New funding plan balances
day school allocations

By Andrea Waxman
of The Chronicle staff

On Tuesday, April 24, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation board of directors approved a new model for funding Milwaukee’s three Jewish day schools — The Academy (Hillel), Milwaukee Jewish Day School and Yeshiva Elementary School.

The new model balances federation allocations on a per-child basis for each of the three schools over the course of six years.

MJF’s immediate past president David J. Lubar chaired the committee charged with reviewing the current day school funding approach and recommending appropriate changes to ensure a funding model that is balanced, fair and responsive to the community and the schools.

Lubar explained in a telephone interview that, until now, the day schools in Milwaukee have been funded through an historical model.

“That means that that was the way it was always done” and it did not take into consideration specific guidelines for funding, such as the number of students at each school, changes in enrollment, scholarship needs and the like, Lubar said. “No one really knew” on what basis the allocations were made, he said.

“There was no sense of logic or fairness about the amounts,” he said, noting that it has been a growing issue in the Milwaukee community for five, 10 or even 15 years.

This was a frustrating situation for all of the schools, as well as the federation board, Lubar explained. “It came to a head at the June 2006 MJF board meeting and we decided to do something about it,” Lubar said.

Lubar worked with “a small executive workgroup made up of people with financial and analytic backgrounds,” he said, and among other things, they reviewed national best practices, historical allocations locally and operating information on the three schools.

Included in their guiding principles was a commitment to provide a transition period for Hillel to move from its current high level of funding to a lower level with full implementation of the model, which will be reviewed periodically to ensure its proper functioning.

After the six-year phase-in of the model, each of the three schools will receive the same amount of money per student.

The new funding model “is an incentive to all the schools to build enrollment; their allocation will increase as their enrollment increases,” Lubar said.

Hillel and MJDS, however, also receive an “occupancy allocation” because they reside in a building owned, maintained and operated by the federation.

This portion of their allocation, given in kind, rather than cash, is computed based on square footage and pays only for the day-to-day costs the federation incurs for running the building. Because YES owns its own building, occupancy does not play a part in its allocation.

Based on the amount of this year’s total allocation of $852,000 to the three Jewish day schools, the per student allocation under the new model (excluding occupancy allocations), will provide, in the first year of implementation: $1,289 for Hillel; $406 for MJDS; and $405 for YES.

In the sixth year of the model, each school is projected to receive approximately $536 for each student (excluding occupancy allocations).

Lubar was careful to note that the model establishes a method for distributing day school funds; actual amounts may change from year to year.

‘Forward thinking’

Representatives from the three schools expressed support for the new funding model and admiration for the work of Lubar and his executive workgroup.

Jim Wiemer, president of Hillel’s board of directors, offered kudos to Lubar “for a job well done in getting consensus.”

Though the new model poses a short-term financial hardship to Hillel, Wiemer said, it is important that everyone be on “a level playing field.
My position is to fully support the recommendations of the committee and especially how it [handled its charge.] We fully expect Hillel Academy to grow, and to have a fair allocation is what everyone is looking for,” Weimer said.

Judy Miller, MJDS’ head of school, said she thinks this is a very “forward-thinking” model. “Having more than one Jewish day school in a community is a challenge” for a federation, from a financial standpoint, she said.

Miller, who assumed her position at MJDS last year said, “I have been working in Jewish day schools since the 1980s [in Tulsa, Okla.; Tampa, Fla.; and Raleigh, N.C., before coming to MJDS] and I can tell you, this isn’t being done everywhere. It shows that this community really takes Jewish education seriously.”

Also, Miller said, she especially likes it that a community representative from the federation will work with the school’s finance committee as well as with the boards of the other Jewish day schools.

“They can see from the inside that the lay leaders take their fiduciary responsibilities very seriously. It’s also helpful for someone from the federation to see the challenges we face, as an ongoing thing, rather than to try to explain it to them in one or two meetings.”

YES president Aaron Cadle agreed that the new funding model is well-reasoned and good for the community as a whole.

“David Lubar and the [executive workgroup] really did the heavy lifting on this,” Cadle said, noting that it was a complex and difficult task.

He also emphasized the importance of unity among different parts of the community. “It’s vital that all three of the day schools succeed and thrive, as they each serve a separate constituency,” he said.

The new model is particularly significant because of the relatively high number of children enrolled in Jewish day schools locally, said MJF president Bruce A. Arbit.

“The Milwaukee community is blessed to have more children in day school education than any community our size. Approximately one-third of our kids are in Jewish day school education.”

He said he was extremely happy that the federation “was able to reset its funding criteria, which will serve the schools, the community and the children for years to come.”

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