To really get the benefit of this post, you will need to first read the following blog post, authored by one of the Bergen County communnity activists. I suggest you avoid the comments, unless you are strong of mind and heart.
http://200kchump.blogspot.com/2010/10/rynj-releases-form-990.html
I was overjoyed and dismayed simultaneously this weekend, when I saw the blog post with Yeshiva of North Jersey salary information. This blog post basically outlined the salary structure of the top administrators at YNJ and then left an open-ended forum for people to comment. Apparantly, there is a federal law that requires private schools or I guess charitiies, to reveal how much they're paying top-salaried employees. YNJ complied with this law and filed their latest form, which I guess was then published by the government. I assume this was done legally, but with the government, you never know. Anyway, this blogger got a hold of it, and published the salary information. I was interested in hearing what the blogger had to say about the information, but Chump didn't bother writing anything. I'm not sure you can pull off a Sopranos post where everything fades to black before you actually deliver your opinions and your message, but apparently, this 200 Chump guy can. We will call it poetic license.
Or was it planned? Was the very silence coupled with the opening of the comments section (complete with moderation from Chump) the intention of Chump? You'll note that I call the blogger Chump; that's not intended as an insult, it's the name he or she chose. I'm certainly happy to use this name in this fashion. Was the goal of the post to allow the commentators to come out in full force and bash the school for their high salaries? Mission accomplished. But Chump was able to stay above the fray by minimizing his own individual posts.
As a struggling YNJ parent, let me just say that I was surprised by the amount of money it appears that the administration is making. But I also have heard whispers of what the teachers make, and they should be paid more. If we cut the administration salaries out of fairness, we should apply the savings to the teachers. Of course I would prefer that the school spend their money on my children, not on their administration or teachers, but isn't a dollar spent on teachers a dollar spent on children? At the same time, I think the school does a pretty good job of educating our kids. So I like YNJ... whether I get a break or not. Is there a perception out there that people who get scholarship money are indifferent about the quality, indifferent about the price tag of the school? If the yeshiva gives a scholarship family with two kids a 5,000 dollar break (not uncommon), that's still over 20,000 dollars being paid by the struggling family. And in most cases, the struggling family can barely afford it and certainly the chump is able to handle the price tag better. Woe is the Chump who has to consider cutting his retirement plan contribution to pay tuition, while struggling parents aren't able to put any money away in a retirement plan. Retirement? Ha! Struggling parents are trying to get through another year without having their houses foreclosed on. Struggling parents care about the price tag, we'd like costs cut by 10,000 so that we can spend those funds on equally important things. Look, I'm very grateful for the funding that the Chumps pay that allows tuition to be affordable for me. At the same time, that's the way the yeshivas are run, that some of Chumps tuition covers the less-fortunate. If Chumps don't like the costs, they can leave. It's not much better anywhere else, unless public school appeals to you.
We all care about the costs. It's just hard because it's not right to cut admins salaries either. If you think the job is easy, take the job. Are you not qualitifed? Not enough education? Not enough experience? There is a principal who is 50 years old or more and he's making more than 200,000 and he's the top of his career path. This is upsetting to you? How many of the people who go into chinuch will end up on top of this pyramid? Is 200,000 for the "best" of a profession a lot of money?
The top administrators together aren't costing a million dollars. They each have jobs to do, sure, with vacations during the summer. But what principal isn't working on the school during the summer? How many students does YNJ have? 900? Does a full school year come together with no effort from the administration? How naive of Chumpland. You are the same people who come to a shul function and complain that the event isn't exciting enough, that the food wasn't good enough. But you are definitely not the people who put the event together, because if you were, you'd know that nothing just <b>happens</b>. A school is no different. A lot of work goes into it.
Chump, I get that you're angry and I get that you're frustrated. Your anger probably comes from the price tag and your frustation probably comes from your wife or husband's unwillingness to consider other school options. None of that is our fault. None of that is a scholarship parent's fault or the administration's fault. You need to eliminate your anger and focuse your attention where it belongs: on your spouse. Work on that relationship and find a happy compromise, whether that's YNJ, some other BC school, JFS, or public school.
13 comments:
huh?
"Look, I'm very grateful for the funding that the Chumps pay that allows tuition to be affordable for me. At the same time, that's the way the yeshivas are run, that some of Chumps tuition covers the less-fortunate. If Chumps don't like the costs, they can leave. It's not much better anywhere else, unless public school appeals to you."
You are disapointed by the chump feeling of subsidizing others and say "that's the way yeshiva's work". Well there are many chumps out there that look at larger poorer families that they are subsidizing and feel upset by that. Can't you understand that? The responsible paying for the irresponsible?
It is also wrong to make a middle class or even upper middle class family suffer for a lower income earners. But yet, you are right. That is the way it has been and that is the way it will continue unless something changes.
DUDE,
I CANNOT EVEN READ YOUR BLOG. GET RID OF THE GREEN BACKGROUND (AND THE RED PRINT, WHILE YOU'RE AT IT).
VERY VERY JARRING ON THE EYES.
DUDE,
I ACTUALLY DID READ YOUR PIECE. WAS THAT A MISTAKE. MY EYES ARE LITERALLY HURTING AND NOW LOOKING AT A WHITE SCREEN, EVERYTHING HAS A REDDISH HUE.
DUDE, CHANGE THE SCREEN NOW. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN? YOU ARE SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT WITH THIS LAYOUT.
"Is there a perception out there that people who get scholarship money are indifferent about the quality, indifferent about the price tag of the school?"
They are absolutely not indifferent about the quality - they want the best it can possibly be. They are indifferent about the rack rate of tuition because if they can only afford $20K of a $30K bill it simply doesn't matter if the 30K bill rises to $33K - they'll still pay $20K. What's worse, because 25% of the parent body is getting tuition assistance, raising the bill to $33K isn't enough, as the additional costs are spread out over just the 75% of parents paying full tuition. Therefore, the total bill actually has to rise to $34K.
"How many of the people who go into chinuch will end up on top of this pyramid? Is 200,000 for the "best" of a profession a lot of money?"
The salaries are not excessive on their own. The problem is that there are so many of them and no incentive to keep costs in check. Tuition rates rose well above inflation for over a decade. I remember growing up in the 70's and 80's and day school tuition was a stretch then for many parents, but the schools were run on a shoestring. We now have schools with legions of administrators, relatively small class sizes, and multiple teachers or aides per class - in inflation adjusted dollars, tuition has nearly doubled. That would be fine if parents could afford it. But incomes did not rise well above inflation for over a decade, so, increasingly, even high income families are finding they are priced out of the market. Yet, as you point out, "If Chumps don't like the costs, they can leave. It's not much better anywhere else, unless public school appeals to you." So, by your own admission, they can't leave! This is why you see so much vitriol on Chump's blog. The Chumps did everything "right," are making tons of money, but still find themselves struggling to make ends meet thanks to ever-rising tuition costs. Yet they can't do anything about it.
Of course, Chumps - and scholarship families, too - do have some other options, including aliya, JFS, Chabad, moving to an area with a lower cost of living, and home schooling. Not all these options are appropriate for every family, but they should at least be seriously considered.
The initial point of this post is very valid. YNJ provided info and got nuked because of it. Chump's blog called many times for transparency and when it was provided focused on one aspect and not the overall picture. I had been one pushing on transparency and now believe it is a waste of time. No matter what you publish, people only care about one thing - why is my tuition high? You can't explain it to those who don't want to listen so why try?
With regards to the admins and how many there are that is up for debate. School with over 900 students and over 200 employees and they only list 4 administrators. Doesn't seem like an overly aggressive span of control. Also, given these people are responsible for the safety of all those children, seems like a fair tradeoff on the number and salaries.
We could argue the point but it is telling that no one looks at the bottom line and says - well hey - YNJ is still cheaper than the other schools so maybe I don't care how many admins they have - I care more about the overall cost. Alas - this is not the way a chump's mind works.
And back to the initial point of the post - the schools would be crazy to provide any additional transparency if Mr Chump is any example of how this info will be received.
Chump is an idiot. He can't take criticism,and will frequently delete posts he does not agree with.
I don't know anyone in BC that takes chump seriously.
Anon 3:50 - Agreed. Transparency is good, and YNJ is getting slammed for it, even though the school appears to be run responsibly and offers the lowest tuition of any BC school by a fairly significant margin. I would also note that the school provided even more details on their finances and management philosophy to parents in sessions last year.
Thanks Avi - I was at the YNJ session last year. I hope this will happen again but worry that guys like Chump will convince schools to be less transparent due to his ridiculous rants.
6:17 - agree - I seldom hear mention of Chump in my discussions with parents. He seems to appeal to a very small sub-segment - that is a bit obnoxious and loud.
LOI,
Happy to respond later.. wanted to address Avi's comments in the moment. I did not attend the YNJ session, but did get a verbal summary from someone who attended. While they did give out a lot of information, they were also careful to protect information about the exact depth and numbers of people receiving assistance. I personally appreciated that. As much as I'm appreciative that some people pay full tuition and that that allows me to pay what I do for my children, I still don't believe that a fully-paid tuition bill entitles someone to examine my financial situation.
Good job by the yeshiva giving out any information, nice job by the hacks attacking YNJ for doing so.
More on this in future posts, especially as we head into yeshiva week planning.
The top administrators together aren't costing a million dollars.
This is not necessarily true.
1. The 990 form doesn't require the institution to disclose ALL the administrators salaries, just the top 5 and a few others depending how it is prepared.
2. The numbers disclosed are wages and don't include myriad other expenses incurred by a non-profit regarding employees (social security, benefits, severance allowance, etc).
3. This particular school on its own website lists 11 or 12 administrators. About half of them don't appear on the 990 form.
And many of these administrators may be worth every penny, but that isn't the issue. The major issue is that there are too many of them (administrators) for us to afford.
Mark,
I agree in theory, there are too many to afford.
But what obligation does the school have to the parents in terms of firing administrators? Should they fire administrators (who they feel are important and perhaps even crucial to the school's success) to save each parent $200? That's less than a 2% savings, presumably for someone who they think offers more than a 2% value.
Not sure I disagree of course, but what right do I have?
How do you logically argue that the schools "have too many". What is the based on? Have you benchmarked the appropriate organization structures, costs, spans of control for all private and public schools? Too often I hear people say - well when I was in school we only had one of this and none of those. First, that is likely BS - memory is selective and you have no clue into who was doing what in your perfect school. Second, even if this is true, the world has changed dramatically since then. My grandparents lived in an apartment, didn't have a private car, never owned a television set, worked 2 jobs and still couldn't afford that fantastically low yeshiva tuition that you all claim existed back then. Get real. Our lifestyles are light year's ahead of our grandparents and our demands have increased accordingly. The chumps would run as fast as possible away from a school that had fewer admins because then their wives would complain that they can't get the principal on the phone 25 times a day to check up on their little angels.
Struggling - But what obligation does the school have to the parents ...
The only obligation the schools have to the parents is to provide the education that the parents are paying for. The parents, on the other hand, have the obligation to ensure that they are spending their money is a prudent manner. That's it.
The schools right now apparently have the perfect number of administrators because they are full of students and some even have a waiting list. That indicates that they are doing "everything" right. If that changes, perhaps a year or two of lower enrollment, then the administration/board will have to change things somewhat.
My personal opinion is that a moderate sized school could easily manage with only one or two administrators, as the schools I attended had, and provided me with a great education despite only having one administrator in my case (1 in grade school, 2 in high school).
Anon 8:33 - The chumps would run as fast as possible away from a school that had fewer admins because then their wives would complain that they can't get the principal on the phone 25 times a day to check up on their little angels.
I am a chump with 5 children in Yeshiva and my wife and I have never called any administrator about anything. Just a data point.
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