Registration in Jewish schools in Dade County (which includes Greater Miami) failed in 1959, for the first time in 18 years, to show an increase over the previous year, according to the Bureau of Jewish Education.
Registration this year totalled 8,086 as against 8,557 in 1957-58, a decrease of 471. It was noted that while registration in the Sunday schools fell off from 4,597 to 4,021. In the past, the annual increase in the Jewish schools of Greater Miami was from 1,000 to 1,500 students.
A decrease in registration was reported by 17 schools and an increase by ten others. The decrease in schools which formerly had reported the largest increases each year was taken to indicate that population shifts were partly responsible and that opening of new schools in the suburban districts would see the registration rate rising again.
The Jewish child population of the area is estimated at 11,000, which would indicate that about 73 percent was receiving some form of Jewish education this year. It was estimated that the “hard core” of children receiving no form of Jewish education had increased from about 800 in 1958 to about 1,400 this year.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
