Money Matters

Agency for Jewish Education plans for the 2000-2001 school year

Agency For Jewish Education
Sources Of Income 1999-2001

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff Writer

T

024:

7/21
2000

18

he special education pro-
gram Opening the Doors
has received a long-antici-
pated raise in funding for
the 2000-2001 school year, a raise that
will allow its teachers to add more
days to their teaching schedule.
The Agency for Jewish Education,
which provides services to 26 area
supplemental and day schools, last
month announced budget figures
showing a total increase in income of
almost 8 percent for next year. About
3 percent of the increase will come
from grants, income and endow-
ments. This will take the agency from
a budget of about $1.6 million to
$1.75 million.
The AJE maintains a balanced bud-
get, said executive director Judah
Isaacs.
"We have a big budget, but we do a
lot with it," he said.
The AJE instructs teachers in every-
thing from the aleph bet to Internet
skills. Opening the Doors trains and
supervises special-education teachers at
23 partnership schools, while AJE's fam-
ily, teen and adult education programs
involve everyone from babies to seniors.
In the agency's 2000-2001 budget,
more than 90 percent will be made

‘V.WONWO

FEDERATION
ALLOCATION

202,235
53,884
966,480
1,222,599

81,984

230,486
53,884
1,002,630
1,287,000

10,138
78,620
88,758

up of direct allotments from the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, which will rise about 5 per-
cent, from $1,222,599 to
$1,287,000. About half of the
Federation increase, approximately
$30,000, is specifically earmarked for
Opening the Doors.
Meanwhile, other funding sources,
both local and national, will finance
two completely new programs.
A grant from the New York-based
Covenant Foundation will allow the
AJE to hire a staff of three recent
college graduates to serve as interns
in Jewish education. The $321,000
grant, received by the AJE in part-
nership with Federation's Alliance
for Jewish Education, provides each
with a full-time salary for two years.
The AJE Covenant grant is one of
13 awarded in the United States and
Canada, from among 175 appli-
cants.
The second new grant comes from
Federation's Alliance, providing an
additional $78,000 for a professional
teen specialist to work with the AJE's
teen services/teen mission area. Last
year, this area received about
$138,000 in funding.
The new funding does not mean
the AJE will be spending an entire
$200,000 on teens, Isaacs said.
Instead, the budget for teens will rise

ENDOWMENTS

TOTAL

244,298
244,298

202,235
61,254
1,350,678
1,614,167

188,917
188,917

230,486
64,022
1,455,167
1,749,675

107, 000
7,000

78,000
78,000

to about $160,000, because the yet-
to-be-hired teen professionalwill take
the place of interns on projects such as
the Robert Kornwise Judaica
Weekend.
In whole, the AJE budget is divided
into six major areas: School Services,
Jewish Experiences For Families, Adult
Education, Teen Services/Teen
Mission to Israel, Interfaith
Connection and Special Education.
By far the largest budget allocation
each year — nearly one-third — goes
to School Services, which provides
training for teachers at six day
schools, seven nursery schools and
13 supplementary Jewish schools. In
the 1999-2000 school year, a record
277 teachers attended 1,300 classes
through the AJE's NIRIM
Professional Enrichment Program for
Jewish Educators. Among other
activities, School Services last year
added an early childhood conference,
held a tzedaka experience for fifth-
graders and their parents and began
developing a Jewish genealogy cur-
riculum.
The raise for Opening the Doors
— its first in five years — takes the
special-education program from
$202,235 to $230,486. This will not
mean higher hourly salaries, said pro-
gram director Anita Naftaly. Instead, it
will allow Opening the Doors teachers

to spend additional days at the schools
they serve.
Special-education services also
include the Efshar program for chil-
dren with severe needs, seminars for
parents, in-services for teachers and
awareness programs for congregational
school students.
The unspecified portion of the
AJE's Federation allotment will help
increase funding for the Interfaith
Connection.
On the minus side, anticipated
income from endowments will fall
from about $244,298 to $188,917,
due to a decision by Federation's board
of directors to decrease, year by year,
the amount of endowment income
that may be used.
Federation's conservative approach
will help preserve endowment capital
should the economy take a downturn,
Isaacs said.
"It costs money to do the kinds of
things we are doing," he said.
But money isn't everything. Isaacs is
pleased to note that staff turnover has
been light during his two-year tenure
with the AJE. He praised the staff
members who have enthusiastically
carried out and improved the agency's
many programs.
"I need people who benefit from
the programs we do to tell others what
we've accomplished," Isaacs said.

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