US Jewish day school enrollment rising across denominations for 1st time, report shows

Reform enrollment up by 5%, reversing years of declining trends; growth attributed to falling standards in some public schools, philanthropic investment, rising antisemitism

JTA — After decades of declining enrollment in non-Orthodox Jewish day schools, a new report from Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools found enrollment is now growing across denominations.

Within Prizmah’s network of 305 Jewish day schools, which includes 122 nondenominational schools and 153 Orthodox schools, enrollment increased from 94,008 students in the 2021-2022 school year to approximately 101,041 students in 2025-2026, marking an increase of 7,000 students, or 7.5 percent. In the 2025-2026 school year, overall enrollment grew by more than 1,000 students.

The report found that non-Orthodox school enrollment has increased by 3% from 2021 to 2024, while Orthodox schools have seen a 7% increase. Reform day school enrollment has also risen by 5%, reversing years of declining trends. The report marked the first time that Prizmah had reported growth across decades charting enrollment across the denominational spectrum of Jewish day schools.

Paul Bernstein, the CEO of Prizmah, attributed the growth to several factors, including rises in the Jewish population of some communities, the declining quality of education in certain public school systems and new philanthropic investments in Jewish day schools.

While Bernstein said that there had been an influx in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred in part by parents seeking in-person learning, he said the continued enrollment growth in the years since had reflected a broader shift.

“We’ve had growth in enrollment every single year in the last five years, and that’s because the understanding of the quality of day schools and the value of having an education in a Jewish day school is really much clearer to families,” Bernstein said.

Bernstein noted that until now, enrollment had been declining consistently in the non-Orthodox systems. ”There were people out there who questioned whether day schools, and in particular non-Orthodox day schools, might have a future,” he said.

Indeed, the now-shuttered Avi Chai Foundation reported in its 2018-2019 census of Jewish day school enrollment in the United States that enrollment in non-Orthodox Jewish day schools had fallen by over 16% over a 20-year period.

Part of the challenge with attending day schools has been one of cost, with affordability becoming the defining challenge for many. But some communities have seen heavy investments from local philanthropies as a result, including $90 million from the Mandel Foundation in Cleveland, the Generations Trust in Toronto and tuition subsidy programs in Chicago and Seattle.

Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, the head of school at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland, pointed to cost as keeping away even more prospective students. The average Jewish day school tuition for the last school year was over $23,000, according to Prizmah.

“One reason that we hear a lot that people don’t choose our school is just the cost, that the costs are very, very significant,” Malkus said. “A lot of people who would like to enroll their kids can’t come.”

The Prizmah report found that in Florida, which has statewide private school vouchers, Jewish day school enrollment had increased by 1,370 students, or 15%, from 2021 to 2024.

Bernstein also said some families’ experiences of antisemitism post-Oct. 7 had contributed to a surge in engagement, a trend that has been widely reported by American Jewish philanthropies.

“There is an element of the negative, the experience of antisemitism,” Bernstein acknowledged.  “But actually, what the research on the surge really shows, is that actually there’s a real positive involved in this, which is people wanting to be more connected to the Jewish community,”

Rabbi Leonard Matanky, the dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy, a Modern Orthodox High School in Skokie, Illinois, said that enrollment at his school had risen from 214 in 2021 to 254 last school year, or by just under 20%.

Matanky attributed the consistent growth in recent years to factors including “the quality of education, the desire for connection by parents, and the understanding of the ever-growing importance of being in a Jewish school.”

For some parents, Matanky said, concerns about the broader social climate in public schools had also made Jewish education more appealing for parents.

Last summer, Chicago saw the launch of a new Jewish high school within city limits, a project that some parents said reflected growing demand for Jewish education amid allegations of antisemitism in the city’s private and public schools.

“When you’re living in a society that unfortunately doesn’t always share values, with what used to be assumed values, the public schools are not as safe of an environment as once upon a time,” Matansky said. “It isn’t necessarily physical safety, it can be communal safety, it can be a sense of acceptance.”

The Chicago Jewish Day School, a multi-denominational school that serves junior kindergarten through eighth grade, also reported rising enrollment, from 220 students in the 2024-2024 school year to 254 for the coming year.

Cortney Stark Cope, the director of admissions at the school, said the “unique” amount of growth stemmed from a collaboration between local Jewish day schools in marketing to parents and a new “Tuition Accessibility Program” launched three years ago by the Crown Family Philanthropies that had helped offset tuition costs.

She also said rising antisemitism in non-Jewish schools had spurred some parents to seek alternatives, particularly in the wake of Oct. 7, 2023.

Gila Ogle, a fellow at Prizmah’s Day School Leadership Training Institute and the head of the Silver Academy, a Jewish day school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said that enrollment had nearly doubled over the past year, from 34 students in the 2024-2025 school year to 64 this year.

“The Jewish engagement we have is a definite factor for families who are looking for a safer environment,” Ogle said. “It’s not just a safe Jewish environment, but a safe environment overall for their kids.”

Looking ahead, Bernstein said he expects to see more of the same if philanthropic investment in day schools continues.

“We’re extremely optimistic that the growth will not only be sustained but actually could accelerate,” Bernstein said.