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 Postsecondary Accountability 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 16 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 Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell's State of the State Address Child Care/Early Learning -- Provide the Department of Public Health with five additional staff to increase both the number and frequency of inspections of child care facilities Economic/Workforce Development -- Provide $800,000 in additional funding for nursing scholarships and teaching at UConn, our state universities, and community-technical colleges. -- Provide $300,000 for an engineering loan reimbursement program to engineers who work in our State. -- Establish an exciting "Green Collar" Jobs program at our vo-tech schools to train students in energy efficient building, construction and retrofit work. Finance -- Advocate for enactment of a property tax cap. -- Fund youth violence prevention programs and substance abuse counselors. Health -- Fully implement the initiative to enroll children in HUSKY B at birth – and work with schools to identify low-income families for program eligibility.  Safety -- Roll back curfew times, increase on-the-road training requirements and put stiff penalties in place for driving under the influence and violating laws regarding carrying passengers, talking on cell phones, text messaging, speeding and racing. We've lost too many of our young people to tragic accidents. Tuition/Fees -- Waive college tuition at all state colleges for spouses and children of service members killed in action. http://www.ct.gov/governorrell/cwp/view.asp?Q=405310&A=3293 Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner's State of the State Address Early Learning -- Continue to support the efforts of the Vision 2015 group, an organization of business leaders, educators and state officials who are committed to a plan to make our schools the best in the world. In that effort, we will recommend an appropriation of $500,000 to continue to invest in early childhood education. Distance Education -- Make the virtual school a reality by investing more than $250,000 in that cutting-edge project. Finance -- Devote any cost savings through this effort to our early childhood education initiatives and other classroom programs. Cost savings were identified by the 18-member Leadership for Education Achievement in Delaware (or LEAD) Committee.) Health -- Get Lieutenant Governor Carney's Challenge program in every single elementary school in Delaware by this time next year. (In Delaware schools, nurses, teachers, and principals have been innovative in creating programs to address the growing problem of childhood obesity through this program -- now in 43% of elementary schools.) Kindergarten -- Continue funding for full-day kindergarten, a program that helps children get additional time in the classroom as they are building the foundation for their educational success. Budget proposal for the next fiscal year includes state funding for full-day kindergarten in 11 districts and nine charter schools Financial Aid -- Pass the Student Academic Reward scholarship program, or STAR. The STAR scholarship would enable high-achieving SEED graduates to continue on to a four-year, tuition-free bachelor's degree. (The SEED scholarship program offers free college tuition to any student who works hard, stays out of trouble, and gets good grades.) Safety -- Support the Departments of Education and Safety and Homeland Security in joining forces to protect our children. Beginning this spring, the Delaware State Police will begin offering fingerprinting and other safety-related tools to every fourth-grader in every elementary school in our state. Over time, every school-age child will participate in this program. http://governor.delaware.gov/speeches/2008_state_of_the_state.shtml#TopOfPage Idaho Governor Butch Otter's State of the State/State Budget Message Quality Assurance In conjunction with the state superintendent and business and education leaders, develop a plan for making Idaho the nation's leader in quality, cost-effective education, with an initial focus on K through 12. --Improve how Idaho students acquire the skills they need for technology-driven workplace changes and competing in the global economy. -- Assess what we spend for education and how we spend it. We'll then compare that with investment levels and best practices of high-performing systems here and abroad. Community Colleges -- Continue startup financial commitment of $5 million for the foreseeable future, as reflected in my budget. -- Double the amount of funding allocated to community colleges from state liquor sales. The College of Southern Idaho and North Idaho College now get $150,000 a year. My plan calls for CSI, NIC and the College of Western Idaho each to get $200,000 – for a total of $600,000. Financial Aid -- Provide an additional $50 million for the Opportunity Scholarship Trust Fund. Teacher Compensation -- Continue to ensure that state employee pay is competitive with comparable private-sector jobs. And we must advance the important cause of ensuring that Idaho's public school teachers are properly paid. Drugs/Alcohol -- Launch the Idaho Meth Project statewide media campaign. http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/speeches/sp_2008/sp_sos2008.html 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 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 Maine Governor Jon E. Baldacci's State of the State Address Early Learning -- It's my goal that children start school ready to learn, and graduate from college ready and able to succeed here in Maine. -- Continue to work with more than 200 Maine business and community leaders to transform the Children's Cabinet Task Force on Early Childhood into a Children's Growth Council. Economic Development -- Keep more of our home-grown graduates here, and open the door of opportunity for the next generation of Maine entrepreneurs and leaders. Finance -- By the end of next year we will have invested more than $1 billion new State dollars in local education. -- Bring together three of the largest purchasers of health care in the State for a new initiative to save taxpayer money and provide better care to consumers. The Maine State Employees Health Commission, the University of Maine System and the Maine Education Association will join forces and put their enormous buying power to work to lower prescription drug costs. Financial Aid -- The Alfond College Challenge provides a $500 dollar education grant to every child born in Maine that will help them start a college savings account. It began last week in Augusta and will expand statewide in 2009. Working through the Finance Authority of Maine and in cooperation with Maine's hospitals, families in this State will have been given a head start on higher education. School Districts -- We are on our way to a new structure that will better serve our people. It will save taxpayers money and provide a better education for our children. Legislation introduced this year and already approved by the Education Committee will further strengthen the new law (that law reduces the number of school administrative units from 290 to 80.) Continue with the work of reducing the number of school administrative units. http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Gov+News&id=48517&v=Article-2006 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 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 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 South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds State of the State Address Finance--Postsecondary Facilities -- Partner with the Board of Regents to renovate and to revitalize the science facilities at public universities, because it is truly important for the future of South Dakota's students and our economic development plans. The private sector already recognizes this important move. Avera recently announced a multi-million dollar donation to South Dakota State University to rebuild and expand Shepard Hall. Therefore, the Board of Regents and I have agreed to a $65 million bonding plan. Finance -- Requesting a 2.5 percent increase in per student allocation for state aid to local schools, which is one percent higher than the anticipated inflation rate as provided by law for the next school year. -- Fix the property tax problem. Statewide, more than $14.1 billion of property value is not taxed because of the laws now in place—that's nearly a quarter of our state's property value of $51 billion. In 1998, we had over 1,400 usable agricultural sales in the state that could be used in assessing agricultural properties. In 2006, we had just 200 for the entire state. It is not possible to fairly and accurately value all of the agricultural land in the state using just 200 sales. We are rapidly approaching the point where the current system is no longer workable. We've had several study committees and many bills introduced over the last several years. I pledge my support in working with you, but the time has come, we need to work together and fix this problem during this legislative session. -- Use the Energy Conservation Revolving Loan to provide low interest loans to schools, cities, counties, universities, tech schools, and state agencies that have developed good ways to save tax dollars by becoming more energy efficient. Preference will be given to energy efficiency improvement projects with the shortest payback period. Financial Aid -- Expand Opportunity Scholarships to even more South Dakota students (3,465 were funded last the past several years) by lowering the ACT requirement from 24 to 23 to allow more than 200 more students to qualify. Teacher Compensation -- Add $4,000,000 in funding for teacher salary enhancements (market compensation, additional training, recruitment for high-need schools). Technology -- Expand the Classrooms Connections Program through additional funding: $2,954,000 for year 3 to purchase 4,600 more laptop computers for high school students and 400 more for their teachers. This year, 41 school districts are in the Classroom Connections Program. 9,600 students have laptops or tablet computers. That's 25 percent of the high school students in South Dakota. If additional funding is approved, 14,200 students will have computers next year, and that would raise the percentage to 38 percent of our high school students. -- Asking for funding to migrate South Dakota's six public universities toward a mobile computing environment. The students that graduate from our high schools and attend one of our public universities will use laptops and tablet computers in their courses of study. It is, therefore, imperative that we start these students on a path toward using computers for learning in our public schools and that our universities be prepared to accept them. http://sd.gov/docs/STATE%20OF%20THE%20STATE%20SPEECH%202008.pdf Tennessee Governor Phil Bredeson's State of the State Address Early Learning -- Invest $25 million to continue meeting the requests of communities across our state for Pre-K classrooms. That is not enough to fund all of the requests that we have, but will keep us moving forward. Finance -- Fully fund the BEP (Basic Education Program). Incorporate the remainder of the tobacco tax money—we estimate it at $87 million—to further fill out the framework of BEP 2.0. Financial Aid -- Change the grade point average for retention of the scholarship from 3.0 to 2.75 (to better accommodate for the increased difficulty of college studies and to help address the fact that nearly 80% of the scholarship winners lose their scholarship during their time in college). -- Keep the merit scholarship intact, but expand assistance to others as well. Take about half of the unallocated lottery reserves, $200 million specifically, and use it to establish an endowment for the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC). Between the earnings from this endowment and a small additional appropriation from the annual lottery surplus, we will be able to assist financially another 12-15,000 deserving and hard-working Tennessee students to earn a college education. http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/governor/viewArticleContent.do?id=1170&page=0 Vermont Governor James Douglas' State of the State Address Early Learning -- Continue to invest in the healthy development of our youngest children and prepare them to arrive at school ready to learn and thrive. The Building Bright Futures initiative has worked to coordinate and support an integrated system of early childhood care, health and education that is fiscally sustainable. Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) -- Rethink how science, technology, engineering and mathematics are taught. Requesting that the State Board and Department of Education help schools implement more innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula. By rethinking how our education resources are deployed, we can make this transformation. We know that our teachers are ready for the challenge; now let's build a classroom framework to support them. Finance -- Cut property taxes directly by $25 million. -- Invest another $25 million in school modernization projects by utilizing the projected $50 million of proceeds from leasing our state lottery. Not only will this proposal ease the financial strain on homeowners, it will help clear the backlog of school construction, giving our students 21st century learning environments in energy efficient buildings, which will save taxpayers money in the long run. Financial Aid, Community Colleges -- Invest $8 million—a 14 percent increase over last year's appropriation—in college scholarships and workforce training programs. http://governor.vermont.gov/speeches/state_of_the_state-1-10-08.pdf Washington Governor Chris Gregoire's State of the State Address Career-Technical -- Continue to provide the opportunity for non-college-bound students to flourish by connecting motivated high-school kids to the trades. Health -- Cover all children with health insurance by 2010. Safety/Student Discipline -- Improve safety on college campuses. Economic Development -- Create a world-class, learner-focused, seamless education system that gives kids a chance to get a good job. Financial Aid -- Continue to make college more affordable by increasing the number of scholarships, and offering financial aid to more students. Make sure every young person in Washington knows that if they work hard, they will have the chance to compete with anyone, anywhere in the world, for jobs in the new global economy found right here in Washington. Education and Training -- Develop a program in which workers can invest in an account, with matching employer contributions, for further education and training. Teaching Quality -- Continue investment in teacher-excellence through support for increasing the number of teachers who attain national certification. A record number will go through the certification process this year, and next year we expect a near doubling of national certified teachers. http://www.governor.wa.gov/speeches/speech-view.asp?SpeechSeq=85 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 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