they are serving a small minority but they also have to be accredited by the association of private schools that includes all the private schools in a certain area. the accreditation is a long process that is done every 6 years. all the teachers at our schools have at least a bachelor's degree and are american citizens including the israeli teachers. most of the teachers at our school are american jews including some of the hebrew teachers. the difference in pay is based on seniority, education, load of work (some work pary time) and i am sure that the principal makes more than the teachers. the tuition is more than 10k at our school. i don't have more details regarding pay becasue americans would rather tell you that they attend aa meetings and have problems with drug abuse than confess to how much money they are making. the public schools pay new teachers who have no experience about 35k a year and it does not include the health care benefits, retirement savings, etc.

competition exists between jewish schools in the large metropolitan areas where there are more than one school for each level of observence.

i was not trying by the way to compare apples to oranges. public schools cannot be compared to private schools but my point was that even with a smaller budget wonderful things can be achieved if our priorities are set so they refelect our interst in getting better education for our children. the public schools have a very large budget and it is wasted for different reasons. not long ago a new school project in our area had to be folded after more than 20 million dollars were invested. the school was built on polluted land.

i would like to keep the answer short so no one will feel the need to kick me in a certain area.

budget includes payroll and public schools have a larger student body, more teachers and other employees and pay more for the teachers. but your point was that the money allocated for school supplies, books, library, and other needs is small and i agree. money is wasted left and right and does not end where it should - such as the fiasco of the new high school that buried more than 20 mill in funds.

our school district enjoys a large pool of tax money and bonds from different parts of the county, so it cannot use the excuse of underfunding poor areas due to poor tax revenue. the difference between poor areas and affluent ones is the parents. one school in palo alto got a computer for each student-donated by a father of a student and later the parents wanted to pay from their pockets overtime for the teachers.

my point is that schools even in poor areas could and should look better only if we set our priorities to reflect our concern for the next generation.