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 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 Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's State of the State Address Finance -- Shaping a three-year funding plan to enable schools to focus on innovation and accountability to see superior results. We're asking lawmakers to pass a new K-12 funding plan early this year. This is a significant investment that is needed to increase the base student allocation, district cost factors and intensive needs students. It includes $100 million in school construction and deferred maintenance. -- Three-year Education Plan invests more than a billion dollars each year. We must forward-fund education, letting schools plan ahead. We must stop pink-slipping teachers, and then struggle to recruit and retain them the next year. -- Put $7 billion dollars into the Permanent Fund, Constitutional Budget Reserve, the Education Fund and PERS/TRS debt relief. Health -- Combat alcohol, abuse and suicide through Youth Wellness Initiatives. -- Educate kids about healthy eating and physical activities. High School -- Focus on foundational skills needed in the "real-world" workplace and in college. -- It's a privileged obligation we have to "open education doors." Every child, of every ability, is to be cherished and loved and taught. Every child provides this world hope. They are the most beautiful ingredient in our sometimes muddied up world. Stepping through "the door" is about more than passing a standardized test. We need kids prepared to pass life's tests – like getting a job and valuing a strong work ethic. Workforce Training and Postsecondary -- Boost job training and University options. Proposing more than $10 million in new funding for apprenticeship programs, expansion of construction, engineering and health care degrees to meet demands. It's about results and getting kids excited about their future – whether it is college, trade school or military. -- Make attending Alaska's universities and trade schools a reality for more Alaskans through merit scholarships. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=829 Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's State of the State Address Drugs/Alcohol -- Direct that substance abuse dollars be targeted so that the families of children in the child protective system are first in line for treatment and services. Early Learning -- Implement the voter-approved initiative aimed at early childhood. Beginning with the youngest children, focus on preschool and quality child care, so that children are fully prepared for the all-day kindergarten we now provide. English Language Learners -- 15 percent of students come from families that do not speak English. These students must learn to read, write and speak in English as soon as possible. I put this challenge to legislative leadership: take our tax dollars out of court and put them back in the classroom, where they belong. Health --Implement KidsShare to allow families – who are currently shut out of the health care system – to buy health insurance for their children at the parents' cost, with no subsidy from the state's general fund. -- Direct the Department of Administration to find ways for the State Health Insurance plan to allow all young adults – up to the age of 25 – to continue coverage on their parents' insurance, so long as this can be done in a way that is cost-neutral to taxpayers. High School -- Look at everything – including AIMS – to make sure we're testing for the right things, at the right times, and for the right reasons. Now that we've changed the graduation standards, tests need to be changed to match. -- Make reasonable alternatives available for students who can't succeed in a regular classroom (An Arizona diploma should demonstrate that a student is fully prepared for higher education, whether in a technical or vocational setting, a community college, or a university.) -- Implement strong support for students to meet the higher expectations; reward students when they succeed. -- Create the Centennial Scholars program to guarantee free tuition at Arizona's community colleges or universities for any student who stays out of trouble and maintains at least a "B" average during high school (beginning with the eighth graders of today who are the high school class of 2012 – Arizona's centennial class, and with all the classes that follow). -- Raise the high-school dropout age to 18. Teaching Quality -- Sustain a higher-quality corps of math and science teachers by expanding teacher loan forgiveness, scholarships, and incentives. Tuition -- For students who begin college at an Arizona university, prohibit raising his or her tuition for four years. Postsecondary Completion -- Double the number of bachelor's degrees issued by state universities by 2020. Provide support to universities to increase graduation rates, retain more students, create more options for students in rural areas, enroll more first-generation students, and boost the number of students coming from community colleges. http://www.governor.state.az.us/dms/upload/GS_2008%20SOS%20Address.pdf Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's State of the State Address Economic Development -- Use the new Jobs Cabinet to align Colorado's economic-development strategies, education programs and regional workforce needs, producing a high-quality, 21st century labor force. -- Double the production of technical certificates and college degrees over the next 10 years. To do that, we need our higher ed systems pulling in the same direction, not competing against each other. Finance -- Allocate $59.5 million for postsecondary education, an 8 percent increase to higher-ed funding. And that follows a $52 million, 7.5 percent increase the year before. Health -- Enroll 17,000 more eligible children into CHP+, and undertake major efforts to enroll more eligible families in Medicaid by simplifying, streamlining and modernizing the application and administrative processes. -- Fully fund the Childhood Immunization Information System. P-16 -- Cut the drop-out rate in half within 10 years. -- Align content standards for pre-school through high school with college admission standards (the "Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids") This will take unprecedented collaboration from the Departments of Education and Higher Education to establish new policies that measure actual student learning and proficiency and prepare all Colorado kids for college or a career in the 21st century. -- Move forward on recommendations from Governor Ritter's P-20 Education Coordinating Council: + Offer full-day kindergarten to 22,000 more children over five years, eliminating the current 3,000-child waiting list for the Colorado Pre-School Program + Create a Colorado Counselor Corps that would deploy 70 guidance counselors into targeted middle and high schools to keep students in school and get them ready for college. Safety --Launch the new School Safety Resource Center. The Department of Public Safety will be identifying sites around Colorado to conduct vulnerability assessments, train faculty and students, and provide additional violence-prevention measures to keep students and teachers safe. Work with local educators and prevention groups to create individually tailored safety plans. -- Protect those who can't protect themselves -- including foster children and those with severe developmental disabilities by requesting funding (nearly $500,000) to increase the number of employees who monitor county foster care programs, from just one -- for the entire state -- to seven. Also, request $10.6 million for staffing, facilities and services for people with developmental disabilities. Student Achievement -- Cut the existing achievement gap separating poor and minority students from more affluent and white students of about 30 percentage points to half (within 10 years). http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1199955793227&pagename=GovRitter%2FGOVRLayout Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius' State of the State Address Early Learning -- Extend the state's network of quality early learning opportunities for children during their most formative years. -- Make sure that more Kansas children have a successful start by funding pre-natal care and newborn screening, Parents as Teachers, Early Head Start and quality child care. -- Provide a new Early Childhood Block Grant, driven by research-based programming and accountability measures, focused on at-risk children and under-served areas. -- Fund all-day kindergarten. Economic Development -- Open centers at Colby Community College and Neosho Community College, concentrating on attracting investment, job growth, and business development to our rural areas. Finance -- Extend the current three-year, billion-dollar school finance plan adopted in 2006. Financial Aid -- Invest significant new state resources proposed for post-secondary education, to lower the costs for parents, students and Kansas families. Provide an additional $3 million in scholarship money to ensure that 2,000 more students can afford the opportunity to compete in our new innovation economy. High School -- Fund the Kansas Academy of Math and Science -- to open in 2009 at Fort Hays State University -- to ensure that talented young Kansans have the opportunity to be the next generation of world-class innovators. Teacher Recruitment -- Provide 1 million for teaching scholarships in math, science and technology. http://www.kansascity.com/static/pdfs/2008_sos.pdf Kentucky Goveronor Steve Beshear's State of the Commonwealth Address and Inaugural Address Economic Development -- Investing more in the education of our people to better prepare them to compete in the global economy; creating more opportunities by attracting better paying jobs throughout Kentucky, in industries that promise long-term growth not just for today's workers but also for tomorrow's. -- Better utilize our research institutions to encourage the growth of the industries of the future. Financial Aid, Workforce Training -- Increase college aid and job training. High School -- Send colleges and universities better prepared students. http://governor.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2113F73E-F17B-4714-A589-A81A97236514/0/20080114StateoftheCommonwealth.pdf Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's State of the State Address Focus on four things: 1) A job for every worker. 2) Affordable health care for every family. 3) Safe places to live and work for all of us. 4) Quality education for our citizens - kids and adults. Accountability -- Give our state superintendent broader authority to close schools that consistently fail to meet academic goals. -- Reward colleges and universities when their students complete degrees. Also reward them when they create opportunity for low-income students, and when they find ways to turn research ideas into businesses. Invest more in higher education and expect more in return. Early Learning Significantly expand early childhood education. Economic/Workforce Development -- Create Centers of Excellence across the state to bring alternative energy companies and Michigan universities together to create new products and new jobs. -- Double the number of college graduates to give Michigan the best-educated workforce in the nation. To reach that goal, make progress throughout our education system, from preschool to grad school to on-the-job training. -- Invest more in training for adults already in the workforce. This past year, we took a giant step forward in workforce training when we launched the No Worker Left Behind initiative. Our goal is to give 100,000 workers displaced by changes in our economy access to college education and other training that prepares them for specific high demand jobs. We're offering free tuition for training in areas of need to the first 100,000 workers who sign up. Unfortunately, the huge demand for No Worker Left Behind will soon exhaust the federal funds used to pay for this program. That means Michigan residents who want new skills are on waiting lists when they could be on payrolls. The budget I propose next week will ensure that the thousands who need training are able to get it this year. Finance -- Increase our investment in our K-12 schools and significantly expand early childhood education. Financial Aid -- Expand the vision of the Kalamazoo Promise to communities across our state. (In Kalamazoo, anonymous donors promised full college tuition for every high school graduate.) Tutoring/Mentoring -- Recruiting 10,000 more mentors for kids. High School -- Establish a 21st Century Schools Fund to replace large impersonal high schools that fail, with smaller schools that use firm discipline and strong personal relationships to help students reach high expectations. Free from red tape and bureaucracy, these schools will deploy the new three Rs - rigor, relevance and relationships - to keep students in high school and then get them to college or technical training. Our 21st Century Schools Fund will give school districts the resources they need to create high schools that work. A pioneering group of schools in Michigan is showing us today there is a better way. -- Create 100 more early college high schools to help ensure every student in Michigan leaves high school with the skills it takes to succeed in college and the work place. In the past year, we created six early college high schools, which each partner with a major hospital in our state and a college or university. -- Raise the dropout age to 18. Kindergarten -- Ask all of our school districts to begin offering full day kindergarten. http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168--184537--,00.html Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's State of the State Address Early Learning -- Better utilize the existing early childhood programs that already serve 80% of our four-year-olds…by providing financial incentives for them to expand and improve their educational content. Finance -- Pass an honest balanced budget that recognizes we won't be able to increase K-12 spending nearly that much this session (last several years saw an average increase of $130 million per year for K-12 schools). -- Cannot afford continued, large increases in funding higher education this year. -- Fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. -- Fund education reforms so we can get better results for the money we spend. Find ways to be more efficient and save money. High School -- Continue to support the state superintendent's proposal to redesign high school, to make it more rigorous and especially more relevant to kids who are not on a path to college, as a way to attack our unacceptably high dropout rate. Reading -- Fund the screening of every first grader for dyslexia and other learning disabilities and get them treatment. Teaching Quality -- Compensation: Increase the salaries of teachers with more than 25 years experience. -- Fund mentoring/induction: Give beginning teachers more support as they learn to manage a classroom full of kids. Pay each mentor an extra $1000 for this valuable service. http://www.governorbarbour.com/speeches/2008SOS.htm Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's State of the State Address High School, Economic/Workforce Development -- Stop thinking about high school as an end in itself. Whether through college or technical training, our young people must be brought up with the expectation that they need to continue their education beyond high school. -- Create the Seniors to Sophomores to give every twelfth grader who meets the academic requirements a choice of spending their senior year in their home high school, or spending it on a University System of Ohio campus. Tuition for the year will be free. The goal is to raise the aspirations of all students, to challenge students who might feel disengaged from their high school studies, and to help students who want to accelerate their college education. -- Work to ensure that all our schools can meet the needs of all our students in this globally competitive environment by creating learning environments that foster and nurture creativity, innovation, and global competency. Six core principles will guide our efforts to achieve that vision. First, we cannot address our education challenges without strengthening our commitment to public education. Second, a modern education must be directly linked to economic prosperity. Ohio cannot thrive without understanding that world class schools will produce a talented workforce, and a talented workforce will attract and create jobs. Third, we need to identify the great strengths of our schools. There are features in our education system that the rest of the world seeks to emulate, and we must build on these triumphs. We excel internationally in our ability to foster creativity and innovation. These skills fuel a lifetime of success, especially in an evolving global economy. Our schools must teach students to think past the limits of what's been done, and imagine what could be done. Fourth, our best teachers can show us what works best in the classroom. We need to consult them and follow their lead. Great teachers can be a resource not only for their students but for their fellow educators. We should support these teachers by giving them the freedom to stay in the classroom and still be rewarded for sharing their expertise with their peers. We lose a lot of new teachers – as many as half of all new teachers leave the profession in the first 5 years – but we can help keep these talented people by giving them better access to senior colleagues. Fifth, we must strive to develop a specific, personalized education program that identifies how each individual student learns and use the teaching methods appropriate to that student's needs and abilities. And sixth, testing and assessment will continue to answer accountability questions. But their most important role will be to guide personalized and individualized education through a comprehensive and ongoing understanding of a student's capabilities and weaknesses and growth in the educational process. I will be guided by these principles as I draft my plan not only for funding, but also for reforming our schools. Governance -- Ensure, like higher education, that there is a direct line of responsibility and accountability in K through 12 education -- so that elected and appointed leaders are working together to strengthen education in Ohio. (In 2007, the legislature gave the Governor authority to appoint the Chancellor of Higher Education.) -- Create a new position: the director of the Department of Education. This office would be appointed by the governor, subject to approval by the Senate. The director would have oversight over all Department of Education efforts. The existing structure, including the State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Schools, would remain in place in advisory and additional roles as determined by the director. Postsecondary Access -- Our Chancellor of Higher Education is required to construct a ten-year plan for Ohio's colleges and universities. This plan will raise the quality of all our academic programs, and will guarantee that anyone who is prepared and qualified will be able to afford to go. We will do this by operating creatively and efficiently, building centers of excellence, and increasing the amount of funds we raise publicly and privately for financial aid. -- Build a system that is flexible enough to serve the potential students we are missing. Provide Ohioans what they need to succeed in the 21st century – access to high-quality, affordable associate and bachelor's degrees. The ten-year plan for the University System of Ohio will guarantee that a high quality associate and bachelor's degree in the academic fields necessary to land a good job will be available on a campus within thirty miles of every Ohioan. For students seeking a bachelor's degree, Ohio is now among the ten most expensive states. Under our plan, every Ohioan will have access to a high-quality bachelor's degree that will rank among the ten least expensive in the nation. http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=799 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 South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's State of the State Address Choice, Charter Schools -- Give the families of modest incomes a lifeline, and a scholarship, out of a failing school. -- Improve the grounds on which charter schools are established in our state, as too often new public charter schools are still not able to use existing educational facilities or be afforded transportation options. Finance -- Establish a statutory cap on new spending at population plus inflation with a requirement that all money above this cap be returned to the taxpayers or dedicated to our states unfunded pension plan. -- Acknowledge the fact we can no longer afford the Teacher and Employee Retiree Incentive program, and the defined employee benefit option in its present form, and limit it to the people already in the system. -- Move toward a funding system based on a per-pupil public expenditure - rather than funding districts in lump sums. High School -- Be open to very different approaches as we proposed in the Executive Budget, like offering a scholarship for students who graduate early from high school. School Districts -- Consolidate school districts - our lines are still too often tied to the 1950's - the cost of which can be measured in facilities and administrative duplication. -- Seriously address how we build schools as our population grows. Neighborhood schools are now allowed, but to date we have not really seen them implemented. Tuition/Fees -- Link the price of higher education to its cost. By capping its increase we would force coordination - key to preventing higher education from continuing to spiral out of the reach of working families.  http://www.scgovernor.com/news/releases/jan_16_08.htm Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's State of the State Address Economic Development -- Build an educated workforce ready to compete around the world. Financial Aid -- Continue to make college affordable by continuing to help students know that if they do their part there will be an opportunity in higher education for them. Continue to advance the Wisconsin Covenant. For students who are willing to work hard, play by the rules, and make the grade, there will be an opportunity in higher education for them. Health -- Launch BadgerCare Plus and fulfill our moral obligation to every child in this state by providing every single child the health care they need at a price their family can afford. -- Help families who struggle with autism by requiring insurance companies to cover the cost of autism treatment.  High School -- Pass legislation to make a third year of math and a third year of science mandatory for high school graduation. Teacher Compensation -- Invest in a compensation system that rewards teachers who take on the hardest assignments, who advance their skills, and who help their students achieve success. http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail_print.asp?prid=3122&locid=19 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