The Economic Case For Strong Schools

Last week I sounded off about the importance of compensating teachers from the MOST important standpoint of the well being and potential future of our kids and grand-kids - YOU KNOW, the students that interact with the teachers. (Click Here to Read That.)

Please allow me to switch to my Business Owner Hat for this short piece in which I will demonstrate the economic power of kick ass schools like we have in Lowell.

Julie and I own our building. It was built in 1868 and there are two more floors above Chimera Design, the full service jewelry store we have operated here on Main Street in Lowell since 2002. We, along with four other building owners, would love to put some apartments above our retail space for a number of reasons.

This morning I met with Ryan Fitzpatrick from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. He has done extensive work of this kind in downtown Grand Rapids. He oversees grant money from the State that could help little operators like Julie and I afford to put in 3-4 apartments above the store. I was at the meeting with Mike Rogers, our City Manager, owners of 3 other buildings and representatives of two local banks: Mercantile and Huntington.

I will not bore you with all the ins and outs of trying to get grant money, but I must tell you how the power of our great school system can potentially affect at least four downtown buildings/businesses. Early on Ryan explained that he considered us kind of a test case to see if the program could work for small fry folk and not just the big dollar crowd.

At one point I asked Ryan if the potential grant money was readily available or if it was a nice rainbow for me to chase after. (I like to cut through the fog whenever I can.) He said words to this effect: He considers Lowell to be the BEST small town candidate for this program in all of West Michigan. In my mind I was thinking about our trails, access to the Flat River and Grand River, the restaurants we have and general walkability of Lowell - then he cut through all of that and said:

The number one thing Lowell has in its favor is the school system. He cited several other small towns that I will not name and explained that while they had cool down town areas that fit the desired criteria for young professionals (i.e. all the stuff I was thinking of), their schools could not hold a candle to ours. He even went so far to say that if he were considering moving his family, which includes an 8 year old and a 2 year old, anywhere - it would be Lowell because of our schools.

So - the next time you see Superintendent Greg Pratt or anyone who works for Lowell schools in ANY capacity - tell them they are doing one fantastic job. Thanks Lowell Schools - one of the great side effects of you all doing such a great job at what YOU do is probably going to help Julie and I make our business even better.