Effect of Proposition 13 on Jewish Day Schools Probed

The passage of Proposition 13, resulting in reduced state revenues for California public schools, “is likely to cause many concerned Jewish parents to seriously consider Jewish day schools as a viable alternative for educating their children,” an official of the American Association for Jewish Education (AAJE) said here today.

Dr. George Pollak, director of the AAJE’s Department of Community Studies, Information and Services, said “the successful campaign waged in behalf of Proposition 13 in California portends a groundswell of similar anti-tax efforts throughout the nation that could lead to a general decline in the quality of public school education.

“Should this occur, Jewish day schools can anticipate a dramatic increase in enrollment which, to a significant extent, will comprise children of parents either on the periphery of Jewish life or unaffiliated with it altogether,” Pollak told a conference of Jewish communal and educational leaders from seven Western states at the Marriott Inn.

“The potential for educating these children and involving their parents in religious and cultural activities makes it imperative for local Jewish communities–working in a planned, concentrated and coordinated manner –to provide the necessary funds for enhancing day schools and, even more importantly, training and engaging skilled teaching and administrative personnel to operate them,” he said.

Pollak was the keynote speaker at the opening session of the two-day conference, which the AAJE convened in cooperation with the San Francisco Bureau of Jewish Education to formulate action programs designed to improve Jewish education at the regional, communitywide and school level.

GREATER FINANCIAL AID REQUIRED

Pollak said local Jewish communities have been “slow to react to mounting evidence that the day school movement is growing rapidly and urgently requires greater financial assistance if it is to provide quality education–both in its general and Jewish studies departments–for its students.”

He cited a nationwide study conducted in 1976 by the AAJE, national coordinating agency for promotion of and research in Jewish education, that showed a 28 percent rise in day school enrollment over the prior eight years, and another survey it released this summer which revealed that the number of day schools in the United States and Canada has increased by more than 18 percent since 1973.

Pollak attributed this growth to a variety of factors: “On the positive side, an awareness by Jewish parents of the value of an intensive day school education and a parallel commitment to undertake the expense entailed in providing it for their children; on the negative side, their concern that such demographic and sociological trends as busing and the deterioration of inner-city communities has lessened the quality of public school programming.”

He said that the “snowballing effect” of Proposition 13 “can only accelerate the shift of Jewish children from public to day schools,” and that there-fore the Jewish community “must quickly and substantively meet its financial responsibilities in supporting such institutions if it really seeks to enrich the Jewish consciousness of its coming generation.”