Publicly funded Promise programs hard to come by
If Davenport Promise supporters manage to convince taxpayers to pay for the
initiative, the funding stream would be a groundbreaking part of the plan.
The Quad-City Times examined 13 other communities that have looked at creating a scholarship program similar to the Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees high school graduates there a free college education. Almost all have spent at least two years mapping out how such a program would work in their cities. Of the 13, nine already hand out scholarships. All but one is funded entirely through private donations.
The four remaining communities have studied the possibility for at least a year. Two unsuccessfully tried to secure tax dollars to pay for the scholarships, and one of them is now looking for private donors to get its program off the ground. The remaining two are still putting their plans together.
“One point I would make to the residents is that Davenport isn’t the first to do this,” said Tom Dabertin, a management consultant who helped the city of Hammond, Ind., craft its program. “What it comes down to is whether you have funding sources available or not. For most cities and towns, it (depends) on the likelihood of someone handing them an endowment to have a scholarship program.”
Davenport has set itself apart from a majority of other cities with the funding source it has considered to pay for a Davenport Promise.
A task force of city, school and community leaders that led the initial push for providing scholarships wants the City Council to reallocate proceeds from its 1-cent local-option sales tax to pay for the program, which is expected to cost $12 million once four years of graduates are enrolled in college. To do so, residents would have to approve a ballot measure.
City aldermen, however, put the brakes on the idea last month. At the time, some said they wanted to see private donors step up to help with the cost.
The council is expected to hold a study session within the next month to decide whether aldermen want to form a task force of appointed community members. The group would be charged with finding answers to questions such as how the program would work, who would administer and oversee it and what other funding options exist, among other things.
Bill Gluba, Davenport mayor, said their work could take as long as eight months, meaning this year’s class of Davenport graduates most likely won’t benefit from a free college education.
“It’s a big learning curve, and we as a community have to figure it out,” Gluba said. “This task force will spend the next six months looking into all aspects of the program. Funding is definitely a question that will be addressed. It would be more acceptable to the general public if a private-public partnership would be possible.”
Setting itself apart
Thomas McDermott first heard of the idea of offering a city’s children a free college education more than three years ago. A friend of the Hammond mayor called him after hearing a story about Kalamazoo on National Public Radio.
It was right after leaders there announced the Kalamazoo Promise, which provides college-bound students with a scholarship to pay for all or part of their tuition and mandatory fees, depending on how long they have attended school in the district. The idea was to create a hard-to-resist incentive for students to graduate from high school, go to college and bring back their new skills. That, in turn, would entice businesses to relocate to the city.
It didn’t take much to sell McDermott. Within six months, Hammond created its own scholarship program called College Bound. The graduating class in 2006 was the first to benefit.
“The program is an investment in the future of the city because it’s an investment in students,” Dabertin said. “People were very responsive. There was widespread support for it.”
Unlike Kalamazoo, Hammond lacked a benefactor with deep pockets. Instead, the City Council unanimously voted to use a portion of the gaming revenues the city took in from the local casino boat. Hammond earmarks 70 percent of those proceeds, which vary each year but average more than $20 million, for infrastructure and economic development, McDermott said.
McDermott sold the idea of using public dollars to the council, saying the investment would create a better trained work force while prompting more people to move into the area and buy homes. Hammond’s program requires people to own a house in the city to qualify.
“The nicest part was that it galvanized people,” McDermott said. “When I proposed this program, it was Republicans, Democrats, voters and nonvoters coming together and saying they supported it. It was one of the very few things we could say that everyone agreed was a good idea.”
The city, however, did not have to gain voter approval to reallocate the gaming money to pay for College Bound, which leaders expect to cost more than $2 million a year once four years of graduates are enrolled in college.
“It definitely was easier for us because we didn’t have to go through a vote or referendum,” McDermott said.
A failed attempt
McDermott wasn’t the only one to pick up on Kalamazoo’s idea.
Community leaders in Newton, Iowa, began talks about a Newton Promise almost two years ago. Like Davenport, organizers there quickly put together a proposal and went to the City Council, asking it to use money from the city’s 1-cent sales tax to fund it. Money generated by the tax currently pays for capital improvement projects and tax relief.
The program is expected to cost $1.6 million when four classes of graduates are enrolled in college.
“There were concerns that we were moving too fast,” said Kim Didier, executive director of the Newton Development Corp. and one of the leaders in the push for the Newton Promise.
Ron Foreman, a member of Newton’s City Council, said the council supported the concept but not the idea of funding it with public dollars.
“Like any other community, we have a lot of different funds that need to be taken care of,” he said. “At this point, we didn’t feel we had enough money to set aside for the Promise. The majority of the council, up to this point, has maintained the policy that the Newton Promise is a good project as long as they use private funding.”
Didier said the council’s decision served organizers with a setback but pushed them to further flesh out their plans and seek private donors, Didier said. The group working on the Promise is trying to raise $5 million to get it started and still hopes to secure public dollars in addition, she said.
“We have been able to put together pretty solid policies based on our conversations and financial plans,” Didier said. “It will in the long run provide a much more solid program … I would hope we could move quickly now to find the financial resources to make this happen. The communities that can model that and do it as quickly as possible will benefit from it.”
Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.
Programs operate in different ways
Here is what’s happening with college tuition “Promise” programs in other communities:
Bay City, Mich.: The Bay City Public Schools joined the Bay Area Community Foundation to create a new position to head a College Services Preparation Office. In addition, the foundation and other community donors are funding 100 new scholarships worth $2,000. The scholarships go to help students who are the first in their family to attend college.
Carrolton Public Schools, Saginaw County, Mich.: The school district set aside $14,400 in its general fund to buy 40 contracts through the Michigan Education Trust on behalf of this school year’s kindergarten and preschool students. When those students graduate, eligible members will receive money to cover the cost of one year of tuition at a community college.
Cincinnati, Ohio: A community partnership called “Strive” hopes to guarantee college tuition money for every child in Cincinnati, Newport and Covington public and parochial schools. Organizers are waiting for the results of a feasibility study that will show how much the program will cost, among other things. Once they have that information, they will decide how to fund it.
Dayton, Ohio: Grassroots Greater Dayton is heading up the effort to create a “Dayton Promise.” Under their program, which the group hoped to start this year, students would earn $5,000 a year up to $20,000 for four years to use at 10 colleges in the area. Leaders are still trying to find private and public funding to support the program and say their work will not be done in time for this year’s graduates to benefit as previously anticipated.
Denver, Colo.: The Denver Scholarship Foundation provides students with help for mapping out their future after high school and scholarships for college that are funded through private donations. To receive funding, students must have already applied for three separate scholarships and financial aid. They are then able to apply for a scholarship from the foundation. The amount they receive is based on where they go to college and the “Expected Family Contribution.”
El Durado, Ark.: Students who have attended school in El Durado Public Schools since at least their ninth-grade year are eligible for the scholarship program, which covers graduates’ tuition and fees to any private or public accredited college for up to five years. The amount they receive depends on how long they’ve attended school in the district. The “El Durado Promise” is funded by the Murphy Oil Corp. and is already in place.
Hammond, Ind.: The City of Hammond led the charge to start a scholarship program called “College Bound” that pays part or all of graduates’ tuition and fees, depending on how long they have lived in the city. The program was established in 2006 and is funded with gaming money.
Holland/Zeeland, Mich.: The “Lakeshore Promise” is a proposed program that would pay for the tuition and fees of college-bound students, who could use the money to attend any public or private college in Michigan. The scholarship amount would be determined by how long the student has lived in either city and would be funded through a new income tax. Organizers efforts did not get past the discussion stage.
Jackson, Mich.: The Jackson Legacy Program provides graduates who live in Jackson County with a two-year $3,000 scholarship to attend a local postsecondary program. Students who complete 80 hours of community service a year and maintain a certain grade point average are eligible for two additional years of funding. It is paid for through private donations. This year’s graduates will be the first to benefit.
Newton, Iowa: The “Newton Promise” would provide Newton High School graduates with a scholarship that covers up to
100 percent of their tuition at a two-year or four-year public college, depending on how long they have been enrolled in the Newton School District. Students could also use the amount of money they would receive for a public college to attend a private school in Iowa. The Newton Development Corp. says it is working to secure private funds to partially pay for the program and is hopeful the city will reallocate a 1-cent sales tax to fund the remaining portion. However, city aldermen say city funds will not be used to support it. The program will not get under way until funding is found.
Northport, Mich.: The “Northport Promise” is funded through private donations and pays for any Northport graduate who has been in the district for at least four years to go to any public college in Michigan. The amount students receive is based on how long they have attended the city’s schools. This year’s graduates will be the first to benefit.
Peoria, Ill.: The “Peoria Promise” provides the city’s public school graduates with a scholarship to cover up to 100 percent of their college tuition and fees, depending on how long they have attended school in the Peoria district. The program is funded through private donations.
Pittsburgh, Pa.: The “Pittsburgh Promise” is funded through private donations, the largest worth $100 million from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and provides scholarships for graduates from Pittsburgh Public Schools. Currently, students can receive $5,000 a year to use toward tuition at a public college in Pennsylvania. This year’s class of graduates will be the first to receive the scholarships.
— Sheena Dooley