Issue 8: Akron's Not Kalamazoo

"Kazoo" refers to Kalamazoo, Michigan, the mother ship of offering college scholarships to local students. Mayor Plusquellic frequently refers to this western Michigan city's Kalamazoo Promise as his primary inspiration for his Akron Scholarship Plan.

It is important to note there's some pretty big outstanding differences; one big item is Kalamazoo's big-dog status as the biggest city in the southwest corner of Michigan. It's not even close to Akron, however: Kazoo less than half of our population. We have names like FirstEnergy, Goodyear and Firestone as giants of our economy while Kalamazoo has Pfizer, Eaton and Stryker. We have UA; they have WMU, Kalamazoo College, Davenport University and Kalamazoo Community.

Our friends up north in Wolverine country have much in common with Ohio; we have Cleveland and Youngstown, they have Detroit; we have the free republican of Athens, they have the free republic of Ann Arbor. We both have lakeshore. They have Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo with economic engines driven by more than automotive; we have Columbus and Cincinnati. They have a tax system business says is enough to drive them south; Ohio's been working on that. Both states have an aging population watching too many kids head for opportunity elsewhere, to return for holidays and deer season.

Kalamazoo funds their "Promise" program through private donations, sparked by what Plusquellic rightfully points out are the founding families of Kalamazoo who still have the resources to pony up for the greater good. We used to have those kinds of families here in Akron, too, and our landscape shows much of their impact: Goodyear Heights, Firestone Park, Seiberling Naturealm...the Seiberling, Goodrich, O'Neil and Firestone names still live on even though most of those families have already scattered to the winds and taking their money with them. Our sugar daddy days are done, left with Harvey's bronze reminder off South Main of glory days gone by.

The economic impact of the dollars today, however, is clear in Kazoo. The promise of jobs and development sparked more interest in living in Kalamazoo since this program started in 2006, just two years ago. I've included a report from Todd Kulman, our news director at our stations in Lansing, on the impact with this link. It's not even worth debating -- the plan works well for Kalamazoo.

But it's not the Akron Scholarship Plan.

Kalamazoo sends it's graduates to any state college or university, 52 at last count in Michigan; Akron's plan limits graduates to just eight institutions, including the University of Akron. The Kalamazoo Promise pays tuition; Akron's plan is a considered "last dollar", meaning recipients would exhaust other avenues and use Akron's scholarship as last resort. The Promise doesn't require recipients to return to Kalamazoo or pay it back; Akron calls for a 30-year term paying city income taxes either as a resident of the city, a worker in the city, or even making tax payments from wherever they land.

These are important distinctions and driving much of the discussion. Kalamazoo estimates $200 to $250 million generating enough money to fund scholarships for 500 students to start, anywhere from three to five million in tuition payments.

There are plenty of reasons to support the concept; 1200 graduates estimated to benefit from a step up, not a hand out. As the Administration and supporters rightfully point out, Akron made history with the first free public high school and this is a logical extension of that vision. But it is worth asking the question: if graduates of Akron's free high schools in the 19th and 20th centuries were free to move about the country without strings pulling their wallets back to Akron shouldn't the graduates of the 21st century version have the same ability to become ambassadors to the world?