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 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 6 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 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 Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's State of the State Address Career and Technical Education -- Rededicate ourselves to reducing our drop-out rate with better career and technical programs available to high schools in every district where kids want them.  Drugs, Alcohol -- Increase the availability of drug treatment programs, as well as community based programs like Operation Safe Kids.  Economic/Workforce Development -- Develop the science, technology and public education that it will take to combat climate change and improve energy conservation and energy efficiency and to make Maryland a leader in the development of renewable energy and green building techniques of all kinds. -- Build a new system for educating our adults and harnessing the potential of our entire workforce.  Every single person matters.  -- Provide the little bit of help and training needed by Marylanders with disabilities who are talented and hardworking and want to get into the workforce.   -- Better align the education needs of our adults with the workforce needs of our employers and bring our adult education system into the 21st Century.  Leadership -- Find better ways to recruit great principals to our most challenged schools. Teaching Quality -- Do a better job of listening to our teachers in a regular systematic way, so that we are constantly improving the learning process and improving the working conditions in our classrooms that are so very essential to recruiting and retaining the highest quality teachers we possibly can for our kids.  STEM -- Find better ways to improve outcomes in science, technology and engineering and math.  Tuition/Fees -- Hold the line against the rising cost of college tuition. http://www.gov.state.md.us/speeches/080123.html 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 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 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 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