'Promise' is a truly great idea

Every once in awhile an idea comes along that is so smart and makes so much sense, you want to smack your forehead in amazement that it hadn’t occurred to you before.
That’s the case with Jay County Promise.
The idea isn’t homegrown. A group of folks interested in improving educational performance in Jay County encountered it at a meeting in Wabash earlier this year.
And they didn’t just encounter it, they embraced it.
Jay County Promise starts with something that’s both simple and unusual, Indiana laws regarding what are called 529 plans. The plans — a saving system for post-high school education — were created by Congress. But someone in the Indiana General Assembly had the remarkable foresight to push through legislation that makes those plans more attractive than in most of the United States.
Anyone anywhere in the U.S. can start a 529 plan to help fund a kid’s education, but Indiana rewards that decision with one of the best incentives around, a tax credit of 20 percent — not a tax deduction but a real credit off your state taxes of 20 percent of the amount deposited to a 529 plan account up to a credit of $1,000 a year.
But while that tax incentive has been around for a while, not enough people are taking advantage of it.
Jay County Promise sets out to change that. It starts from an acknowledgment that not enough local high school graduates are going on to higher education, and it recognizes the fact that more go on to further their education when they have some savings on hand.
Here’s how it works.
This year, thanks to The Portland Foundation, John Jay Center for Learning, Jay Schools, the United Way, Jay County Chamber of Commerce and Jay County Development Corporation, every kid in grades kindergarten through three whose parents sign up to start a 529 plan will get $25 deposited in the account. If the family then deposits $25 of its own before the end of the year, that $50 will be matched, bringing the kid’s college savings plan to $100.
After that — with the account established — it’s simply a matter of family and friends steering a few dollars in the right direction. One less video game around the Christmas tree translates into more money saved for college.
It’s as if Jay County Promise has invented the piggy bank, and more than a few pennies have been put in the bank to give it a start.
Why does this matter? Because higher education is going to be the key to success for more and more of us in the future, and because any child who knows that people care enough to save for his or her future will find it possible to dream bigger and brighter than ever before. — J.R.