[Avodah] Tuition Breaks and Tzedaka

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Sep 19, 2017 at 10:56:59AM +0200, Arie Folger via Avodah wrote:
:> I know both of the local day schools quote posqim who say one
:> may use maaser money to pay the differential. I am wondering if
:> promoting that pesaq might not backfire among parents who are
:> currently paying part of the differential based on the above reasoning.

: From a chapter in a forthcoming book of mine:
...
: It stands to reason that tuition beyond cost is definitely counted as
: tzedaka, as the whole disagreement regards a father's obligation to his
: minor children disqualifying tution from being considered tzedaka. But
: what's beyond that should reasonably count as tzedaka....

Agreed, but I don't see how it's obvious. Say your handyman is a pious
guy, and rather than not doing business with people who can't afford his
full rate, he charges them less for labor. Also, Rn Handyman isn't so
willing to take the full hit on total income. Since this is a nice guy,
we can assume that if more of the town were wealthier, his usual rate
for someone who can beqoshi stretch the budget would be lower.

Is the difference in salary tzedaqah? Does it make a difference if
Reb Handyman actuall did this accounting and maybe even announced the
resulting differential? Or is a baal melakhah's pay rate money owed,
and such cheshbonos should be irrelevent.

This imaginary scenario was designed to be both parallel and to my mind
a somewhat wild line of reasoning.

1- Once you say that any tuition paid beyond the cost for your child is
indeed tzedaqah, one needs a pesaq about how to apportion group costs
to each individual student. The cost of the class divided by students,
then the cost of school administation divided by the student body? Or
maybe if a teacher is hired as soon as a class would otherwise grow
beyond 25 students, I should be looking at the incremental cost of my
child after the need to start the additional class was caused by someone
else? And then -- could it depend on if I registered late, or before
the number of classes was determined?

And don't get me started on who is paying for resource room staff,
where there are parallels to the above AND the reality that different
kids would be using different amount of the service. So that my kid's 1
hour per week may have been the straw that broke the camel's back in the
decision to get a math specialist, whereas another student's 5 hours of
readin help is with a teacher they needed otherwise. Who pays what?

2- Once you make it tzedaqah, rather than considering tuition as debt,
all could be fine-and-well halachically. And so it can come out of maaser
kesafim. (All the more so because we aren't even sure maaser kesafim is
a din.) And the schools like this, because it frees up maaser money for
people who would otherwise need scholarship.

But the line you're replying to was arguing that there is a downside for
the school as well. As the teshuvah we started from notes -- debt is a
higher priority than tzedaqah. You don't pay maaser out of money owed.
And so, the school is marketing a din that may mean /less/ money for
them than if the halakhah were that the full tuition should be treated as
a debt.

position for a sch

chakhamim don't have to pay city defenses; maybe a good kid who doesn't see
the principal should be considered
: to one school where the rabbinic committee established how much of tuition
: may be counted towards ma'asser (they were even more generous than what we
: are discussing, since it is a poor community).

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             What you get by achieving your goals
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