Birmingham Promise Program (Huntsville: buy, high school, community college)

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

The majority of people who has so many questions and thinking why he doing this is those outside the city limits. People have become use to birmingham being what they think it was a long time ago. People HATE a change. When someone does something out the ordinary, especially in this state, it's wrong. A young black mayor of the most populated black city in alabama trying to do right not only for kids, but for everyone residing there, get blacklash after backlash on everything he tries to do. Have this been any other city in this state, there would have been nothing but praise.

It really is a sad time we live in where this man is trying to improve the situation of education pretaining to students from BCS and people got the nerves to think it's not quite the right way...? By the way, there are also other races of children that attend BCS and this will also help them too...

That's not true. Had Tommy Battle put it forth, I would be opposed (at least on the surface ... depends on the details) even though I don't live "in" Huntsville; had it been Finley in Madison, I would probably be ready to impeach him. We don't have the money ... can't even afford repaint the stripes on the streets here. If Birmingham can afford it, along with donations, more power to them.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

This will be huge for both the school system, and the city of Birmingham! It will definitely draw families from other metro cities.

Possilby true, but do you really want families moving there for just that reason? And, as I understand it, you have to have been in the BCS for at least 12 years to get the benefit. That's a pretty stringent requirement, but probalby reasonable in the long run.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Thanks for that. Now that I understand it better, there are some important built-in benchmarks to hit.



The proof will be in the doing. If the program succeeds as design it does confer a couple of benefits: 1) It keeps kids in the Birmingham city school system and 2) It provides valuable education and skills training. To me, it will more likely be the skills training that will have real value, given the absolute need for skills training to continue economic development.



The risks are pretty obvious. First, that of mission creep. It really needs to remain adhered to its original charter to succeed. Second, the school system has to step up in terms of helping kids succeed.


That being said, it's a gutsy, creative attempt to resolve a long-festering sore in the area, one that has been an obstacle for so many people in our area.

Do the benefits extend to trade schools, meaning, is the program restricted to college, or could the students also receive assistance for things like plumbing, mechanics, HVAC, etc.? Something like that would make sense ... there are many shortages in those types of jobs.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Do the benefits extend to trade schools, meaning, is the program restricted to college, or could the students also receive assistance for things like plumbing, mechanics, HVAC, etc.? Something like that would make sense ... there are many shortages in those types of jobs.

Yes, technical training is part of the deal.

[cherokee48]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Thanks for that. Now that I understand it better, there are some important built-in benchmarks to hit.



The proof will be in the doing. If the program succeeds as design it does confer a couple of benefits: 1) It keeps kids in the Birmingham city school system and 2) It provides valuable education and skills training. To me, it will more likely be the skills training that will have real value, given the absolute need for skills training to continue economic development.



The risks are pretty obvious. First, that of mission creep. It really needs to remain adhered to its original charter to succeed. Second, the school system has to step up in terms of helping kids succeed.


That being said, it's a gutsy, creative attempt to resolve a long-festering sore in the area, one that has been an obstacle for so many people in our area.

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

The other great thing about this is that it will attract the type of families that value a college education. Mayor Woodfin is definitely a breath of fresh air for the city of Birmingham! He actually goes out of his way to be transparent about everything. People in this city need to stop being so pessimistic about everything.

All of this outlines why I love this idea. It will reward the many students that have been in the BCS system for the duration of their K-12 education. It will absolutely be attractive and draw in parents that and students that are serious about higher education. I am sure that long term this will boost the BCS student population and the city population numbers both of which are becoming focus points for the city. It is very bold, somewhat risky and very innovative. For a state performing as poorly in education as Alabama that is starving for solutions to a lot of serious problems this could very well be the beginning of a bold progressive solution. I suspect if this proves to be successful(I think it will) I expect Alabama and other cities to take note of the template and follow suit.

[GotLuv4Bham]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

And, as I understand it, you have to have been in the BCS for at least 12 years to get the benefit. That's a pretty stringent requirement, but probalby reasonable in the long run.

Not true! A child that meets all requirements will receive 1/12th of the
money for each year they attended Birmingham City Schools. If you attend all 12 years, you get the full amount.

[steveklein]

I do still really want to see projections for what they think this will look like on an annual basis... like how many students will be receiving how many dollars of added value, and where do they expect those dollars to ultimately be going (percentage breakdowns of what schools and universities the students are putting the money towards tuition at

The program is being seeded with $2 million from the city. Let's optimistically say that with private sector contributions and whatnot, they get $35 million which I certainly think is attainable, though I'm skeptical it's a given to happen overnight.

So we have a $35 million endowment. If we spend 5% of that annually, that would be $1.75 million dollars to go around, or an average of about $1000 per graduate. That actually probably would be enough to fund the program when you consider some people won't take advantage of it. But it just seems like it incentivizes college or working a trade to a bunch of kids that may not really have a lot of (let's be honest, Birmingham City Schools here...) the skills, means, or motivation needed to succeed in the next step of life. If you can make school more affordable, even if not totally free, it's going to force students who may otherwise not give higher education a chance to give it a second look. Seems like a win to me.

Of course it's not perfect. But I like the idea.

In practice, who knows. Maybe this program will partially replace other scholarships that you see given out to local students by companies making the net effect closer to zero.

Either way, it's certainly worth exploring imo.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by GotLuv4Bham

Not true! A child that meets all requirements will receive 1/12th of the
money for each year they attended Birmingham City Schools. If you attend all 12 years, you get the full amount.

That's what the al.com article indicated. Phasing it in seems a lot more logical than all or nothing. Perhaps it will keep more kids in school to graduation rather than dropping out.

[GotLuv4Bham]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

That's what the al.com article indicated. Phasing it in seems a lot more logical than all or nothing. Perhaps it will keep more kids in school to graduation rather than dropping out.

My info comes directly from the mayor!



Here is a link to the article explaining what I just stated.....


https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2019...hool-students/


Here is the direct quote from the article........


"The students must live in the city limits of Birmingham and must attend BCS. If a student is in BCS all 12 years and lives in the city limits all 12 years, they are eligible to receive 100 percent of the tuition free said Woodfin.
However, “if you’re only in the system four [years], then you only get 4/12th of the tuition free,” he said. “We want to make sure that this program is for the children who are in Birmingham and have attended Birmingham City Schools in fairness.”

[GotLuv4Bham]

No sane individual would think that families will uproot their kids from top notch school systems in the metro area like say... Hoover, Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia, etc., but I can definitely see families flooding in from metro cities like Tarant, Irondale, Fairfield, Brighton, Lipscomb, Midfield, Center Point, Fultondale, Gardendale, Bessemer, Pelham, Forestdale, Adamsville, etc. They may even start coming in from as far as Tuscaloosa and Anniston. Listen! People who take their children's education seriously, especially those who can't afford it, will do anything to make that dream attainable. The city of Birmingham has pretty much just guaranteed population increases for years to come. Just imagine the best and brightest coming in from all the cities I listed. BCS will instantly have better scores simply because you have better students. This is a win win no matter how you slice it!