New means-assessed places at Melbourne Jewish schools are in demand

Families with children in state schools have been quick to apply to a new fee assessment board, reports BENJAMIN PREISS

A new initiative designed to encourage families at state schools to move into the Jewish education system has received applications for 60 students in the first fortnight since it opened. 

The new fee assessment board, which opened for applications in mid-June, is aimed at families who have chosen state schools for their children because they cannot afford full fees at Jewish schools.

The two-year pilot program will allow parents to apply for vacancies at six Jewish schools: Bialik College, King David School, Leibler Yavneh College, Mount Scopus Memorial College, Sholem Aleichem College and Yeshivah - Beth Rivkah Colleges.

The board will assess applications from families, taking into account their capacity to make a “fair contribution” based on their individual financial circumstances. 

Using a set economic model, the board will then decide how much each applicant can afford to pay. 

Each child in the program will be entitled to remain at their chosen school until graduation but they will be reassessed every year to ensure their fees match their family’s current circumstances. 

The model assesses each applicant’s income, assets and liabilities but does not examine their personal expenditure. It estimates living costs based on “reasonable averages” for Victorian Jewish households. 

The newly established charitable company Jewish Education Foundation is the governing body for the board.  

Foundation chair Alan Schwartz said it could become a “game-changer” if the schools eventually delegated responsibility for all fee assessments to the board. 

“That would be completely transformative,” he said. 

Schwartz said the board will consider de-identified applications and they will be confidential.