2009 State of the State Addresses Education-Related Proposals by Issue

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2009 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 9 Accountability--Rewards 1 Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions 1 Accountability--School Improvement 1 Assessment 4 Assessment--College Entrance Exams 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 8 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Alternative Education 1 Bilingual/ESL 2 Business Involvement 19 Career/Technical Education 10 Choice of Schools 2 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 5 Civic Education--Character Education 1 Class Size 2 Curriculum 5 Curriculum--Arts Education 1 Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language 1 Curriculum--Language Arts 1 Curriculum--Language Arts--Writing/Spelling 2 Curriculum--Mathematics 13 Curriculum--Science 11 Demographics--Enrollments 1 Economic/Workforce Development 45 Education Research 1 Equity 1 Federal 15 Finance 48 Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost 2 Finance--Bonds 2 Finance--District 3 Finance--Facilities 12 Finance--Federal 14 Finance--Funding Formulas 12 Finance--Local Foundations/Funds 1 Finance--Lotteries 5 Alabama Governor Bob Riley's State of the State Address Distance Learning/Virtual University, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Mathematics, Reading/Literacy, Science -- Protect funding for the education programs that we know work: the Reading Initiative, the Math and Science Initiative, and distance learning. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Pass the Alabama Economic Recovery Plan, which includes a Back-to-Work Tax Credit of $500 to encourage companies to hire unemployed workers and a Targeted Job Creation Tax Credit (a $1,500 incentive over three years for each new job created in counties with the highest unemployment levels). -- Make more industries eligible for our economic incentives--knowledge-based industries, such as research and development facilities, corporate headquarters and other entrepreneurial ventures. Finance, Finance--Lotteries -- Disagree with those who say that if gambling was expanded and taxed, education funding would not have to be reduced. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Balance the budget. -- Will not raise taxes. Alabama is weathering this storm better than most. -- Froze new government hires, employee pay raises and new vehicle purchases. -- Directed state department heads to find even deeper savings. -- Overhaul the state ethics code. http://www.governorpress.state.al.us/pr/sp-2009-02-03-sos2009.asp Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance -- Believe that education and economic development are intertwined and inseparable, and one cannot fully succeed without the other. -- Continue to support the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to attract new jobs and industry. -- Replenish the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund with $50 million over the next two years, to position Arkansas to be at full speed when the recession lifts. -- Continue to work through the Workforce Cabinet agencies to educate, train, and re-train our workforce. At-Risk--Foster Care -- Work to place more foster children in qualified homes. Early Learning, Pre-Kindergarten -- Continue commitment to pre-Kindergarten. Finance, Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Propose increases in funding for only public education and the Division of Children and Family Services--public education remains the highest priority. -- Reach beyond the legal definition of "adequacy" by providing school districts with additional per-student funds. Add 234 dollars of additional per-student funding over the next two years, and give school districts additional one-time enhancement money of 35 dollars per student. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary, Pre-Kindergarten, Summer School -- Prepare students to attend postsecondary education by increasing overall education funding, through pre-k, Smart Core and stronger college prep programs, and now through pilot programs for after-school and summer learning. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Financial Aid, Tuition/Fees -- Improve our scholarship programs so that scholarships reach more students, and the amount of assistance they receive is greater. -- Broaden the GO Opportunities Grant (a need-based financial-aid program initiated in 2007) to include more non-traditional students, to help additional students in two-year programs, and to expand the total financial support available. -- Rectify the dilemma of state merit scholarships never reaching the students who qualify for them. -- Make sure scholarship money remains available once promised to qualified students. -- Open the doors of higher education to students who qualify for both need-based and merit-based aid, while increasing scholarship amounts. -- Lessen and simplify scholarship paperwork, with the State providing a single application listing the college assistance available, rather than students and their families having to seek out their best match for financial aid. Finance, Finance--Lotteries, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Financial Aid, Tuition/Fees -- Structure the lottery to be as efficient and as transparent as possible. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, -- Adjust the higher-education funding formula to stress graduation rates, rather than the number of students that happen to be on campus. Health, Health--Mental Health -- Expand statewide coordinated school-health system to provide new resources and equipment for our school nurses and in-school mental-health services for our children. -- Explore new outlets of care for autistic children. http://governor.arkansas.gov/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&news_id=1384 Delaware Governor Jack Markell's State of the State Address Economic/Workforce Development -- Continue to support small and other Delaware-based businesses to create new and lasting careers. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Lotteries, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures  -- Raise $55M by re-authorizing a sports lottery--to help the economy, create jobs and help fill budget gap. Faculty, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Ensure that government is smaller by 2011 by keeping the hiring freeze in effect and by reducing the size of government through retirements and attrition. -- Propose a temporary 8% across the board cut in the salaries of all state employees. This proposal includes trading three fixed holidays per year for three floating ones and, for the time being, freezing career ladder adjustments. -- Support legislation to eliminate the "double state share" for married state employees.   -- Propose an in depth evaluation of the state's health plan for employees and retirees with the expectation that employees and retirees will pay for a larger portion of their health care than they do today. -- Realize that the combination of salary and benefit reductions means the average state employee will take home 10% less next year than they do today.     Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Leverage $155M in federal stimulus funding. -- Appointed Lt. Governor Denn to be our state's "Stimulus Czar" and launched the Governor's Stimulus Solutions Group to ensure we make the most of the stimulus. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Face a budget shortfall of $750M--which may get bigger. -- Keep government's core commitments while spreading sacrifices so no one citizen or group bears a disproportionate burden. -- Balance budget by: (1) reducing spending by $331M; reallocating special funds by $40M; increasing our revenues by $166M (including a raise in the cigarette, alcohol and income tax for those making over $60,000); and raising fees and fines by $12M. -- Slash both state capital outlay and consultant costs. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary -- Make sure our higher education system contines to be centers of innovation and opportunity. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, School -- Make sure schools continue to prepare our children for the future. Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Reduce the number of in-service days for our public school teachers from six to three--to save $7.7M. http://governor.delaware.gov/2009budgetaddress.shtml Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's State of the State Address Economic/Workforce Development, Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--Facilities -- Use federal stimulus package to help create jobs. Jobs to extend broadband services; install solar panels, wind turbines, and weather stripping; rebuild roads, rails and bridges; modernize our health care records management system and build schools. Finance, Finance--District, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Foresee the need for another $1.1 billion in cuts and other budget solves this month. -- Sustain the current level of education funding for 2010. -- Propose flexibility concerning local contributions to public schools--to free up local funds for municipal services like fire, police and elder services. Finance, Finance--District, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Federal, Federal--Aid -- Use federal stimulus education funds to bring all state cities and towns up to education foundation levels for fiscal year 2010 and 2011. Finance, Finance--District, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Propose an Emergency Recovery Plan to further close the budget gap (a lot of the measures mentioned here will be included in that plan). Plan will include another round of deep cuts from the Executive Branch. I ask the Legislature and my fellow constitutional officers to also make cuts.  Finance, Finance--District, Finance--Lotteries, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Cut additional local assistance and lottery funding. -- Ask the legislature for a one-penny statewide increase in the meals and hotels tax, to be redistributed according to the lottery formula to all cities and towns. Finance, Finance--District, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Provide alternative revenues to help offset the impact of the budget cuts. Eliminate the property tax exemption for telephone poles and telecom switching stations, and to allow cities and towns, at their option, to levy an additional penny on meals and hotel stays. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- File a balanced budget proposal later this month for the coming fiscal year. Given the decline in state revenue, spending must be at levels significantly below what they have been in better times. Local services will be cut, and in many cases, police, firefighters and teachers will face layoffs.  State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Ask the Legislature to join me in a season of significant government reform--including pension reform, ethics and lobbying reform, and municipal reform. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3terminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Media+Center&L2=Speeches&sid=Agov3&b=terminalcontent&f=text_2009-01-15_sotc&csid=Agov3 New Hampshire Governor John Lynch's State of the State Address At-Risk--Foster Care -- Redesign foster care reimbursement rates, increasing the average daily rate but ending special bonus payments. -- Change state policies to move children more quickly out of expensive placements and into permanent homes.  Community Colleges, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary -- Minimize the financial impact on the Community College and University Systems. Both systems will see a slight increase in the state contribution over actual state spending in fiscal years 2008-2009. -- Expect both the University and Community College systems to work aggressively to mitigate tuition increases for students. -- Close the Tobey School--these students will continue to be served in appropriate community college settings. Economic/Workforce Development, Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Coordinate with neighboring states to develop a 2,000- to 3,000-bed Northern New England Correctional Facility--in order to provide jobs in a struggling part of our state. -- Accelerate important road projects in our ten-year plan, which will create jobs--use the estimated $130 million in federal transportation stimulus funds to help do this. -- Submit to the Public Utilities Commission a proposal for using our greenhouse gas and renewable energy funds to create new jobs for our citizens – by expanding weatherization of older homes; by providing training for energy-related jobs; by upgrading the energy efficiency of state and municipal buildings; and by creating a low-interest loan fund to help businesses upgrade to reduce their energy costs. -- Created an Office of Economic Stimulus to make sure we use stimulus funds wisely and quickly so that we can put New Hampshire citizens back to work. -- Focus (in the capital budget) on critical maintenance projects that we can begin quickly, to help create jobs. Faculty, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality -- Cut current expenses, organizational dues, out-of-state travel, equipment, employee training, and subscriptions across state agencies. -- Asked agencies to identify programs that no longer match current priorities. For example, in the Department of Education we cut a program that provided $17,500 for geography education at Keene State. -- Consolidate the staff and administrative functions of professional boards. -- Propose that all licensing boards and commissions be consolidated by subject matter within four major departments – health and human services, safety, environmental services, and the secretary of state. From there, commissioners will work with the boards to strengthen their operations, and we will implement a plan to achieve a full consolidation of all of the State's licensing functions by 2012. -- Eliminate the practice of "bumping"--where a laid-off employee can "bump" another employee in a different job, in some cases anywhere in the agency. -- Retain protections for employees based on their seniority within their specific unit and job classification. -- Reduce administrative burdens on state agencies so they can focus on their core missions and look at how we are using state employee time. -- Propose sunsetting all commissions, committees and non-regulatory boards by the end of fiscal year 2011and then only re-enact those that are essential. Faculty, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation, Unions/Collective Bargaining -- Align the benefits of the retirees' health insurance plan to those provided to active state employees. -- Charge premiums to younger retirees similar to those that older retirees already pay. -- Propose a new health insurance plan for state employees focused on wellness, disease management and prevention. We can and should implement the change in the next biennium for unclassified and non-classified employees. To compensate employees for the change, this budget returns some of the savings to employees in the form of a one-time payment. -- Offer the same proposal above to unionized employees. If they are willing to participate in a wellness health plan, we will return some of the savings to them as one-time payments. -- Unfund nearly 400 vacant positions and continue the hiring freeze into the next biennium, allowing agencies to fill vacancies only with a waiver. Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Send the money from the state fiscal stabilization fund included in the federal stimulus legislation to communities to offset other reductions. This will result in property taxpayers receiving the same or a slight increase in aid. Finance, Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Review and improve the state's adequacy formula, which provides an additional $123 million to schools over the next biennium. In the long term, I believe we must direct more state resources to communities with the greatest needs. And, I continue to support a constitutional amendment that would make such a plan possible. But I also recognize that this was the formula approved by the legislature last session, and this is not the time for wholesale changes. That is why this budget funds the additional $123 million called for by the adequacy formula. Finance, Finance--Lotteries, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Balance the state budget for fiscal years 2010-2011by using the remaining $60 million from the medical malpractice surplus, increase the tobacco tax by 35 cents, increase the meals and rooms tax by three-quarters percent and tax gambling winnings over $600. -- Would veto increases on either the income tax or sales tax. -- Project a $275 million revenue shortfall in the general and education trust funds for fiscal year 2009. -- Project that, on average, existing revenues will remain flat for the next two years. -- Re-think everything state government does and how we do it. -- Meet our education commitments by suspending revenue sharing, rooms and meals distribution, and reducing the state's contribution to retirement costs from 35 to 30 percent. Finance, Finance--Resource Efficiency, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Include $3 million in the capital budget to upgrade energy efficiency in state government buildings. http://www.governor.nh.gov/speeches/documents/021209budget.htm Finance--Performance Funding 2 Finance--Resource Efficiency 12 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 45 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 20 Governance 10 Governance--School Boards 4 Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies 28 Health 10 Health--Mental Health 1 Health--Nutrition 4 High School 13 High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates 9 High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment 1 High School--Early Colleges/Middle Colleges 1 High School--Exit Exams 1 High School--Graduation Requirements 2 International Benchmarking 1 Leadership 8 Mentoring/Tutoring 2 Middle School 1 Minority/Diversity Issues 2 Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses 4 P-16 or P-20 3 P-3 15 P-3 Early Intervention (0-3) 1 P-3 Family Involvement 1 P-3 Finance 5 P-3 Grades 1-3 5 P-3 Kindergarten 6 P-3 Preschool 4 P-3 Public/Private Partnerships 1 Parent/Family 7 Postsecondary 40 Postsecondary Accountability 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 17 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 22 Postsecondary Faculty 5 Postsecondary Finance 25 Postsecondary Governance and Structures 1 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 16 Postsecondary Institutions--For-Profit/Proprietary 2 Postsecondary Participation--Access 4 Postsecondary Participation--Enrollments (Statistics) 1 Postsecondary Students--Adults 10 Postsecondary Students--Graduate/Professional 2 Postsecondary Success--Completion 4 Promotion/Retention 1 Public Involvement 5 Reading/Literacy 2 Rural 4 Scheduling/School Calendar 3 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 3 Scheduling/School Calendar--Summer School 2 School Safety 4 School/District Structure/Operations 10 School/District Structure/Operations--School Size 1 Service-Learning 1 Social/Emotional Learning and Non-Cognitive Skills 2 Special Education 3 Special Populations--Foster Care 3 Standards 4 State Policymaking 2 STEM 1 Student Achievement 13 Students 1 Teaching Quality 18 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure 1 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 25 Teaching Quality--Induction Programs and Mentoring 2 Teaching Quality--Preparation 3 Teaching Quality--Professional Development 3 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 5 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--At-Risk Schools 3 Teaching Quality--Teacher Attitudes 1 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 1 Teaching Quality--Unions/Collective Bargaining 4 Teaching Quality--Working Conditions 3 Technology 13 Technology--Computer Skills 2 Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware 3 Technology--Equitable Access 1 Textbooks and Open Source 1 Urban 2 Whole-School Reform Models 1 799