New legislation will help the state’s most impoverished areas establish college funding programs for local students. The programs will be modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise, which guarantees public school graduates free college tuition.
According to excerpts from the story:
LANSING – January 13, 2009 – Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm today signed legislation that will allow local communities to establish “Promise Zones,” which will greatly expand the opportunity for students to attend college. The legislation was proposed by the governor in her 2007 State of the State address and is part of an overall economic plan to grow Michigan’s economy and create jobs.
The two bills signed today allow for the creation of up to 10 promise zone authorities that will be able to capture one-half the growth in the state education tax to support a local effort to promise a college education to the K-12 students who reside in the zone. At a minimum, the education promise must include funding for an associate’s degree for students who live in the zone but could be for up to a four-year degree. Before approval of the tax capture is granted by the Treasury Department, the zone will have to show that it has the means to fund the first two years of the promise.
Read the complete story here.
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