Grants Available for Hebrew Charter Schools

The Hebrew Charter School Center (HCSC), a national organization based in New York, is giving away $950,000 to groups establishing and growing state-funded dual-language charter schools.

HCSC is seeking grant proposals from groups in various stages of developing charter schools with an emphasis on Hebrew language. Grants are available to explore the possibility of applying for a charter, for those preparing applications, for start-ups, and for established schools looking to grow and improve.

Charter schools are funded by the state but are administered independent of local school districts.

There are currently two Hebrew-language charter schools in Florida and one in Brooklyn. A school in East Brunswick, N.J., has been awarded a charter. Dan Gerstein of the Hebrew Charter School Center says about a dozen other groups or individuals are in various stages of exploring and developing a Hebrew-language charter school.

The Albert Einstein Academy is set to open in Santa Clarita this fall. Originally conceived as a Hebrew-language charter, the school has since added Arabic and Spanish programs as options for students. The academy is accepting applications for grades seven, eight and nine for fall 2010 and hopes to add grades 10 through 12 in succeeding years, with 75 students per grade. It is currently applying for a charter to open an elementary school as well.

Students at Einstein will be required to take Hebrew, Spanish or Arabic for four years, and can also choose Greek or Latin as a second language.

While many parents look to Hebrew-language charter schools as an affordable alternative to Jewish day schools, Jewish educators and Hebrew charter school proponents emphasize that charter schools do not offer a Jewish education. As publicly funded schools, they cannot promote Jewish religion. They can teach Hebrew as a language, with Judaism and Israel as a cultural context for the language.

The Hebrew Charter School Center was founded by the Areivim Philanthropic Group in 2009 to advance the movement. The group supports communities in developing new schools and helps increase capacity for start-ups. It provides resources for existing schools and is committed to nurturing educators to lead the schools.

For more information on the grants, visit {encode=”http://www.hebrewcharters.org/index.php” title=”hebrewcharters.org/index.php”} or call (212) 302-8800.