A Dream Defeivred?

Despite pressure from national day school advocates,
Federation and CJF are hesitant to adopt resolutions.

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wo months ago, over 200
Jewish day school leaders
from around the country
gathered in Chicago to
address what they perceive to be the
greatest threat to Jewish continuity:
escalating day school costs. But Detroit
leaders were absent.
Now, asserting that day school edu-
cation must be accessible to all Jewish
children, the National Jewish Day
School Scholarship Committee
(NJDSSC), which organized the
September conference, is pressing
Jewish Federations to adopt resolutions
of support.
"The American Jewish community
is the wealthiest Jewish community in
the history of the world and the most
well-educated secularly, but we're los-
ing an entire generation Jewishly," said
George Hanus, president of a Chicago
day school and leader of the NJDSSC.
"We must provide day school edu-
cation for all children who can't afford
it, and we're asking that a clear record
be made of where philanthropic lead-
ers were during the biggest, most dev-
astating period of assimilation and
intermarriage in the history of our
people," added Hanus, who sees day
school education as the most impor-
tant guarantor of Jewish continuity.
In addition to soliciting greater
Federation support, the NSDSSC
plans to assist local communities in
raising money for scholarship endow-
ments.
The list of resolutions the NJDSSC
is pressing for includes, among other
things, committing professional and lay
leadership to develop long-range solu-
tions to the "crisis in the funding of
Jewish day school education." The
Jewish Federation of Chicago and a
handful of other Federations adopted
them last month, but the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit —
and the umbrella group, Council of
Jewish Federations — are holding off.
Despite Hanus' hope that the CJF
would adopt the resolutions at last
week's General Assembly, the CJF
instead appointed a blue-ribbon com-
mission to investigate the issue further.

It is expected to release a report in
mid-1998.
So why the hesitation on the part of
Detroit Federation to get involved in
the debate?
Although local day schools all face
financial challenges, CJF and local
Federation leaders criticize the NJDSSC
resolutions for focusing exclusively on
day schools, which serve only a small
segment of the community.
"The problem with Hanus' resolu-
tion as I see it is that it talks only about
funding for day school education and
says that's the only appropriate Jewish
education, ignoring the supplemental
school system which still educates 65
percent of our kids," said Dr. Richard
Krugel, chair of Federation's planning
and allocations steering committee.
Even if cost were not an issue, many _
families would still choose supplemen-
tal schools over day schools, Krugel
speculated, adding that Federation is
considering launching a survey to
determine the community demand for
day school education.
According to Krugel, Federation
already provides more generous day
school allocations than most
Federations around the country.
"We're voting with our deeds rather
than taking a resolution and saying this
is what needs to be done," he said.
For 1997-98, Federation allocated a
total of $1,385,000 to Akiva Hebrew
Day School, Hillel Day School, Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah and Yeshiva Gedolah.
According to Krugel, Federation will
also likely provide some funding next
year for a proposed community day
high school. Detroit's other day school,
Yeshivas Darchei Torah, does not
receive an allocation but rents class-
room space in the Federation-owned
Agency for Jewish Education building.
Although pleased with current allo-
cations, leaders at Akiva and Hillel
anticipate greater needs in the future.
According to Krugel, Federation is
looking into the possibility of starting aD
Jewish continuity fund that would ben-
efit educational and other institutions.
Federation Executive Vice President
Bob Aronson estimated that a proposal
for such an endowment will be released
in the next few months. ❑