Education: Congregational School Budgets: Gathering data to ensure effective budgeting and decision making.
In the best of times, it can be challenging for congregations to make good decisions about school budgets. In times of economic hardship, it becomes even more important to address school budgets with great care. In the first workshop, Rabbi Erin Hirsh will discuss best practices in school budgeting. She will discuss the roles of education directors, treasurers, education committees and boards. This webinar will also examine the relationship between synagogue and school budgets as well as considering sample budgets. In the second workshop, Marion Gribetz will introduce Jdata and demonstrate how congregations can use data to make good decisions regarding the school budget.
Rabbi Erin Hirsh is JRF Director of Education. A 2000 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she spent ten years working as an Education Director in the Reconstructionist movement at congregations Kehilat HaNahar and Mishkan Shalom. She also served as a consultant to Reconstructionist congregations during that time. Rabbi Erin has taught in a variety of supplementary school settings, including Reform and Reconstructionist congregations. She is the author of Etz Hayim We, a series of text study curricula based on the megillot. Rabbi Erin has also helped write the curricula for Camp JRF for the past five years. She and her partner, Ezra Sherman, are blessed with a 6 year old daughter, Zoe.
Marion Gribetz is on the faculty of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education at Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. She is also managing director of Gribetz Mencow Consultants, an independent consulting firm specializing in improving Jewish Education. She has published, researched, taught and consulted in all areas of Jewish Education. She is a member of the management team of JData and works with communities across the country to maximize the utility of JData and encourage data driven decision making.