2008 State of the State Addresses Education-Related Proposals by Issue

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2008 state of the state addresses. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format. To view the documents, click on the blue triangle next to the state. Accountability 2 Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions 2 Accountability--School Improvement 3 Assessment 2 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Drugs/Alcohol 4 Attendance 1 Bilingual/ESL 1 Career/Technical Education 3 Career/Technical Education--Career Academies/Apprenticeship 1 Choice of Schools 1 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 1 Counseling/Guidance 1 Curriculum 2 Curriculum--Arts Education 1 Curriculum--Mathematics 2 Curriculum--Science 3 Economic/Workforce Development 22 Finance 4 Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost 3 New Hampshire Governor John Lynch's State of the State Address Finance -- Give people a chance to vote and pass a constitutional amendment to allow us to direct more aid to communities with greater needs. it is not good policy to send the same base amount of education aid to every school district before we help the schools that really need it. Yet that is what the Supreme Court has said we must do. That type of approach does not reduce the inequity that exists between schools. It only widens disparities and maintains the status quo. Safety -- Enact the Online Child Safety Act to modernize our laws to protect our children from the threats of the 21st century. This Act would Increase penalties for enticing children over the Internet; toughen laws on repeat offenders; and require convicted sex offenders to register their email addresses and online identities. Postsecondary -- Help more of our young people go on to higher education. http://www.nh.gov/governor/speeches/documents/012308state.htm Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell's Budget Address 2008-2009 Accountability -- Call for the Department of Education to serve a special watchdog function for fifty-five school districts identified statewide as needing improvement. For these districts, the Department must approve all individual school district plans for investing new taxpayer dollars, so that we can be confident that the resources are being targeted in the most effective manner for the children of these schools. -- Live up to the commitment that by 2014 every student in our schools will be able to read, write and do math at grade level. Dual Enrollment -- Continue to support dual enrollment programs that offer high school students the chance to earn college credit. Early Learning -- Continue to support Pre-K Counts, which together with other early childhood resources means that next year 35% of our eligible children will be enrolled in a quality pre-K program. Finance -- Continue to support the Accountability Block Grant, which is responsible for boosting full-day kindergarten rate up to 63%. -- Provide a 5.9% increase in the Basic Education subsidy, and $30.3 million more for the Special Education subsidy. -- Incorporate the findings of the Costing-Out Study. -- Include a new funding formula that phases-in over six years the funds to help all Pennsylvania school districts reach the funding targets established by this ground-breaking research. This new approach to school funding accomplishes three goals: • Ensures adequate resources for every school district; • Demands the establishment of new measures to provide strict accountability to Pennsylvania taxpayers; and • Charts a course for future funding that is both responsible and sustainable, subject to the challenges of the state budget or the national economy. -- Anticipate that it will take six years to phase in the state share of adequacy funding. -- Rely on strict accountability controls for the use of these new resources. -- Require that new state funds over the Act 1 index rate be spent on programs that improve student achievement such as extra time for learning, new and more rigorous courses, advanced teacher training, early childhood education, bolstering the recruitment of more effective teachers and administrators, and then making sure that the compensation for these school leaders is tied to performance as well. High School -- Continue to support Classrooms for the Future, which has parents, teachers and students abuzz with excitement about this new way of learning in high schools. Science -- Continue to support the nationally respected Science: It's Elementary program. http://www.state.pa.us/papower/lib/papower/08-09_budget/governors-budget-address.pdf Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri's State of the State Message Compensation -- Health Insurance Benefits -- Remove the designation of any specific health care provider from all local contracts. It will allow one, umbrella health care contract that would include all state, municipal, and school employees. This will save tens of millions of dollars for property taxpayers by creating competitive bidding by the health insurers. Using this approach, the state will achieve over $41M in savings over the life of the contract. Finance --Reduce overall state spending by $300M -- impacting all state employees, all state vendors, contractors and providers, and all municipalities. A reduction of this magnitude will reach across the three major areas of all state spending. 1) Personnel expenses that include: (wages, health care costs, and pensions); 2) Welfare, social service, and entitlement programs; and 3) Payments from the state to municipal governments for schools and other services. -- Ask the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) to undertake a comprehensive review of the cost of our existing school system. http://www.governor.ri.gov/documents/statemessage08.pdf Finance--Facilities 10 Finance--Funding Formulas 5 Finance--Lotteries 1 Finance--Resource Efficiency 2 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 17 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 8 Governance 2 Governance--Deregulation/Waivers/Home Rule 2 Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies 1 Health 13 High School 11 High School--Advanced Placement 1 High School--College Readiness 1 High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment 1 High School--Early Colleges/Middle Colleges 1 International Benchmarking 1 Leadership 2 Mentoring/Tutoring 1 No Child Left Behind 1 No Child Left Behind--Choice/Transfer 1 No Child Left Behind--School Support 2 Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses 2 P-16 or P-20 3 P-3 16 P-3 Child Care 1 P-3 Ensuring Quality 1 P-3 Kindergarten 5 P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten 1 P-3 Preschool 6 Parent/Family 3 Postsecondary 8 Postsecondary Accountability 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 16 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 6 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees--Prepd/College Savings Plans 1 Postsecondary Finance 5 Postsecondary Governance and Structures 3 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 5 Postsecondary Participation--Access 3 Postsecondary Students--Adults 4 Postsecondary Success--Completion 2 Reading/Literacy 2 Remediation (K-12) 2 Scheduling/School Calendar 3 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 2 School Safety 8 School/District Structure/Operations 2 School/District Structure/Operations--Transportation 1 Special Education 2 Standards 2 State Longitudinal Data Systems 1 STEM 8 Student Achievement 1 Student Achievement--Closing the Achievement Gap 1 Teaching Quality 5 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure 1 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 13 Teaching Quality--Induction Programs and Mentoring 2 Teaching Quality--Preparation 2 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 5 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--At-Risk Schools 1 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 1 Technology 4 Technology--Computer Skills 1 Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware 1 Technology--Internet Safety 1 308