State of the City 2010: Stephanie Miner at the podium; Common Councilors Tom Seals, Matt Rayo and Nader Maroun take in the  pomp and circumstance after Miner’s speech. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTOS

Say Yes to Education was Stephanie Miner’s signature issue as a member of the Common Council and it spilled over into her campaign for Syracuse mayor. On Thursday night, Jan. 28, during a pretty good snowstorm, she made it a focal point of her first State of the City address, delivered on the College of Environmental Science and Forestry campus before a packed crowd in Marshall Hall. To emphasize her commitment to the program, now in its second year, Miner sought to convey a simple message: “Say Yes is for everyone.” During the speech and in interviews with reporters afterward, Miner committed the city to offering Choice Grants of up to $5,000 to any graduate of a city high school who chooses to go to a private school but whose family earns more than $75,000.While most of Say Yes funds are being spent to help students learn, it is the program’s promise of a free college education that has turned many heads. Six-hundred graduates are already attending college with help from Say Yes, and 2,500 high-schoolers are receiving extra support from Say Yes tutors, mentors, social workers and others.

The consensus among city leaders of all stripes has been that the scholarship offer has the potential to attract and retain middle-class families, bolster the city’s tax base and revive urban neighborhoods. Currently the Say Yes program offers scholarships to students graduating from city high schools and going on to attend State University of New York schools, Syracuse University or Cooper Union. Another 26 private schools offered scholarships as well, but later limited them to those whose families earn less than $75,000.

The fallout from the private schools’ decision threatened to undermine Say Yes. The program, said Miner, “can be transformational for our city, but right now the program is at its most vulnerable. I am pleased to announce the Say Yes program will be enhanced to provide additional options for students from families with incomes of $75,000 and over. Students will be able to transfer the value of an available SUNY tuition scholarship to any participating Say Yes private college.”

These Choice Grants would be the equivalent of SUNY tuition for those students—up to $5,000 annually. Just one problem: Say Yes does not provide the equivalent; it only pays for SUNY tuition if you go to a SUNY school. So where would the transfer come from?

Miner estimated that the Choice Grants would cost the city $300,000 in the first year, with increases in subsequent years. The mayor indicated in her post-speech interview that this grant was available to current high school seniors—

students making their college choices right now. Asked where the money would come from, she replied, “I can’t say for sure. We’re going to do whatever it takes to raise the money. This is our commitment.”

Elsewhere in her speech, the mayor painted a grim picture of the city’s finances, noting that this year’s budget is balanced only because the previous administration used $33.2 million from the city’s reserves to plug a deficit. With federal, state and county funds all at a premium in this recession climate, it seemed appropriate to ask where the new money for Say Yes was going to be found.

Will “whatever it takes” include asking for a tax hike? “It’s premature to be asking that,” said Miner. “I don’t even think we can raise taxes to get $300,000 just for that.”

During her speech Miner talked of being with mayors from all over the country in Washington, D.C., last week, then coming to realize that Syracuse shared the same problems. But none have the promise of Say Yes. Afterward Miner elaborated on the vulnerability the program faces.

“The Say Yes Choice Grant is important,” she said, “to get people to believe in it. The unfortunate thing is that people have looked at Say Yes and said, ‘This is too good to be true.’ The outcome of the income cap was that people reacted and said it was too good to be true.”

Democratic Councilor-at-Large Bill Ryan applauded the Miner speech as one of the best he’s ever heard. “More stuff than fluff,” said Ryan. While he shared the mayor’s commitment to Say Yes, he was also vague about how it would be funded. “It’s in its sophomore year,” said Ryan, speaking of Say Yes, “and sophomore year can be tough.”

Ryan, a close ally of the mayor, said he first heard of Miner’s idea to beef up Say Yes about a week ago. While he believes the proposal would require Common Council action, he had not heard of any plans to alter the budget to provide a line item for the grants. Ryan suggested that some funds might be shifted from other aspects of the Say Yes program, perhaps those that provide academic and social supports to enable students to succeed.

Contacted immediately after the speech, Mary Ann Schmitt-Carey, the president of Say Yes, was clear that her organization, which has already spent $10 million in Syracuse, was not volunteering to raise the funds for the Choice Grants. Syracuse City School District Superintendent Dan Lowengard said he wasn’t going to commit the Syracuse City School District to find the money, either.

Still, Schmitt-Carey, who was singled out for applause during the State of the City, praised Mayor Miner’s words and actions. “The people of Syracuse are very fortunate to have her,” said Schmitt-Carey. “She’s phenomenally smart, she does her homework, and she has a commitment to work collaboratively. She has made it clear that she is going to do whatever it takes to allow Say Yes to be fully implemented and fulfill its promise.”

Tim Carroll, Miner’s director of Mayoral Initiatives, told The New Times that the money for the Choice Grants could be included in the next fiscal year’s budget, which won’t be presented until April. “We will make a commitment in the next year’s budget cycle. The mayor is committed to making this happen,” said Carroll.

Carroll further indicated that “the partners in Say Yes, a combination of federal, state and private sources, have committed to making this happen.” Not so, according to Dan Maffei’s Chief of Staff Michael Whyland. “We have obtained a $300,000 appropriation for Say Yes this year, and we would be willing to entertain a request for new funds for the next budget year, but as of yet no such request has been made.” Maffei is also a strong Miner supporter.

Matt Rayo, the newly elected 1st District councilor, was also on the list of the mayor’s honorees. The youngest member of the Common Council was celebrating his 24th birthday and received Miner’s well wishes from the podium.

Rayo, a Republican, defeated Democratic incumbent Michael Heagerty in November. He applauded the mayor’s energy and her proposals, and was especially pleased to have the focus of the city for a night on his alma mater. “I took a lot of classes in Marshall Hall, in that same auditorium,” said Rayo, a 2008 ESF graduate.

Like Miner, he feels the Say Yes Choice Grant is necessary, but did not want to consider a tax increase to pay for it. “I think it can come from cost-cutting,” said Rayo, who further praised Miner’s agenda. “The things she wants to do—joining economic development offices with the county, cutting administrative costs at the Community Development offices—those are all bipartisan issues I can support. Most of the things the city faces are not ideological or party issues. I like the agenda she set out. It could be tougher {to keep the bipartisan tone} once budget season rolls around.”

While city leaders struggled to decide how to fund this new aspect of the program, Schmitt-Carey offered a way for individuals to help. Contributions can be sent to the “Say Yes Fund” at the CNY Community Foundation, 500 S. Salina St. “It’s a smart investment,” said Schmitt-Carey. “It’s the best money the city could possibly spend.”