The Prevalence of Women at the Highest Levels of Modern Orthodox Day Schools
And Whether They're Paid as Well as Male Administrators
INTRO
A number of female teachers have lamented the dearth of female administrators at modern orthodox day schools. However, if you look at these schools’ websites, you will usually see women administrators. But what if the websites are misleading? What if the women listed are working part-time and/or remote while the admins with actual power and influence are full-time, in-person, and usually men?
To determine if it is true that there are few opportunities for women to become administrators at modern orthodox schools, I decided to look at numbers: which administrators are making the most money at these schools? Although this is a rough measure, it is likely that the person who makes the most money at the school is also highest on the totem pole. And while the data is not perfect, it is more empirical than anecdotes. Luckily for us, there’s a form that most nonprofits are required to file with the IRS annually - the 990. These forms instruct nonprofits to list their highest paid employees who are making over $100,000, their job titles, salaries, and other compensation. Probably an administrator-in-name-only won’t be one of the highest paid employees. These IRS forms are public record within a couple years of filing, and so the numbers below are taken from 990s filed in 2020, which provides us with the numbers from fiscal year 2019. I looked at the 2019 salaries and “other forms of compensation” for the highest paid administrators in modern orthodox day schools and added them up.
Side note: There are some exceptions to the requirement to file a 990. For example, a school that makes less than 50k per year, is controlled by a synagogue, or is part of a conglomerate that files taxes for everyone, does not have to file a 990. Many of the schools below did not file a 990, and I’m curious to find out why.
You may wonder how I decided whether a school is modern orthodox. The answer is that I visited the school website and Wikipedia. If they did not specifically self-identify as modern orthodox, I did not look at them. (For example, Yeshivat Yavneh in LA, Scheck Hillel in Miami, Arie Crown in Chicago, and Epstein Hebrew Academy in St. Louis clearly have a significant number of modern orthodox students, but they do not self-identify as modern orthodox on their website so I skipped them.)
SUMMARY OF THE DATA
Of the highest paid administrators of the 990-filing schools below, 53 were men, and 41 were women. This means that 43% of the highest paid administrators were women.
I could calculate the average salary for men vs. women nationally (feel free to calculate it based on the numbers below), but I don’t think this is useful because the cost of living is drastically different in each geographical area. If a male administrator makes $200,000 in NYC or LA, and a female administrator in Cleveland makes $150,000, is the male administrator making more? Therefore, to make the comparison more apples to apples, I’ll look at average salaries within two geographical areas.
In New Jersey, there are 13 male administrators among the highest paid employees with an average income in 2019 of $214,959. There are are 12 female administrators among the highest paid employees, with an average income in 2019 of $156,047. If my math is right, that means the men are making 37% higher salaries. What if we compare similar roles to each other? In these schools, the one that makes the most money is the principal or the head of school (some schools have both). In New Jersey, 5 men held this role, and 2 women. The men had an average income of $257,827 and the women had an average income of $180,296. This means that the men’s salaries were 43% higher for this position.
Now let’s look at modern orthodox schools in Florida. Of the top-paid administrators, 9 were men and 2 were women. The average 2019 income for men in these positions was $196,663 and for women it was $174,310. This makes the mens’ average salaries 12% higher. What if we look just at the head honcho of each school? In Florida, 4 men hold this role, and 0 women.
CONCLUSIONS
While there are more male administrators at these schools than female administrators, there are many female administrators at the highest levels of modern orthodox schools. However, the male to female ratio of administrators varies widely by school and also by geography.
The above point does not tell us everything there is to know about how hard it is for female teachers to get hired as administrators. Even in an area like New Jersey where there are almost the same number of male and female well-paid administrators, it could still be hard for women to land administrator roles depending on context. For example, if 80% of Judaic Studies teachers are women, but only 30% of Judaic-studies related administrative positions are given to women, then it is difficult for a female teacher to be promoted to administration relative to a male. In short, there are other data points not taken into account.
Salaries vary widely among schools, and female administrators in some schools make more than male administrators in other schools. But it is almost universal that male administrators are compensated more generously than female administrators employed at the same school, and male administrators tend to be compensated more than females in their locale. While the discrepancy in pay within schools is usually explained by the fact that men have the highest-paying roles, it is also true that men tend to be paid more than women in different schools for similar administrative roles. For example, heads of school are usually male, and female heads of schools are making less than their male counterparts.
DATA
List of modern orthodox schools I looked at:
Atlanta Jewish Academy - 1 man making $223,660 and 1 woman making $143,808
Beren Academy - 1 man makes $229,814 and 2 women make a combined $184,861
Beth Tfiloh School - No 990
Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy - No 990
Brauser Maimonides Academy - 2 men make a combined $355,860 at 1 woman makes $155,614
Columbus Torah Academy (Columbus Torah School) - 2 men make a combined $284,204, and there are 0 women in the highest paid positions.
Farber Hebrew Day School/Yeshivat Akiva - No 990
Frisch - 5 men make a combined $1,162,940 while 2 women make a combined $363,753
Fuchs Mizrachi School - 2 men make a combined $386,487 while 2 women make a combined $232,736
Greater Miami Hebrew Academy (RASG) - 2 men make $319,217 and there are 0 women in top-paid positions
Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy - No 990
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway (HAFTR) - No 990
Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) - No 990
Hebrew Academy of Nassau County (HANC) - No 990
Hillel Torah - No 990 (but their endowment foundation filed one)
Ida Crown Jewish Academy - No 990 (but their endowment foundation filed one)
Jewish Foundation School - No 990
Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy - No 990
Katz Hillel Day School - 3 men make a combined $617,120, while there are 0 women in top-paid positions
Katz Yeshiva High School of South Florida - 2 men make a combined $477,777, while 1 woman makes $193,007
Kohelet Yeshiva (KYLS) - 2 men make a combined $485,906 while 3 women make a combined $453,125
Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls - there are 0 men in top-paid positions, while 6 women make a combined $938,690
Maimonides - No 990
Manhattan Day School - No 990 (though they did file a 990-T, which reports business income)
Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (MTA)/Yeshiva University High Schools - 5 men make a combined $1,093,262 while 2 women make a combined $448,832
Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy - 3 men make a combined $654,187 while 4 women make a combined $599,704
Moriah - 2 men make a combined $404,218 while 3 women make a combined $450,326
North Shore Hebrew Academy - 4 men make a combined $1,549,239 while 1 woman makes $162,031
Oakland Hebrew Day School - 1 man makes $80,900 while 1 woman makes $249,482
Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva - No 990
Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School - No 990
Ramaz - No 990 (though they did file a 990-T, which reports business income)
Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy (SAR) - No 990
Seattle Hebrew Academy - 2 men make a combined $276,223, 1 woman makes $195,533
South Peninsula Hebrew Day School - 1 man makes $221,511 while 2 women make a combined $303,196
Striar Hebrew Academy of Sharon (SHAS) - No 990
Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) - 5 men make a combined $1,002,696, while there are 0 women in highest-paid positions
Westchester Day School - No 990
Westchester Torah Academy - there are 0 men listed in highest paid positions, and 1 woman makes $167,551
Yavneh Academy - No 990
Yeshivah of Flatbush - No 990
Yeshiva of Los Angeles Girls High School (YULA) - 4 men make a combined $759,140 while 6 women make a combined $983,300
Yeshiva University of Los Angeles Boys High School (YULA) - 3 men make a combined $687,704 while 1 woman makes $110,282
Yeshivat Noam - 1 man makes $224,625 while 1 woman makes $119,800
Great fact-based analysis. It raises the question - why the disparity?
That’s a good question. I can speculate, and it's probably more than one factor, but I'd rather stick to the data.