Enrollment in Jewish schools for grades kindergarten (full-day) through 12th rose a robust 28.1% in New York over the 10-year period ending with the current September 2020 school year. This figure is based on statistics that OJPAC pulled from the New York State Department of Education’s non-public school database.
Back in the 2010 school year, private schools in New York had 413,047 students grades Full-Day Kindergarten through 12th including the ungraded schools. Enrollment dropped to 381,652 students in the current, September 2020 school year. This net drop of 31,395 students occurred despite private Jewish community schools adding 35,469 students during that span; rising from 126,113 students ten years ago to 161,582 students now. This change means that Jewish community schools went from having 30.5% of the state’s private enrollment a decade ago to 42.3% now.
The strongest percentage growth for Jewish community school enrollment in New York took place in Rockland County with a 67.0% jump from 18,817 students enrolled ten years ago to 31,429 students now. This is followed by a 58.5% rise in Orange County which went from 9,100 to 14,428 students, and it is followed by Queens with a 32.4% rise; going from 9,199 students in the September 2010 school year to 12,185 K-12 students in the current year.
Some Jewish Community schools in Brooklyn shrunk in size over the past ten years as a result of a mass exodus to Rockland and Orange counties, as well as to New Jersey. Kings County, however, is still king in terms of overall enrollment, sitting at 85,177 K-12 students this year, up from 72,695 students ten years ago; a 17.2% rise.
Jewish schools in New York are on pace to double enrollment within twelve years as seen that Full Day kindergarten enrollment of 16,850 is now double than that of twelve grade with 8,307 students (see the chart below). Pre-K which foretells most of the following year's Kindergarten enrollment has 15,097 students.
On average, private Jewish school students in New York receive less than $1,300 annually in taxpayer funds, designated for items such as transportation and books for all students, and Special Ed for some students. For context, more than $23,000 is spent for each Public School student in New York. “This is an annual taxpayer saving of $21,700 per Yeshiva student and a staggering $3.52 billion savings annually when multiplied by the number of students who attend private Jewish Community schools,” commented OJPAC Executive Director Yossi Gestetner.
