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 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 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 Iowa Governor Chet Culver's State of the State Address Early Learning -- Expand early childhood education so we can meet our goal of offering it statewide by 2010. Economic/Workforce Development -- Create a $5 million dollar science, technology, engineering, and math – or STEM – Center at the University of Northern Iowa. This will help us double the number of math and science teachers in our public schools and make sure every high school graduate is ready for the jobs of the future. Financial Aid -- Expand the needs-based All-Iowa Opportunity Scholarship. Health -- Establish a minimum standard for physical activity in our schools. -- Partner with the American Diabetes Association and other groups to create a statewide focus on wellness for our children. -- Take the steps necessary to replace unhealthy food choices in our schools. We need statewide effort to promote healthier school meals, and better options when it comes to vending machines. -- Meet the obligation we have to the most vulnerable among us, our uninsured children. Expand health care to 7,500 more kids. Postsecondary -- Maintain the funding levels for community colleges, regents' institutions and private colleges. -- Fully fund our successful community college level workforce training program, known as ACE. Standards/Curriculum -- Raise the bar and expect more from our students in the classroom. Do whatever it takes to institute Iowa's new Model Core Curriculum statewide by 2010. Our goal is simple, to teach our kids to "love to learn", to love to learn more chemistry, more physics, more algebra, and more trigonometry. -- Make sure that all Iowa students receive the same educational opportunities, regardless of geography, family income, or school district. Teacher Compensation -- Pay our teachers what they deserve, and do whatever it takes to bring them to the national average in teacher pay. http://www.governor.iowa.gov/administration/speeches/080115-condition-of-the-state.pdf Missouri Governor Matt Blunt's State of the State Address Economic Development -- STEM -- Increase investment in math and science education. To ensure that the next generation enjoys even greater prosperity, we must provide our students with a world-class education in math, engineering, technology, and science. -- Invest $5 million to create 100 technologically-advanced classrooms and to equip 300 classrooms with advanced math and science curriculum. Exceptional Children -- Invest $5 million for the Thompson Center in Columbia, a world-class treatment and research facility we will help build right here in central Missouri. Combined, this funding will improve the lives of Missouri families struggling with autism. Extended School Days -- Invest $1.1 million for after-school programs, which help students learn, stay fit, stay safe, and stay out of trouble. Finance -- Over four years, we will have invested an additional $1.2 billion in education. -- Significantly increase funding at all levels – from pre-school to graduate school. Elementary and secondary schools receive an increase of $121 million, or more than 4 percent from last year. Missouri colleges and universities receive more than $54.2 million in direct funding, an increase of more than 6 percent. That includes funding to train more doctors, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists to meet the health care needs of Missourians. -- Stop excessive local increases in property tax by developing tax reform that includes truth in taxation and mandatory levy rollbacks. Financial Aid -- Continue to increase scholarship funding -- more than $25 million for A+ student scholarships, helping more than 20,000 Missourians attend community colleges, nearly doubling the program's funding since January of 2005. -- Quadruple investment in needs-based scholarships by allocating $100 million for Access Missouri scholarships. High School -- Invest three-quarters of a million dollars to train nearly 1,000 new Advanced Placement teachers and to help more than 6,000 Missouri students take Advanced Placement tests. Postsecondary -- Invest in better classrooms and labs at the higher education level. -- Make further investments such as $31 million for construction, renovation, and improvement of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at the University of Missouri, and another $15 million for the Pharmacy and Nursing Building at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Safety/Student Discipline -- Increase total funding to $1.5 million for Cyber Crime Task Forces grants so that law enforcement can catch predators before they harm a Missouri child. http://gov.missouri.gov/State_of_the_State_2008.pdf Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman's State of the State Address Ensure a pre-kindergarten through college education system that is accountable, affordable, efficient, and student focused. Accountability, Standards -- Accountability requires measuring school district academic success and Nebraska needs a simplified student measurement system for comparing school district performance. The goal is better testing, not more testing. School district leaders need to focus their time and energy on closing the academic achievement gap. More parents need to be involved in their children's education. More rigorous academic standards are needed in our schools and overall academic performance must be improved. Economic Development -- Create a new tier of performance based incentives that reward the creation of higher paying jobs through a new program called the Nebraska Super Advantage. The Nebraska Super Advantage is about the next decade and the next generation of Nebraskans. Finance -- Expand the tax relief package passed during the 2007 session by directing an additional $75 million to property tax reductions. -- Fully-fund the state aid to schools formula. Provide an additional $53 million in funding for K-12 schools in FY 2008-09, bringing the state's appropriation for K-12 education to more than $900 million next year. Health -- Reverse the trend of childhood obesity. Obesity is a problem that needs to be addressed in our schools, in our work places, in our homes, and in our communities. This issue doesn't require a new law. It's about eating properly and exercising regularly. Both children and adults need to be physically active. State Student Information System -- Fund development of a single student information system for the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska State College System. Postsecondary -- Nebraska's higher education system should also be more accountable, more integrated and more efficient. The University of Nebraska, our state colleges and our community colleges can work together in a more cooperative manner. The University of Nebraska is a key component to Nebraska's future and they must redefine their priorities to reflect the education and financial challenges of the 21st century. -- Increasing the college attendance rate is critical. Expanded enrollment means increased tuition revenue growth which is necessary given the fiscal realities of the state budget. -- Increased enrollments and revenues to our colleges through innovation like the University of Nebraska at Omaha's differential tuition rate to attract more students to UNO are important. http://www.gov.state.ne.us/speeches/2008_01/200801StateOfTheState.pdf 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 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's State of the State Address Accountability--School Improvement -- For those schools identified as needing improvement, we won't give a bad grade and walk away. Instead, we are going try to help these schools. We are going to apply new academic approaches. We are going to provide new incentives for success. And we are going to boost hands-on training for teachers. Arts Education -- Maintain commitment to the arts so it remains a key part of every child's education. Early Learning -- Create Pre-K opportunities for an additional 2,000 children, which will help us close the achievement gap – before it starts. Finance--Facilities -- Require any new higher education buildings to meet a higher standard of energy efficiency, and current buildings to lower their energy usage through efficiency improvements. -- Invest another 211 million dollars to improve and modernize our elementary, middle and high schools. -- Invest 152 million to build state of the art facilities for our university and college campuses. Health -- Continue progress on making sure every child has a healthy breakfast, mandatory physical education -- whether they live in an urban area or the most rural setting. Postsecondary -- Help scientists, physicians and researchers at the University of New Mexico unlock the potential of stem cell research—and help find the cures for our world's most deadly diseases. -- Create the first dental school in New Mexico to address our state's gaps in oral health care. Teaching Quality -- Spend an additional 60-million dollars to continue to increase teacher and educational employee salaries. http://www.governor.state.nm.us/2008%20State%20of%20the%20State.pdf New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's State of the State Address Accountability -- This year, with the support of the Regents, our partners in this effort, we will take education accountability to the next level. We will set improvement targets for specific school districts, and for specific schools. We will track the progress of individual schools every single year, and we will intervene in districts and in schools that are still failing. Also see the Education Accountability Fact Sheet: http://www.ny.gov/governor/sos/fact_sheet6.html Health -- Fully fund the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program -- providing affordable coverage for every single child in this State. -- Pass the Healthy Schools Act to take junk food out of schools. Ask Comptroller DiNapoli to help enforce the State's strong, but widely ignored, physical education requirements by including them in his regular school district audits. Postsecondary, Community Colleges and Economic Development -- Last year we focused on pre-school to grade twelve. This year, we must also look beyond high school to our colleges and universities. -- Over the next five years, hire 2,000 new full-time faculty members for SUNY and CUNY, including 250 eminent scholars – the type of professors whose research draws grants and collaboration from around the globe, and whose stature lifts entire campuses. -- Create an Innovation Fund for cutting-edge research at New York's public and private colleges, similar to the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Supercharging cutting-edge academic research will also supercharge our innovation economy. -- Invest in our community colleges, which train New Yorkers for high-skilled jobs and serve as the gateway to four-year colleges. For the community college students who want to continue their education by transferring to four-year SUNY and CUNY schools, make the process simple and seamless, and give them full credit for the academic courses they have successfully completed. -- Move forward on the University of Buffalo's "2020" expansion as a centerpiece of our strategy to reinvigorate the economy of Western New York. When completed, the University's total student population will grow from 29,000 to almost 41,000. Over 7,000 students, faculty and staff will work and study on a new downtown campus for medicine and health sciences. UB will become an economic engine for Buffalo, and a flagship institution for a world class public university system. -- Create a flagship at the other end our state, as well. Bring together the University at Stony Brook, and the world renowned Brookhaven and Cold Spring Harbor laboratories. The result will be a peerless cross-disciplinary research engine in the areas of cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics and bioinformatics. The economic benefit for Long Island will be tremendous. The chance for New York to lead the world will be unparalleled. -- The finest private and public colleges and universities in America use the funds from permanent endowments to achieve excellence. If we are to join their ranks, we must do so as well. Higher education funding should no longer be a budgetary pawn or a yearly battle. It must be a permanent priority. Given the investments we must make and the sheer size of our higher education system, this endowment initially should be at least $4 billion, which would generate $200 million in operating funds each year. -- Unlock some of the value of the New York State Lottery, either by taking in private investment or looking at other financing alternatives. As we do this, we will assure that the State continues to regulate all lottery games, and that we continue to receive the more than $2 billion annually for K to 12 education that the lottery now provides. Today's endowment dollars will be a down payment on tomorrow's dreams. http://www.ny.gov/governor/keydocs/2008sos_speech.html Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry's State of the State Address Economic/Workforce Development -- Continue funding the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center created last year, making Oklahoma a global leader in biofuels and bioenergy research by capitalizing on the cutting-edge work being conducted at Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. -- Ensure a permanent funding mechanism so the Opportunity Fund and EDGE Research Endowment can fund the research that will create high-tech, good-paying jobs for a diversified, dynamic Oklahoma (goal is create a $1 billion fund). -- Build on the Oklahoma Creativity Project, which seeks to enhance both the cultural landscape and the entrepreneurial economy of Oklahoma. Health -- Pass legislation to double the physical education requirement to 120 minutes each week. High School -- Put the resources in place to help students sort through those issues that lead them to believe that quitting school is the only option and see them complete high school. -- Create a graduation coach program so every student can succeed. Postsecondary -- Continue that momentum in higher education by fully funding endowed chairs and reducing their backlog in our colleges and universities. Safety -- Continue suipport for the CLASS Task Force to review security at college and CareerTech campuses. School Year -- Adopt the recommendations of Superintendent Sandy Garrett and the Time Reform Task Force and expand the school year by five days. Teacher Compensation -- Finish meeting the commitment to a five-year plan to raise teacher pay to match the regional average by this year. http://www.governor.state.ok.us/stateofthestate2008.php 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