County board votes 3-2 to give to scholarship program

Dec. 21—The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners on a split vote Tuesday approved contributing $20,000 a year for the next five years to the new Freeborn County Community Promise Scholarship.

Commissioners Dan Belshan and Brad Edwin voted against the action.

The scholarship program is in the works to provide two years of free Riverland Community College education to graduates of Albert Lea, Glenville-Emmons and Alden-Conger high schools. Students would have to meet criteria to be eligible.

The county board vote came on the heels of a vote by the Albert Lea City Council last week to contribute the same amount to the program, which organizers hope will not only help educate the county's students but also expose them to area businesses and in the end keep them in the community to work at local businesses.

Albert Lea Economic Development Agency Executive Director Phillip Johnson said he also hopes the program can help Albert Lea and Freeborn County be competitive, particularly compared to neighboring cities of Austin, Owatonna and Mason City. He referenced a similar program already in place in Austin that is funded by the Hormel Foundation.

Through the scholarship, Johnson said students would apply for funding through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program first, and the Community Promise Scholarship would pick up the remaining gap not covered by federal or other student aid.

In a workshop with the commissioners in October, Janelle Koepke, dean of institutional advancement with Riverland Community College, outlined the criteria that the organizers are considering. At that time, proposals called for the high school graduates to have either a GPA of 2.5 or higher, an ACT test score of 18 or higher, an ASVAB test score of 31 or higher or a still-to-be-determined Accuplacer test score. Students must be graduates of one of the three high schools, live in Freeborn County and begin attending Riverland within a year of their graduation.

She said criteria may change as funds are raised to support the scholarship, and the intent will always be to set the criteria to ensure that as many students as possible are able to access the scholarship. In addition to the city of Albert Lea, the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce and ALEDA have also already committed funds and they will be seeking out other business and industry partners to contribute to the program as well.

Koepke said in October that depending on when the funding is raised, the program could start with the class of 2023 or class of 2024. Students graduating prior to the starting class will not be eligible for the scholarship but would be encouraged to apply for other scholarships available through Riverland.

Second District Commissioner Dan Belshan said during the Tuesday meeting he did not think that the program fit under a core service that the county is tasked with providing and that the taxpayers he has spoken to about the program are not in favor of supporting it.

"This is not the time to do it," Belshan said.

He said he thought Johnson should have waited until the new commissioners come on board to ask the board to vote. He also questioned the legality of the county giving out scholarships like this and asked whether it was legal to hold future board members hands to the vote.

Edwin said he had also not received good feedback from constituents about the program.

He said while he thinks the county should be involved with economic development, there are other ways it can do that. He also pointed out that there is no obligation that once the students are done with college that they stay in the community.

Third District Commissioner John Forman asked if the scholarship would cover food, housing and transportation.

Johnson said it could cover that in some situations but they have also considered a stipulation that the student would need to pay for things like books and housing.

In response to Belshan about the timing of coming to the board for a vote, Johnson said he wanted to get support of the city, county, chamber and ALEDA before going out to the major employers in the area for financial participation.

"It's going to have to be a team effort," he said.