“The price of Kosher food (Meat, cheese especially) and even more if you want Hemish brands. Chalav Yisroel can be quite expensive especially Non Milk (ie Ice cream, butter etc)”
Buy your baked goods at Stop and Shop. If you are Ashkenazic, eat non-glatt meat. Eat Cabot cheese and Breakstone butter rather than the “heimish” brands. The prices will stay high as long as people are willing to pay them. The OU is a perfectly acceptable hechsher!
“Kosher food prices will continue to rise when each product or resturant needs 4 different hechsharim just to appeal to enough customers to keep them from going under. “
I have a container of spice that has five hechshers — and according to some opinions, plain spice doesn’t require rabbinical supervision at all. Don’t buy the 5 hechsher spice; get the store brand with at most one hechsher.
“Cut the Sem in Israel. Cut the Sem in Israel. Cut the Sem in Israel. Cut the Sem in Israel. Cut the Sem in Israel. “
Got it!!!
“The money is going somewhere.”
Salaries for administrators in Jewish Day Schools are much higher than public schools. I am aware of one Day School that pays its principal over $400K/year. The most that a public school principal can make in NYC is about $153K — and that is with an earned doctorate and over 20 years experience.
I doubt that is the entirety of the problem though. Most Jewish schools are quite small. I was told this evening of one very well known high school with a graduating class of 70. I know of another with a graduating class of 100. By comparison, there is a public high school near me with a graduating class of over one thousand. The economies of scale are enormous.
“the Catholic schools charge $3500 a year tutiton and the Yeshivas can charge $15K (or more)”
The Catholic Church would never allow a school with 70 students per grade to continue operating. It would be forced to merge.
“Nobody can say for sure if the Bais Yaakov is running a surplus or a deficit since the President of BYBP is not opening the books for people to see.”
Don’t ever give money to a charity that won’t open its books.
“Anyone want to lobby for tuition credits? “
Sure! We would have to do two things:
(1) Repeal New York’s Blaine Amendment, which prohibits religious schools from getting any form of governmental assistance other than transportation. An attempt was made back in 1967; it got less than 30% of the vote in a statewide referendum.
(2) Campaign for the higher taxes that will be needed to pay for the religious school tuition.