U Support From The Sidelines A national movement addresses the day school funding crisis. JULIE WIENER Staff Writer Ell EMT ill• MEM '111 EN 1 AIIIIIII,I•111( 111••.111111/4 fail II LIMITED TIRE, yOU GIVI (ITT SIIECRIPTION Of TAB JIWIctl NEWS WI WILL SAND VOU TWO T-111-1 1110'111 TINITS TO T11,1 STAR T111-11111i WM:MILD. ueled by a sense of urgency, more than 120 lay leaders representing day schools of all denominations will be gathering at a national conference Sunday in suburban Chicago. But Detroit leaders are staying home. The conference agenda: drawing attention to the rising costs of Jewish education and pressing for increased funding from Jewish federations. Armed with results from a recent study commissioned by the Avi Chai Foundation, day school leaders argue that the costs of running their schools is rapidly rising, pushing many schools toward bankruptcy and forcing others to simultaneously raise tuition and cut one of the conference's organizers at- -1 a member of the newly formed National Jewish Day School Scholarship Committee. The president of Chicago's Ida Crown Jewish Academy, an Orthod high school that welcomes Jewish stu dents from all denominations, Hanus says Jewish day schools risk becoming elite institutions accessible only to the wealthy. The solution: making educa tion the No. 1 priority of Jewish phil- anthropy and forming community- wide scholarship endowments. Organizers of the Chicago confer- ence have drafted a resolution they hope will be adopted by Jewish federa- tions around the country. It would "commit that our professional and lay leadership as one of their highest pri- orities shall develop in 1998-99 long- YES! Please send me 52 issues of the Detroit Jewish News plus 5 issues of Style Magazine for only $46 ($63 out-of-state). Please bill me. ❑ Payment Enclosed 0 Charge my: 0 Visa 0 MasterCard ❑ Exp. _I'd like to send a gift subscription to: Name Address My name State Zip My address City State Zip Gift card message Phone 9/19 1997 14 27676 Franklin Road Southfield, MI 48034 Call (248) 354-6060 or fax (248) 354-6069 Expires 10/1/97 New Subscribers Only DSTR2-97 scholarship assistance. With day school enrollment grow- ing nationally and studies indicating day school education is one of the most effective ways of countering assimilation trends, the problem takes on an even greater magnitude. "This came about because there does not seem to be an action plan for the philanthropic agenda to deal with the impending financial debacle that's going to occur," said George Hanus, Hillel students at a recent event welcom- ing new families. Will day schools become elite institutions for the wealthy? range solutions to the crisis in funding Jewish day school education." Dr. Richard Krugel, chair of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's planning and allocations steering committee, is immediate past SUPPORT page 25