, he says, is that tuition has outpaced incomes, even before the 2008 economic downturn. Enrollment drops and costs rise for an increasingly smaller student population.

“Part of the affordability solution is right-sizing, making sure that capacity and demand are in alignment,” Bloom says. “This means either reducing costs or doing a better job recruiting and retaining students.”

PEJE is doing pioneering work in helping day schools build endowments and non-tuition income. “The affordability challenge is one that we can meet effectively,” he says. “There is no silver bullet but there are a bunch of strategies and solutions out there that give me a reason for optimism.”

10th Annual Challenges in Jewish Education Panel Discussion: “Day School Affordability: The Challenge… and Some Practical Solutions” | Shabbat, Jan. 11, 12 noon (following services), Congregation Agudath Sholom, 301 Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford | Info (203) 358-2200.

Comments? email cindym@jewishledger.com.