Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Fiscal Committee sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-1

Material Format

textual record

Date

1950-1999

Physical Description

102 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

From 1949 to 1968, the Budget and Finance Committee was the standing committee responsible for financial matters of the board and affiliated schools. The committee's work involved reviewing the budgets of affiliated schools on an ongoing basis, calculating the subsidies to be granted to schools, and also developing the budget for the BJE itself. Following the reorganization of the bureau as the Board of Jewish Education, in 1968, the Fiscal Committee was one of two permanent committees of the board. The functions of the committee include receiving school budgets and reviewing them as a check on the spending of subsidized schools, negotiating teachers' contracts with teachers' unions, reviewing areas for possible savings for schools, establishing tuition fee assessment guidelines and determining the actual tuition levied in all subsidized schools, regulating and enforcing a uniform salary scale for teachers in subsidized schools, and periodically recommending policies to the BJE board on fiscal management.

The formulae used to determine school subsidies have changed several times over the decades, as the Fiscal Committee sought to balance the financial needs of the schools against the ever-increasing costs to the UJWF and its successors of supporting the school system. Initially, subsidies were simply calculated based on the gap between a school's budget and the money raised by the school through tuition fees and other forms of fundraising. In the late 1950s, the BJE attempted to cut costs by eliminating building maintenance from the budget items eligible for subsidization, but this resulted in many schools developing large deficits by the early- to mid-1960s. This, in turn, led to special fundraising programs sponsored by the UJWF to assist the schools in eliminating those deficits. In the 1970s, following the recommendations of the UJWF Study Committee on Jewish Education, efforts were made to develop a funding formula based on budget models for different categories of schools. Since the schools and BJE were unable to reach a consensus on these models, the actual school budgets of 1977-1978 were used as a base for calculating future budgets, with changes calculated based on the rate of inflation, changes in enrollment and school staffing, and other factors. Budgets submitted by the schools were assessed against these calculations. Further changes to the formulae were made in the 1980s and 1990s, with a shift towards calculating the grants to schools as tuition subsidies in support of families unable to pay the full cost of their children's education, with full tuition calculated as the per capita cost of the school's operations.

Scope and Content

The sub-series documents the work of the Fiscal Committee in reviewing school budgets and working with the schools on new funding formulae. The sub-series includes meeting minutes and reports of both the Fiscal Committee and its predecessor, the Budget and Finance Committee, correspondence with schools and memoranda. The sub-series also includes records of the "Fiscal Forums", organized by the Fiscal Committee in the early 1990s to work with affiliated schools to address funding reductions caused by shortfalls in the annual UJA fundraising campaigns, and of the Mandate Sub-Committee, formed in 1997 to evaluate new school funding models, including school voucher and tuition loan systems.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Educational Services Committee sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-2

Material Format

textual record

Date

1969-1998

Physical Description

23 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

The Pedagogic Committee was established in 1969 as one of the two standing committees of the Board of Jewish Education. The committee had twenty-four members: eight members from the BJE, eight nominated by the CJC and appointed by the UJWF, and eight from the community-at-large. The first chairman of the Pedagogic Committee was Meyer W. Gasner. For the first few years of its existence, there was some uncertainty as to the role of the committee and it rarely met. Over time, the committee took on responsibility for advising the BJE Board of Directors and affiliated schools on such matters as teacher training and professional development, teacher certification standards, interschool activities, the establishment of a media centre, and the principal's role in subsidized evening schools. Some of these responsibilities had previously been carried out by the bureau's School Committee.

In 1975, the UJWF Study Committee on Jewish Education recommended that the Pedagogic Committee be replaced with a new Management and Academic Affairs Committee. This new committee would deal with personnel practices, reports from school consultants on affiliated schools, seek input from schools on how the BJE could better meet their needs, and deal with general problems relating to the quality and standards of Jewish education. In the 1980s, the main function of the Management and Academic Affairs Committee was to undertake reviews of major educational programs and concerns affecting all affiliated schools. One of its projects at the time was an intensive review of the proposal to shift grade nine into the high schools.

In the later 1980s, the Management and Academic Affairs Committee, like the earlier Pedagogic Committee, met infrequently. The 1991 BJE Strategic Planning Committee report called for the creation of a Department of Educational Services, overseen by an Educational Services Committee, which would assume the responsibilities of the Management and Academic Affairs Committee and would coordinate the formal and informal educational services of the BJE. The new committee began meeting in March 1993. Its stated goals were to review the BJE's services to affiliated schools and assess their quality, determine unmet needs of the schools, propose and initiate actions to expand services or create new services, and promote BJE services to the schools.

In 1998, in response to the recommendations of the Commission on Jewish Education, the Educational Services Committee was restructured as the Jewish Educational Services Committee, with the expanded responsibility of coordinating all curriculum-based Jewish education in the community receiving financial support from UJA Federation.

Scope and Content

The sub-series documents the meetings and some of the projects of the Pedagogic Committee, the Management and Academic Affairs Committee, and the Educational Services Committee. The records include committee minutes and reports, correspondence and memoranda. The files are arranged chronologically.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Committees on affiliation requirements sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-3

Material Format

textual record

Date

1979-1996

Physical Description

12 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

One of the first actions taken by the Bureau of Jewish Education Board of Directors was to work with the schools to define the requirements for affiliation with, and financial support from, the bureau. Reviewing affiliation requirements and applications for affiliation from schools were the primary duties of the bureau's School Committee. These requirements were occasionally reviewed and updated by the board during the 1950s and 1960s. In general, the requirements stipulate that the school should be open to all Jewish students; that the schools comply with government and BJE standards for teacher qualifications and general studies curriculum; that it not be a profit-making venture; that it have a stable and adequate administrative structure, and have been in existence for at least a year; that it cooperate with the BJE on fiscal and administrative matters, and allow visits from BJE school consultants; and that the schools should strive to enhance students' knowledge and appreciation of Judaism and their understanding and concern for the welfare of the state of Israel.

The UJWF Study Committee on Jewish Education report of 1975 included a large number of recommendations for revisions to the affiliation requirements. Rather than simply reviewing and implementing these recommendations, the BJE board appointed an Affiliation Requirements Sub-Committee in the late 1970s to conduct a further study of the current affiliation requirements and possible revisions. This committee reported to the board in 1980. After this date, an affiliation requirements committee (under various names) remained a component of the board's committee structure, although it did not meet on a regular basis. Affiliation requirements were again reviewed and revised in the mid-1980s, and then in the mid-1990s, in response to the inquiries of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto's Commission on Jewish Education. As of 2006, the BJE Affiliation and Compliance Committee is responsible for considering revisions to requirements, applications for affiliation from new schools, and monitoring schools' compliance with these requirements.

Scope and Content

The sub-series documents the work of the School Committee, the Affiliation Requirements Sub-Committee (also known as the Affiliation Requirements Committee), and its successors, the Affiliation and Funding Requirements Sub-Committee, and Affiliations Criteria Sub-Committee. The sub-series includes meeting minutes, copies of the affiliation requirements for different time periods, reports from the committees to the board on proposed revisions to the affiliation requirements, and recommendations from the committees to the board on applications for affiliation. The files are arranged chronologically.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Guidance and Counselling Steering Committee sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-4

Material Format

textual record

Date

1971-1986

Physical Description

6 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

The BJE's guidance and counselling services for students began with a pilot project organized by the UJWF, Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), and Jewish Family and Child Services (JF&CS) in the mid- to late-1960s. JVS was then contracted to provide these services in some of the affiliated day schools. Studies of the program were carried out by the UJWF in the early 1970s, and again by its successor, the Toronto Jewish Congress (TJC) in the late 1970s; the second study was prompted by some schools starting their own student counselling programs, staffed by in-house personnel. The BJE's Guidance and Counselling Steering Committee (also known as the Guidance and Counselling Advisory Committee) -- a joint committee with representatives from the BJE and JVS -- met on an irregular basis during the 1970s to review the program's operations. Following the recommendations of the TJC study, the BJE Guidance and Counselling Steering Committee took on a more active role in supervising guidance serices during the 1980s.

Scope and Content

The sub-series documents the meetings of the Guidance and Counselling Steering Committee, and BJE's involvement with evaluations of the program. The records include memoranda, correspondence with schools and JVS, committee meeting minutes and reports.

Related Material

Records relating to the UJWF and TJC study committees and the original UJWF pilot project can be found in series 4, "Subject files."

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Strategic Planning Committee sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-5

Material Format

textual record

Date

1988-1991

Physical Description

12 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

The BJE Strategic Planning Commitee began meeting in August 1988 as the ad-hoc Think Tank Planning Committee, with the goal of planning a weekend "think tank" session of BJE professional staff, lay people, and representatives of affiliated schools to review the role and functions of the BJE. The group's deliberations led to an expansion of this mandate, to include developing a mission statement, as well as goals and objectives for the board. The committee consisted of Martin Sable (chair), Sandra Brown, Sheila Freeman, Henry Koschitzky, and Howard Nathan, with Harold Malitzky, associate director, and Rabbi Irwin Witty, executive director, as staff members.

The BJE received a grant from the Toronto Jewish Congress (TJC) to finance the preparation of a strategic plan, and, early in 1989, hired Gary Sandor of ARA Consultants to assist the Strategic Planning Committee in defining the purpose of the committee, developing a work plan, and gathering data for the project. In April-May 1989, Sandor interviewed key informants and distributed questionnaires to over 200 stakeholders in the community: presidents of teachers federations; the chair of the parents council; school presidents, administrators and principals; presidents of synagogues which sponsor schools; BJE board members and TJC Executive Committee members. In May 1989, the committee sponsored the Community Leadership Forum, involving over fifty participants from the BJE, affiliated schools, and the TJC Executive Committee, to discuss the major themes which had been identified so far by the committee. This was followed by an interim report by Sandor, in June 1989, summarizing the work so far on the strategic plan and the outcomes of the forum. The forum and the report identified three major themes for the planning committee to focus on: clearly defining the BJE's mandate, clarifying its major responsibilities, and taking a leadership position in the community.

By May 1990, the committee had developed a mission statement, objectives and an action plan for the BJE, which were presented to the BJE board and approved in principle. The final report of the committee was presented to the board in January 1991, and in February 1991, the report was presented to the TJC Executive Committee for approval. Implementation of the committee's recommendations began in 1993. In addition to developing the mission statement, objectives and action plan for the BJE, the major recommendations of the committee were to revise the board's committee structure; more clearly define the composition of the board, the representation of different stakeholder groups on the board, and the responsibilities of board members; and, to increase the interaction of lay committees and professional staff by more clearly defining staff responsibilities for supporting board committees. The key features of the committee restructuring were the re-establishment of a BJE Executive Committee and the creation of a Department of Education Services, reporting to an Educational Services Committee. All working committees of the board were to report to either the Educational Services Committee or the Fiscal Committee. This reorganization led to a structure similar to that originally envisioned in the BJE reorganization of 1968, when the two standing committees of the board were the Pedagaogic Committee and the Fiscal Committee.

Scope and Content

The series documents the work of the committee and its consultant, Gary Sandor, in gathering information from the community on perceptions of the BJE and areas for improvement, and in drafting the mission statement, goals, action plan, and proposed restructuring of the BJE board. The records in the series include committee minutes and reports, memoranda and correspondence, copies of the consultant's reports, and records relating to the Community Leadership Forum.

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Board of Jewish Education fonds

Board of directors and executive committee series

Board of License and Review sub-series

Level

Sub-series

Fonds

48

Series

1-6

Material Format

textual record

Date

1963-1983

Physical Description

16 cm of textual records

Admin History/Bio

Originally established in 1966 as an arms-length board sponsored by the BJE, the purpose of the Board of License and Review was to review and clarify the licensing, assessment of credentials, and salary categories of teachers in the Toronto area. The board could also periodically recommend to the BJE new regulations to improve the standards for Jewish education in Toronto. The board's membership consisted of the dean of the Midrasha, the president of the Midrasha and/or the president of the BJE, the chairman of the Jewish Teachers' Alliance, and the chairman of the Principals Council.

The need for the board arose due to dissatisfaction with the system in use since 1949 for appealing the BJE's categorization of teachers. In the previous system, a teacher's appeal was heard by a joint committee of the bureau and the Teachers' Alliance. If this committee could not reach an agreement, the appeal would be decided by the Personnel Committee of the bureau.

The need for an arms-length board to hear classification appeals diminished during the 1970s, as standards for the training of teachers became better established and the categorization of teachers was more explicitly defined through the collective agreements between the BJE and the teachers' bargaining units. By the 1980s, the Board of License and Review had become a standing committee of the BJE consisting of professionals and laypeople. Members of the Board of License and Review are appointed by the chairman of the BJE and its decisions are reported periodically to the BJE.

Scope and Content

The sub-series documents the board's work in reviewing teacher classifications and appeals, and implementing the regulations established by the BJE for teacher classification. The sub-series consists of correspondence with teachers, school officials and union representatives as well as memoranda, meeting minutes and reports.

Source

Archival Descriptions