[Pacg] The Davenport Promise - SF 2421

[Carolina 1961]

*From the PACG Education Forum:*

*Senate File SF2421* is currently in the Iowa House Ways and Means Committee
and is expected to come to the floor for a vote as early as today. This bill
will potentially provide the funding for The Davenport Promise by allowing
Davenport voters to decide by a referendum.

If you live in Iowa, please contact your local legislators and ask them to
support SF2421
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/FindLeg/


*The Davenport Promise:*

 The breakthrough idea of the Davenport Promise is to help every child in
our community to reach their full potential.

Each Davenport student would be provided funds for college tuition or
vocational training after graduating high school.

Students who choose military service would be welcomed back to Davenport
with a homestead grant when they complete their service to the nation.

The Davenport Promise is for all children who live in Davenport.

Starting with the Class of 2008, students attending public schools,
parochial schools, home schooled or obtaining a G.E.D. within two years of
leaving school would be eligible.
 Students in high school who are open enrolled outside their home district
for the 2007/2008 school year will be fully eligible. Davenport students in
the class of 2012 and beyond, if enrolled in a public school, must be
enrolled in their home district. (Davenport children residing in the
Bettendorf school district are eligible.)
 Students would be required to participate in community service each year
while in high school to be eligible. A full range of community service
opportunities will be available, and exemptions will be granted for teens
with life circumstances that make community service impossible.

 The Davenport Promise will be administered by a local board. Every dollar
of public funding will be directly invested in the program, with
administrative costs underwritten by non-tax sources.

*Funding* (SF 2421)

In Davenport, the program could receive major funding by reallocating 90% of
the existing local option sales tax to Promise, with the remaining 10%
dedicated to public safety. This penny of sales tax is already being
collected, with 60% for property tax reduction and 40% funding capital
improvements such as street and sewer repair. The 1% local option sales tax
generates $13.6 million annually in Davenport.

Only Davenport voters can reallocate the local option sales tax, and only by
a referendum. If they do so, the City Council would be required to adjust
its capital program. This adjustment could include a temporary tax rate
increase to fund capital projects as community growth progresses, but the
idea is the growing tax base will fund the city budget. If they do so, the
City Council would be required to adjust its capital program. This
adjustment could include a temporary tax rate increase to fund capital
projects as community growth progresses, but the idea is the growing tax
base will fund the city budget.
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