ECS
2012 State of the State Address
Education-Related Proposals
Massachusetts


Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 810 • Denver, CO 80203-3442 • 303.299.3600 • fax 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2012 state of the state address. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format.

Governor Deval Patrick's State of the State Address

PROPOSALS

Community Colleges, Economic/Workforce Development
--Community colleges are uniquely positioned to help close the state's skills gap and get people back to work. Community colleges must become a fully integrated part of the state's workforce development plan.  They must be aligned with:
+ Employers, voc-tech schools and Workforce Investment Boards in the regions where they operate
+ Each other in core course offerings
+ The Commonwealth's job growth strategy.
--Channel more state workforce training dollars through the community colleges.

Community College Funding, Governance
--Create a unified community college system to:
+ Help students find courses specifically tailored to meet local workforce needs alongside a core curriculum that emphasizes STEM subjects and with credits that are easily transferable to another community college or a four-year college.
+ Create "learn and earn" programs across the entire state enabling students to get practical workplace experience while completing course work.  
+ Offer the students the opportunity to earn a certificate of workplace readiness, opening doors in their chosen field anywhere in the state. And as they near course completion, offer one-stop career centers right on campus to help them move into, or back into, the workplace.
--Streamline the funding and governance of community colleges, and increase overall funding by $10 million.
--Challenge to the business community: Match that new funding with an additional $10 million.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Public Employee Pensions
--Made meaningful reforms in the pension system.

Student Safety
--Legislature approved and funded the "Safe and Successful Youth Initiative." 

Student Achievement
--Massachusetts students lead the nation in overall achievement and the world in math and science.

http://www.mass.gov/governor/pressoffice/speeches/23012012state-of-the-commonwealth-address.html