A Miami Gardens Jewish school network kicked off the new academic year with 2,500 students and two freshly dedicated buildings, capping a summer of round-the-clock construction to keep pace with surging enrollment. The Lubavitch Educational Center (LEC) says its eleven divisions across five campuses all reported a smooth first day of school this fall.
Two Buildings, Two Donor Families
According to CrownHeights.info, the newly acquired facilities include the Rebbetzin Rochel Pinson High School Building, dedicated by Reut and Mendel Pinson, and the Rebbetzin Rivka Korf Preschool Building, dedicated by Avraham and Brochie Shaulson. The Pinson building now houses Beis Chana High School, while the preschool building gives LEC's youngest students dedicated new space. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Korf, who oversaw the renovation projects as a building and construction manager, said the buildings were renovated at extraordinary speed.
Construction crews worked 24/6 shifts throughout the summer to get the new school spaces ready in time, per the same account. Rabbi Menachem Kozlovsky also served as a building and construction manager on the effort. The push reflects a broader pattern at LEC, which expanded Campus Chaya Mushka — adjacent to Beit Apel Girls' School — as part of the same wave of growth.
A Network Rooted in 1966
LEC was founded in Miami in 1966 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, opening with just seven students, according to the Lubavitch Educational Center. Six decades later, the network has grown into an eleven-division system spanning six buildings across five campuses in Miami-Dade County, employing close to 500 staff members. Rabbi Benjy Korf, head of school, reported that the school had a successful first day across all eleven divisions and thanked the supporters who made the growth possible.
Rabbi Yossi Zavdi, associate head of school, said the staff remain the heart of the school and are dedicated to the chinuch of the children. The list of principals overseeing LEC's various divisions is extensive, including Ms. Tziporah Elazar, Mrs. Tzippy Dalfin, Mrs. Chaya Sara Dalfin, Rabbi Eily Smith, Mrs. Naomie Selwyn, Mrs. Judy Kitchner, Mrs. Musha Krasnjanski, Mrs. Dina Lieberman, Rabbi Moshe Stern, Rabbi Chaim Stern, Rabbi Y. Leib Schapiro, Mrs. Shevi Sossonko, Rabbi Eli Spalter, Mrs. Bina Rosenblum, Rabbi Motti Schurder, Mrs. Leah Spalter, Mrs. Nomi Yerushalmy, Rabbi Yakov Garfinkel, Rabbi Nochum Schapiro, and Mrs. Tzivi Schurder.
A $10 Million Mesivta and a Growing Footprint
This latest expansion builds on a string of major property moves. In March 2026, Mesivta Lubavitch Miami — LEC's boys' high school division — opened a dedicated 3-acre, $10 million campus in Miami Gardens featuring a 180-bed dormitory, an on-site mikvah, and a study hall, according to the Lubavitch Educational Center. The yeshiva relocated to the standalone campus after outgrowing its previous quarters with more than 90 enrolled students. A year earlier, in March 2025, LEC announced a 4.5-acre property acquisition to expand Campus Chaya Mushka, with donors Mendel and Reut Pinson and Avi and Brochie Shaulson sponsoring dedicated facilities for the high school and preschool divisions on land adjoining the existing school property.
The organization's growth trail stretches back further still. In July 2017, LEC purchased a 48,681-square-foot office building in the Golden Glades Office Park at 1525 NW 167th Street in Miami Gardens for $5.1 million, converting the former commercial space into educational space for Beis Chana High School, as reported by The Real Deal. LEC's flagship site, Campus Menachem Mendel at 17330 NW 7th Avenue in Miami, remains the network's administrative headquarters and primary home for boys' elementary programs.
Vouchers Fuel a Statewide Enrollment Surge
LEC's expansion is unfolding against a backdrop of sweeping change in Florida education policy. Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 1 into law in March 2023, creating universal K-12 school vouchers worth roughly $8,000 per student and removing household income limits for private school assistance, according to Florida Politics. The law converted what had been narrower private tuition scholarships into broad education savings accounts available to far more families. According to the Florida Department of Education, financial eligibility restrictions for Florida Tax Credit Scholarships were removed effective in the 2023-24 school year.
The impact on Jewish day schools statewide has been dramatic. Enrollment in Jewish day schools across Florida grew nearly as much between 2022 and 2024 as it had over the entire preceding decade, according to data from the Teach Coalition's Office for Jewish Education Research cited by the Associated Press. That surge follows decades of steadier growth: enrollment in Jewish private schools across Florida rose 58 percent between the 2007–08 and 2022–23 academic years, reaching 13,279 students, per City Journal. In Miami-Dade specifically, an estimated 82,500 students used state vouchers to fund private school tuition during the 2026–27 school year, up from fewer than 4,000 students a decade earlier, according to Think Academy.
Vouchers Also Draw Political Fights
The voucher program that has helped fuel LEC's growth has also made it a target of legal and political scrutiny. In June 2026, parents, students, and advocates gathered at LEC's Miami-Dade campus for a press conference organized by Teach Florida to defend state private school vouchers against legal challenges, according to Central Florida Public Media. The rally underscored how dependent local Jewish day schools have become on state scholarship funding to sustain both enrollment and the kind of rapid facility expansion now underway at LEC.
Hoodline has previously covered related growth in South Florida's Jewish day school landscape, including Lehrman's new Miami Beach campus. For now, LEC's leadership is focused on the school year ahead, with Rabbi Benjy Korf reporting that the network was off to a great start as its newest buildings opened their doors to students for the first time.
