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By Don Plusquellic
Published on Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
Throughout our country's history, every generation has tried to make a better life for its children and grandchildren. Early last century, parents and school counselors told students, ''Get a high school degree and you'll always have a job.''
Today, because our world has become more technical as well as more competitive, a high school education is not sufficient to get a good job.
For some years, I've been thinking of creating a scholarship program that would assure that every graduate of an Akron high school has an opportunity to continue his or her education to improve chances of getting a good job.
This February, I proposed ''The Akron Plan for the 21st Century.'' It is based on two different success stories:
• Governments like Chicago and Pennsylvania have used the value of their communities' long-term investment in assets to raise cash for new projects.
• The ''Kalamazoo Promise'' — A full scholarship program that was funded by several wealthy anonymous donors has been responsible for the turnaround of the city.
In putting these two proven successful ideas together, I am asking Akron voters to allow us to create a community-based scholarship program that will provide funds for Akron high school graduates to meet their expenses at an accredited and approved college, university, trade or technical school by trading off the value of a community asset — our sewers — for something we need now, educated workers.
Here's how it would work:
• Scholarships would be awarded as early as 2009 to Akron resident students who are graduates of our public high schools and approved nonprofit schools such as St. Vincent-St. Mary, the Elms and Archbishop Hoban. (Administrators of these parochial schools have agreed that the number of such scholarships would be calculated to avoid competing with public high schools.) Home-schooled elementary students would also be eligible.
• The scholarships would be for education at an accredited and approved college, university, trade or technical school.
• The scholarships would be in an amount that covers tuition and fees, after the student first has applied for other available private or government-funded scholarships available to the student.
And just as the federal government does with scholarships it awards to some students, there is an expectation of a return on this investment.
Students will have a choice to live and work in Akron after graduation and pay nothing back to the program; or, if they live outside the city, to return a small percentage of their earnings — the same amount of our income tax — to the scholarship program over a period of 30 years. This will be, in most cases, less burdensome to students than paying off a student loan and assures the taxpayers of Akron a return on their investment.
Unlike Kalamazoo, we do not have anonymous donors to fund a scholarship program, so we need an alternative funding mechanism.
Around the country, dozens of cities' water and sewer services are supplied by private companies. This idea in and of itself is not novel, nor — with responsible management — does it present an unreasonable risk. Of the contracts up for renewal last year, 92 percent were renewed with their existing operator, proving the level of satisfaction.
The value of our sewer system can generate an upfront infusion of cash sufficient to fund the Akron Scholarship Program well into the future. Here's how the lease would work:
• Investors — usually large pension funds — would invest in the system to receive stable revenue.
• The up-front lease payment, perhaps $300 million, would pay existing debt on the system with the balance invested permanently in a fund under the reliable control of the Akron Community Foundation, and it could ONLY be used for scholarships.
• An operator, hired under an ironclad lease, would be obligated to hold the line on rate increases to users that would be less than Akron's 30-year average, meet all EPA and government environmental regulations and operate under controls we would place on it to ensure good service to sewer customers.
If the lease does not work, the city always will have the option to cancel the contract and take the system back.
The need for a scholarship plan is urgent, and we can do it without raising taxes even in these tough economic times.
Akron always has been an innovative city. Ultimately, our grandchildren may judge us on what we thought was more important: who takes care of our toilet water, or preparing our children for the jobs of the future. I urge your ''yes'' vote on Issue 8 on Nov. 4.
Don Plusquellic is mayor of Akron.
Throughout our country's history, every generation has tried to make a better life for its children and grandchildren. Early last century, parents and school counselors told students, ''Get a high school degree and you'll always have a job.''
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 08:15 AM, 10/12/2008
If you have to bribe young people to stay in Akron the problem is much deeper than you think. Maybe making Akron a greener, healthier place to live would attract people from outside as well as making it a place people wouldn't want to leave.
Fix the sewer system. Clean up Summit Lake and the Cuyahoga River. Change the building codes so that we are living in non-toxic housing. Put green job training in our public schools and higher ed institutions. Invest in public transportation and renewable energy for our citizens. Don't lease our public utilities.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:21 AM, 10/12/2008
Hmmm, let's see. The city hall hero here has driven the city nearly $1 billion into debt durin' his reign. For him to continue, he now has to sell/lease our sewers to come up with the needed cash to fund the Goodyear and Firestone projects... Anyone ever wonder why not a scoopful of dirt has been overturned for those projects yet?? It because the orange city hall hero hasn't raised the money he promised for them yet.
Remember when the city hall hero said all of the sewer money would go to his scholarship plan, and now he tells us some will go to pay bills.
Thanks ABJ for y'alls continued support of this moron.
Posted 08:31 AM, 10/12/2008
"Students will have a choice to live and work in Akron after graduation and pay nothing back to the program; or, if they live outside the city, to return a small percentage of their earnings — the same amount of our income tax — to the scholarship program over a period of 30 years."
You gotta be kidding me. We are "leasing" out part of our infrastructure for THAT? No, no, no.
Vote NO on Issue 8.
Posted 09:47 AM, 10/12/2008
The need for a scholarship plan is urgent or because of sewer overflows, the need to clean up the tributaries leading to the Cuyahoga River which leads to Lake Erie are urgent? You are asking the citizens to allow you to lease the sewers for the exact amount of the federal mandated (approximately 300 million dollars) upgrade of the sewer system. Is this a quick fix to a problem that has haunted Akron since 1979? Why did Akron not act upon the issue approximately ten years ago(1997) when the issue was all washing to the surface politically? Why did Akron wait until ten years later when they were being forced legally to make a move. Why are they proposing a thirty year lease to fix a problem EPA wanted fixed in fifteen years? I disagree, the scholarship program is not what is urgent. The urgency is to unload a chronic problem that Akron is liable for in many ways. When will the truth come out about the history of this issue? When will politics raise its ugly head again on anyone who finds the truth out of why this is such an urgent issue? Selection has taken its toll on the population. What happens if the students of the scholarship program go into a science program and begin to understand what the real reason was to lease the sewers. You can not control SCIENCE with politics. The taxpayers are paying enough to clean up companies liabilites. You need a better guarantee to no rate increases after privatizing or the citizens will expect you to step down.
Posted 09:52 AM, 10/12/2008
I hope the Akron public isn't stupid enough to see the ruse here. This is nothing but the opportunity for a few to grab and profit from the assets of the public. Don Plusquellic should be put in prison for this scheme.
Akron, Oh
Posted 01:15 PM, 10/12/2008
Vote yes on issue 8 like I already did.
akron, oh
Posted 01:34 PM, 10/12/2008
This Student scholarship plan carries the same thing that the sewers do that is going to pay for it..... A lot of crappe.... THats what old don is selling. To you and to the company that will be in control of it
AKRON, OH
Posted 01:55 AM, 10/13/2008
UP FRONT LEASE PAYMENT OF $300 MILLION - HMMM INTEREST FROM THAT MONEY ON HAND WILL GO WHERE ? THE PRINCIPLE IS ACCOUNTED FOR, BUT INTEREST ON $300 MILLION IS QUITE A BUNDLE. SO WHAT'S UP WITH THAT MAYOR DON ?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 07:02 AM, 10/13/2008
The only future for Akron is higher sewer bills if this passes. How anyone in Akron could support Mayor Don's proposal is beyond me.
Akron, OH
Posted 11:23 PM, 10/24/2008
OlderThenDirt, cannot read ("An operator, hired under an ironclad lease, would be obligated to hold the line on rate increases to users that would be less than Akron's 30-year average") or write (than not then).
