BonnerSprings.com

JUnified Government Mayor Joe Reardon's proposal to give every high school graduate a $2,000 college scholarship failed to make much of a spark here this week.

UG Commissioner Pat Pettey told Bonner Springs-Edwardsville School Board members Tuesday about the mayor's proposed Dotte Promise scholarship program, which would offer a $2,000 per year scholarship for up to four years to any student graduating from a Turner, Piper, Ward or Kansas City, Kan., high school who lives in Kansas City, Kan., and has attended school there for at least four years. The scholarship would be good at any post-secondary institution in Kansas, or at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

To keep the scholarship, the student would have to maintain at least a C average in their post-secondary education, and give 40 hours of community service in Wyandotte County each year of the scholarship.

Bonner Springs and Edwardsville are not part of the proposal, but, Pettey said, part of the reason for her presentation to the board was the hope that the two cities would find a way to participate in the program.

The funding for Reardon's proposal as it stands would come from revenue generated by slot machines at the Woodlands plus private donations. The program is modeled on one in Kalamazoo, Mich., which was initiated three years ago and gives $6,000 a year to graduating seniors.

Board member Gregg Gibson asked Pettey why so much money should go to high school graduates "who may not be ready" for college, instead of spending on K-12 education.

Pettey, who is a retired Turner school district teacher, said the program could serve to show schools how well they were preparing students for post-secondary education, and what changes they may need to make in the curriculum.

Also, Pettey said, the benefits of money going to day-to-day public school expenses can't be measured, but the dropout rate and the number of students who go to college can be measured.

Pettey said she didn't see the Dotte Promise as economic-development tool so much as it was in Kalamazoo, where she said new businesses had been been created since the scholarship program was introduced there.

Superintendent Robert Van Maren had some doubts about the plan.

He said he'd talked to prospective casino operators in the county about their donating funds to schools, and said "I'd be happy for them to give money to my (Education) Foundation" to be used as the foundation board sees fit.

But Van Maren said he was concerned $2,000 would not make much of a dent in college expenses, given a recently announced 80 percent tuition jump at Kansas University.

Also, Van Maren said, the means of dispensing the scholarships was a concern.

"I can't do it for free, or with just one person," he said.

Still, the superintendent said he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.

"I think if we do it, let's jump in with both feet," he said, and study who would most likely use the program.

The mayors of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville said they didn't have enough information on the plan to have formed much of an opinion.

"It's a very interesting concept," Bonner Springs Mayor Clausie Smith said. "I have to do some study before we decide."

Smith said he liked the idea that the money would come attached with grade-point average and community-service requirements.

"I don't think we should just give $2,000 and say here it is," he said.

As for the potential economic-development benefits of the program, Smith said, "I'm not sure that's an issue, since to get the whole amount you have to start pretty young in life."

Smith was referring to the part of Reardon's proposal that says the amount of money a student gets will vary percentage-wise in relation to how long he or she attends school in Kansas City, Kan.

Edwardsville Mayor Heinz Rodgers was less enthusiastic about the concept.

"That doesn't sound very good," Rodgers said. "It sounds to me like socialized (post-) secondary education."

"I don't understand how that would spur economic development in any way, shape or form," Rodgers said.

Rodgers said he thought the name of the program was misleading, because "Dotte" implies the program is for the entire county.

Smith said later after talking with Reardon that the three Wyandotte County mayors would be meeting soon to discuss the proposal.

"We've got a long ways to go before this thing becomes fact," Smith said.