Jewish Journal Reports on Tuition Plan.

The Jewish Journal published a terrific story on Kadima's tuition plan in today's edition.

There is one aspect of the story that needs a bit of clarification. The story compares Kadima's tuition to the tuition charged at Temple Beth Am's Pressman Academy, Valley Beth Shalom's Schulweis Day School, and Sinai Temple's Akiba Academy, but fails to note that all of these schools are synagogue day schools; Kadima, of course, is an independent day school.

They are not the same. Unlike Kadima (or Heschel West or A.J. Heschel Day School), which is completely independent, synagogue day schools are usually subsidized by their affiliated synagogues (and also by the many members of those synagogues) and thus can charge less tuition than independent schools. However, most, if not all, synagogue day schools also require families to also pay for synagogue membership, which can easily cost more than $2,000 per family above the cost of "tuition". When synagogue membership costs are included, the differences in real costs between an independent school and a synagogue school virtually disappear. Viewed in this light, it is clear that Kadima's tuition plan represents a significant drop in the cost of Jewish Day School and that its new cost is hardly "middle of the road" as stated in the story.

Still, the story makes the central point: Kadima has taken a stand to help people afford Jewish Day School.