I’ve put on my bulletproof vest……………
Is tipping the rebbi or morah only an in-town thing…where competition/school choice keeps tuition and payroll lower than out of town.
Here in the sticks, tuition for K-12 tends to runs about 15K per year and there is usually one institution per community. Staff tends to command a better/higher wage than in NYC as an inducement to live out of town. Living costs are also substantially lower.
I never tipped my childrens’ rebbeim or morot, and I never heard other parents discussing doing so either. A token gift (not money) was usually given at Chanukkah, Pesach and end of school year.
Back in the 1960s when all teachers (public and private) received near starvation wages, my father and other area merchants tended to provide clothing and household merchandise to yeshiva/day school faculty (and their family) at cost or free. We were in the parochial school uniform business (among other clothing lines) and those staff members never received a bill for their children’s school uniforms.