A recent anonymous donation in my hometown in Michigan made me think about ways those with the means can best support the city and the schools.
An anonymous group of donors setup a fund to pay the tuition for all high school graduates currently enrolled in the school district from kindergarten on for four years of higher education at any school in the state. Graduates who move into the district after this year will also recieve tuition assistance based on the percentage of grades prior to graduation spent in the public school system. The idea is to give all students currently enrolled hope of access to higher education and influence other community members to step forward to make this an ongoing program. How much money might it take to endow such a program in Minneapolis? Kalamazoo is a much smaller city, some 80,000 in the city limites with the school district covering a larger area including about 120,000 residents. Kalamazoo's economy has been relatively depressed of late with loss of headquarters of UpJohn Pharmaceuticals, the closing of a GM plant, and other changes involving major employers. David Strand Loring Park --- Phyllis Kahn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > When we first moved here and bought our first house, > my husband was > appalled at how low the property taxes were and > specifically did not > think that they covered having two kids in public > school. He asked > about making a donation and was told that the > easiest way was not to > claim the homestead exemption. He did that and > somehow it got picked up > by AP and run nationwide. (Sort of a man bites dog > story). We heard > from relatives as far away as Alaska and old college > classmates from > everywhere. The tone of the report was definitely > derisive. He never > did it again, particularly because the neighborhood > was reassessed and > the taxes went up and certain of our neighbors > blamed him for that > action!! Again to prove the old adage that no good > deed goes > unpunished! > > Phyllis Kahn 59B > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at > http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a > member is in violation, contact the list manager at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: > http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: > http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused > Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > __________________________________________ Yahoo! DSL Something to write home about. Just $16.99/mo. or less. dsl.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
