Teach Coalition, the Orthodox Union's school-funding lobby, has spent years fighting for public money for Jewish day schools. This summer it published a study of what happens to that money once it arrives.
The answer, reported by eJewishPhilanthropy on July 27, 2026: families keep about two thirds. Schools absorb about a third.
The study
Lead author Gabriel Aaronson, Teach Coalition's director of policy and research, used IRS filings from 74 Jewish schools serving more than 30,000 students in six states, from 2012 to 2022.
In states with scholarship programs (Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio), tuition rose 47%.
In New York and New Jersey, which had none, tuition rose 35%.
Scholarships grew by an average of $3,431 per student. Families kept $2,343, or 68%. The other 32% went to the schools through higher tuition.
The study also found Lakewood's average tuition was $4,834 in 2022-23, against "$20,000-plus" in most other communities. Aaronson credits fundraising.
Why it matters now
New York just opted into the federal scholarship tax credit, which has no cap on scholarship size and bars states from limiting which schools participate. If the Teach Coalition pattern holds, a share of the new federal money will show up as higher tuition rather than lower bills.
Teach Coalition framed its findings as good news: most of the money reaches families. Both readings come from the same numbers.
How we reported this: based on eJewishPhilanthropy's report of the Teach Coalition study. We have not reviewed the study itself and will ask Teach Coalition for it. Schools willing to share tuition history: [email protected].