James Briggs

james.briggs@indystar.com

Promise is a big word. And Mayor Joe Hogsett just made a very big promise.

Hogsett during his state of the city address Wednesday said he wants every Indianapolis child who receives a high school diploma to have access to postsecondary education — either college or some type of additional skill training. He called it the Indianapolis Promise.

The mayor signed an executive order calling for a task force to find nonprofit and corporate partners to help pay for Indianapolis high school graduates to continue their education. While Hogsett will turn toward the City-County Council to provide some money, he added that this is a promise that the private sector must help him keep.

"City government cannot do this alone," Hogsett said. "It will take the full partnership with corporate and philanthropic resources."

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It's impossible to say what the Indianapolis Promise will look like. Details were sparse after Hogsett's announcement.

"It's in its formative stages," said Ahmed Young, director of the office of education innovation for the city.

But there is precedent for this type of program.

In 2006, Kalamazoo, Mich., became the first city in the U.S. to offer a universal college scholarship program to its high school graduates. The Kalamazoo Promise — sound familiar? — pays for up to 130 credits of tuition and fees for Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates who attend public colleges in Michigan.

That program is funded by anonymous donors — no doubt, the same types of wealthy people and corporations the Hogsett administration will reach out to in Indianapolis. Every student is eligible for at least some money so long as they begin their ninth-grade year in the district.

According to research published last year by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, more than 85 percent of eligible Kalamazoo Promise recipients have received money through the program, which spends $12 million a year. Since the Kalamazoo program began, the school system's bachelor's degree attainment has increased by 10 percentage points.

Indianapolis, of course, is not Kalamazoo. Enrollment at Indianapolis Public Schools alone is nearly 28,000 students, compared with about 12,000 at Kalamazoo Public Schools.

But dozens of other U.S. cities have emulated the Kalamazoo program while crafting narrower and less expensive versions of it. Shelby County, for instance, last year began providing two years of tuition for high school graduates to attend Ivy Tech Community College — a significant, yet more limited, opportunity than Kalamazoo provides.

Hogsett during his state of the city speech singled out two universities, perhaps hinting the Indianapolis Promise could have a somewhat narrow scope.

"Public school options like Ivy Tech and IUPUI offer degrees that, when obtained, almost guarantee full employment in our local economy," Hogsett said.

Broad studies of promise programs have concluded they increase cities' populations, reduce outmigration, or "brain drain" as it is often called, and even lead to higher property values, according to the W.E. Upjohn Institute. But other studies, including a report from the Brookings Institution, have argued that the Kalamazoo Promise fails to close the achievement gap for minorities despite being available to all students.

The greatest argument in favor of such a program is simple: Higher education leads to better opportunities, while people who can't afford it fall behind and have few job prospects. As individuals benefit from higher educational attainment, so do communities.

A recent brief from Ball State University's Center for Business and Economic Research, titled "The Relationship Between Educational Attainment & Wages," highlights this point: "The more educated a county is, the more new job growth there will be, which leads to more overall job opportunities in the county. More jobs and more employment are associated with higher wages."

Just look at Hamilton County. More than 55 percent of Hamilton County residents ages 25 and older have at least a bachelor's degree, which by far is the highest rate in Indiana. Hamilton also is the state's richest county, with a per capita income of $40,012.

Meanwhile, Marion County ranks seventh in educational attainment, with 27.7 percent of residents having at least a bachelor's degree. The county's $24,145 per capita income ranks 31st in the state.

It's unclear how much, if any, money the City-County Council will spend on Hogsett's proposal to improve those numbers. Council President Maggie Lewis, a Democrat, called it the most exciting policy to come out of Hogsett's state of the city speech.

"I'm excited to see the outcome of that program and what it looks like after we have some more conversations and ensure that all the stakeholders are at the table," Lewis said. "Funding is going to be an issue, but as the mayor said, the city can't do it by itself, so I'm looking forward to having this conversation with the business community."

Republican Michael McQuillen, the council minority leader, said he's open to the Indianapolis Promise and other initiatives Hogsett announced.

"Being on the legislative body for the city, it always comes down to dollars and cents," McQuillen said. "I'm anxious to see what kind of fiscal impact there would be on the programs he has just rolled out."

Right now, there is no answer to that question — or to the question of where else money might come from.

But other cities have found ways to make it happen. Hogsett has promised that Indianapolis will be next.

Call IndyStar business columnist James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.