K-Promise: A whole new environment for Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo Public Schools received more than 100 phone calls from parents interested in moving into the district in the week after the "Kalamazoo Promise" was announced last fall.

Known as the K-Promise, the plan announced late last year will provide up to 100 percent of college tuition at any public university in Michigan for graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools. Funded by millions of dollars in private, anonymous donations, the gift was announced in November and was met with great acclaim.

"This will create a whole new environment for us," Gary Start, KPS deputy superintendent, told the Kalamazoo Gazette when the plan was made public. "A new real estate environment. A new enrollment environment. Students who couldn’t afford college before can go now. That’s got to have an effect on their focus and student achievement."

The scholarship fund will pay for 100 percent of Michigan public university tuition for Kalamazoo students who have been enrolled since kindergarten and whose parents live in the district, beginning with the graduating class of 2006. The scholarship will pay for 65 percent for students who enter after kindergarten, but before 10th grade.

The cost for next year is expected to be about $3 million, and will increase by about the same amount as each successive class graduates. Of the 500 students who graduate from the district each year, about 75 to 80 percent go on to college. Yearly costs vary, depending on the school, from about $6,500 for tuition and fees at Western Michigan University, to more than $9,000 at the University of Michigan. Western Michigan, located in Kalamazoo, announced not long after the K-Promise was unveiled that it would waive room and board fees for students attending as part of the program.

Aside from the benefits the graduates will receive, the district itself is expecting a jump in enrollment, which in turn would increase the amount of money it receives from state tax dollars. The current minimum state foundation grant is $6,875 per pupil. Alex Lee, KPS spokesman, told the Gazette that the district had received phone calls from families not only in the surrounding communities, but also as far away as Indiana and Maine.

Current enrollment in the district is about 10,200, down from more than 11,800 a decade ago. Two elementary schools, along with other vacant space caused by enrollment decreases, have been put to use for other things, including offices, computer labs, art and music rooms and smaller K-3 classes, which average just 18 students each.

"We need to look at how we create space," Start said of the potential enrollment growth. "It’s a great problem, one that we had only dreamed that we would have."

In late January, KPS officials reported a net enrollment of 65 more students in the 11 weeks immediately following the announcement, compared to the same period of time during the 2004-2005 school year.

Students who do move into the district have to come from somewhere, and that could include local private schools, as well as public charter schools. Three local charter schools enroll about 1,200 students, while roughly the same numbers attend the Catholic Schools of Greater Kalamazoo and the Kalamazoo Christian School Association. Officials from those schools said they would take a wait-and-see approach to how they are affected.

"I’m just not that worried," Larry Baker, superintendent of the K-Christian schools, told the Gazette. "We offer things KPS can’t offer. We pray in our schools. We talk about Jesus."

Baker did say, however, that the potential effect could actually help his schools. The Gazette said he sent an e-mail to his staff the Monday after the K-Promise was announced, telling them that "if you consider KPS our competition, then they have picked it up a notch and we need to, too."

David Rutten, executive director of the area’s Catholic schools, said private schools and KPS could both benefit. Students could potentially attend or continue attending private schools up until eighth grade, then transfer to a Kalamazoo public high school and still be eligible for 65 percent of the scholarship.

The housing market in Kalamazoo also could benefit from the generosity of the donors. Parents might be willing to pay a little more for a house that was thought to be out of reach because they know college costs will be covered. Todd Bradfield, a Kalamazoo real estate agent, told the Gazette that the announcement increased salability by 50 percent. Home owners in Oshtemo Township, which borders the city and 65 percent of which is in KPS, pay 28.6 mills in taxes, compared to 45.2 mills paid by city residents.

Similar programs have been started around the country over the years, with varying degrees of success. According to Education Week, a Hartford, Conn., man offered to pay college expenses for kindergartners at five schools in New York City’s Harlem. George Weiss, a money manager, tried to do the same thing in the mid 1980s when he promised to pay for college for 112 sixth graders in Philadelphia. Fewer than 20 ended up graduating, while 20 were arrested for felony crimes and four were murdered. Rex and Ethel Clemens set up a college tuition scholarship fund in 1959 in the logging town of Philomath, Ore. The plan was to cover the cost either at Oregon State University or a similar cost at any other school nationwide. About 1,200 students have participated in the program, but the foundation’s trustees have narrowed its scope over time. Requirements were changed so that students must attend Philomath Public Schools for at least eight years to be eligible. Today, most of the scholarships are given to students from private school or those from families with a mining, timber or agricultural background, according to Education Week, due to what is seen as the anti-timber political involvement of many teachers in the Philomath schools.

For now, the program is set to run indefinitely. John Manske, the school district’s attorney, said donors assured KPS that all students currently enrolled will be covered.

"Right now, this is in place for KPS and it will continue year after year," Manske told the Gazette. "It’s in place until we are told otherwise."