Five Bay Area Jewish day schools have won national recognition for their financial sustainability efforts.
The Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education has awarded $625,000 in the 2011 PEJE Challenge Award to 27 North American Jewish day schools.
One is the Oakland Hebrew Day School, which, like the others, will receive $25,000 in unrestricted funds. (Two affiliated Los Angeles schools will share one prize.)
Some 127 schools submitted applications. The winning initiatives focused on raising annual campaign revenue, increasing endowment and making tuition more affordable.
Oakland Hebrew Day School, located in the Oakland Hills near Merritt College, was recognized for its Kulanu (“all of us”) Affordability Initiative. The initiative established a robust tuition assistance and scholarship program, supported by an enhanced endowment fund spearheaded by an anonymous $1-million matching donation.
“The school took a creative approach to addressing long-term affordability and sustainability,” said PEJE’s communication director, Donna Woonteiler, explaining the judges’ reasoning.
Dan Cohen, board chair of OHDS, said the school will use the award to support its financial assistance program.
In addition, four local Jewish day schools were among 24 nationwide to receive honorable mentions: Brandeis Hillel Day School (campuses in San Francisco and San Rafael), Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School (Palo Alto), Tehiyah Day School (El Cerrito) and Contra Costa Jewish Day School (Lafayette).
In some cases, explained Woonteiler, scores between the 27 prizewinners and the next two dozen applicants were as close as half a point, so non-monetary honorable mentions were awarded. “We wanted to recognize that other schools have come up with creative, innovative models schools can learn from,” she said.
This was the first year the contest was held. The winners were honored during the annual Jewish day school conference Jan. 15-17 in Atlanta.
PEJE provides resources to and advocates for Jewish day schools in the United States and Canada.