Back in November, at PromiseNet in New Haven, San Marcos Unified Schools Superintendent Kevin Holt served as a panelist for a session called “The Promise Is Not The Beginning,” focusing on the required pre-conditions to start a Promise program. That’s Holt on the far right in the photo above at Yale SOM following the Cities of Promise Town Hall.

Dr. Holt had been a driving force in the establishment of PACE Promise — a partnership between the school district, California State University-San Marcos and the Leichtag Foundation, which provided the funding. In the last five years, PACE Promise has provided financial and academic support to more than 300 students.

But now he is aiming for something larger; something that Logan Jenkins of San Diego’s Union-Tribune calls “PACE on steroids.” On Friday, Dr. Holt will host a city-wide town hall forum, to include political and business leaders, to discuss the creation of the San Marcos Promise, a $100-million investment in the students of the city.

On the table are everything from a parcel tax to a sales tax hike or even sugar daddies like the anonymous donors who have been floating The Kalamazoo Promise in Michigan for nine years now. Dr. Holt wants a multi-investment approach to his goal in making San Marcos the educational hub of the San Diego metro. “I don’t want to depend solely on foundations and corporations,” he told Jenkins.

Jenkins, who is moderating Friday’s forum, calls the proposal a “moon shot.” But we must remember, the moon was conquered.