In 2017, all the big decisions
IT IS more a case of what did not happen this year rather than what did. A year ago, the Department for Education rejected both bids for a new Orthodox Jewish secondary free school in NorthWest London. The two groups quickly came together and prepared to submit a joint application when the next round of bids was due to open in March. But it was delayed… and delayed… and delayed. Mired in Brexit and then with the loss of its majority, the government had more pressing issues to worry about. Although it has now indicated it will open the bidding early next year, its promise to prioritise schools for deprived areas does not sound good for a new mainstream Jewish school.
Meanwhile, aware of the problems of children not getting places in recent years, both JFS and JCoSS offered bulge classes this autumn to accommodate additional demand.
The government is also keeping us waiting on the promise made a year ago — and reiterated in the Conservatives’ election manifesto — to remove the cap on entry to free schools, which are allowed to admit only half their children on the basis of faith. The Catholic Church has lobbied hard for the removal of the quota and the Strictly Orthodox Jewish sector would like to see it go, too. But pressed about a timetable, the DfE simply repeats “in due course.”
For Jewish schools, as for other state schools, the biggest worry is money. The government backtracked and said it would review a new national funding formula that would have left most stateaided Jewish schools worse off.
But they are not hopeful about their budgets when these will become known early next year. One of the biggest challenges for Jewish education in coming years may be how to maintain standards with shrinking state support.
At least, one respite for Jewish schools was the decision of HMRC to restore Gift Aid relief on voluntary parental contributions for Jewish studies, plugging a hole that would cost a school like JFS hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.
The clash between equality law
For Jewish schools the biggest worry is money