gavra at work: i dont think that having the tzibbur participate in the torah education of its community is considered lehitztureych labriyos. the public school system is funded by every homeowner. the catholic schools by every member of the catholic church. if education is a basic right and not a privilege then the community ought to bear some of the responsibility. al achas kamma vekamma torah education is a right and not a privilege. also, see ????? ????? ???? ??? ? wherein the obligation to be mechanen children falls on the parents but also the grandparents and the tzibbur. in fact, the chassidishe communities that truly value torah education already have the tzibbur heavily involved in the chinuch of all of its members and tuition among those communities do not break the backs of the parents.
that being said, we need to be practical. if you can afford to pay tuition, pay it. if you can afford more, pay more. all i am saying is that how much a person earns cannot be the determinitive factor. As an extreme example to make my point: if one person wins a $100 million lottery and never works again in his life, and his shocheyn earns $150,000 annually but is living pay check to pay check we all would agree that the millionaire ought to pay more.
unfortunately, you are right in looking down upon the way we live in brooklyn but that is the way it is. $150,000 doesnt get you that far. as a community, we probably have our priorities all messed up.