Hebrew Charter Schools: Part of the Solution to the Education Crisis?

[Francis Hult]

Ynet News

 

Hebrew Charter Schools: Part of the Solution to the Education Crisis?

 

Charter schools in US are emerging as private school-like government funded alternative to private Jewish education

 

In the UK, where I was brought up and worked as a rabbi for a number of years, Jewish education is straightforward. One of the largest government-funded high schools in the UK is Jewish and there are well over twenty government-funded Jewish primary schools in London alone. So for many parents the question is not whether to send their children to a Jewish school, but which Jewish school they should send them to. In addition, because the government funds faith schools, the cost of sending a child to a Jewish school is not a consideration. 

 

In the United States it is another story altogether. Because of the separation of Church and State enshrined into the Constitution, the government is not allowed to fund a single faith school. All Jewish schools must be privately funded from tuition paid by parents or by fundraising efforts. Many parents either cannot afford to send their children to a Jewish day school at all or it just does not make the priority list for their after-tax dollars. The result is that most Jewish children do not get a decent Jewish education, Jewish identity suffers and assimilation grows. 

 

Full story:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3551711,00.html

_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
https://lists.sis.utsa.edu/mailman/listinfo/edling
List Manager: Francis M. Hult