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 Finance--Performance Funding 2 Finance--Resource Efficiency 12 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 45 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 20 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 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 Florida Governor Charlie Crist's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Career/Technical Education, Early Learning, Early Learning--Readiness, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Recommend a total of $2 billion in workforce investments. -- Recommend over $800 million for career education and employment services to retain 3,000 jobs. -- Recommend $6.6 million for Ready to Work to ensure job-seekers of all ages have the skills needed for most jobs today. Community Colleges, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance (Postsecondary), Teaching Quality, Tuition/Fees -- Renew our commitment to higher education. -- Continue our commitment to keeping our universities and community colleges affordable and enabling them to achieve excellence. Early Learning, Early Learning--Readiness, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Recommend $621 million for the School Readiness program (helps preschoolers and parents maintain employment and achieve financial independence). An investment in getting the next generation off to a good academic start will retain more than 12,800 jobs for child-care providers and allow families to remain in the workforce. Economic/Workforce Development, Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Avoid tax increases and deep budget cuts thanks in part to the federal stimulus bill. -- Use money from the stimulus bill to provide immediate assistance in education. -- Save or create 206,000 jobs--with the stimulus money. -- Appoint Don Winstead as Special Advisor to the Governor for the implementation of the American Recovery Act. -- Approve the Compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe to preserve and create jobs. -- Invest, through the Quick Action Closing Fund, $45 million to attract and retain industries, aimed at providing more than 17,000 high-wage jobs. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Pass legislation requiring school districts to spend 70 percent of their budgets in the classroom for our students and teachers. -- Require school districts to provide dollar-by-dollar details online, to instill transparency. -- Consider increasing per-student funding. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Included a $21 billion investment in our students and teachers in recent budget recommendation to the legislature. -- Urge legislature to quickly approve the Compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe, which will release at least $25 billion over 25 years to help education. http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/20090303_stateofthestate.pdf Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle's State of the State Address Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, Health, Health--Nutrition, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies --Increase the state's food self-sufficiency. Replacing 10 percent of the food we currently import, would create more than $300 million in economic activity, generate $6 million in taxes, and create 2,300 new jobs. -- Ask state agencies such as schools, prisons and hospitals to take the lead by purchasing locally grown fruits, vegetables, poultry, eggs and meat. Economic/Workforce Development, Technology, Technology--Infrastructure -- Transition to a 21st century communications infrastructure. This will create high-paying jobs and allow the state to advance in the areas of: education, health care diagnosis and treatment, public safety, research and innovation, civic participation, creative media, e-government, and the foundation for overall economic development. Finance, Finance--Resource Efficiency -- Transition to a clean energy economy. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Cannot afford business as usual. -- Likely need to delay, curtail, or possibly eliminate a number of state projects. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Reduce or eliminate some current special tax credits, exemptions and deductions. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Ask government employees to accept some reduction in wages and benefits. http://hawaii.gov/gov/initiatives/2009/address Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's State of the State Address Accountability, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Invest in quality and accountable education. -- Will not cut back on education. Community Colleges, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Increase funding for secondary education. -- Commit 40 million dollars to community colleges and higher education. Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Increase funding for early childhood education. Economic/Workforce Development, Facilities -- Make creating an environment that provides useful, important jobs my top priority. -- Urge quick passage of the "Illinois Jobs Now" plan, a 26 billion dollar plan to support nearly 340,000 jobs across the state. This plan includes four billion dollars to repair schools and build new ones. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Urge approval of the Illinois Economic Recovery and Tax Reform Act of 2009. The Act includes a sales tax holiday for ten days in August on the purchase of school clothes and school supplies. -- Realize that education is the key to equal opportunity and economic empowerment. Elementary Education, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Increase funding for elementary education. Faculty, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Order state employees to take furloughs of four days. -- Require across-the-board reductions in grant programs. -- Make targeted cost-reductions at every state agency. -- Fix and modernize the state's under-funded public pension systems (e.g. raise the retirement age for new workers and cap cost-of-living increases). Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Face an e11.5 billion-dollar deficit and a mountain of unpaid bills. -- Propose a budget plan that cuts costs and rescues our state's finances while raising ethical standards. -- Appoint a new Taxpayer Action Board to evaluate all state spending and all programs. http://budget.illinois.gov/documents/2009speechbudget.pdf Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development -- Modernize and restructure incentive programs to make them more responsive to today's economic needs and to give us flexibility to compete for new jobs. -- Support existing Kentucky businesses that seek to invest in their facilities and in the continued education of their workforce. This includes extending job-creation incentives for the first time to small businesses. -- Keep the comprehensive energy plan (released in November) a top state priority, as it is an economic opportunity of immense proportions. Business Involvement, State Policymaking -- Review the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Bring together education, business and legislative leaders to review the act and renew and re-energize our commitment to education. Early Learning, Early Learning--Readiness -- Prepare children to enter the K-12 system. -- Unveil (next week) a task force on early childhood development and education that will streamline and strengthen our network of child services and programs to create better coordination, less duplication and more consistent and higher standards. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Fill a $456 million hole in the state budget by June 30 with an additional $150 million in spending cuts, limited transfers of funds and new revenue from increased taxes on tobacco. Already this year we have reduced spending by more than $430 million, shrunk the state workforce by 2,000 employees, we've cut travel, we've reduced administrative costs by restructuring and conducted examinations of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, Postsecondary, Teaching Quality -- Make classroom teaching and learning a priority for state investment. -- Make higher education a priority for state investment. -- Increase significantly our tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products--to protect investment in education. Postsecondary -- Continue to support the energy research and development work being conducted at state universities, particularly the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky University. Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Continue to protect the retirements of teachers and others. http://www.governor.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/779887EE-31B7-430F-A055-FCB87FA67568/0/20090204_SCAddress.pdf 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 Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's State of the State Address Charter Schools, Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--Performance Funding, School Districts, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Expand the Q Comp program (gives school districts more funding if they pay staff for improvements in student learning, rather than just paying for seniority) to every school district and charter school. For school districts not currently in Q Comp, this proposal will permanently increase per pupil funding by an amount comparable to a 5 percent increase in the general education funding formula. Charter Schools, Governance, Leadership, School Districts -- Improve the management of our schools. -- Require school districts and charter schools to come together to purchase in bulk to lower costs, eliminate waste and put more money in the classroom. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Propose a Minnesota Jobs Recovery Act. -- Cut the state's business tax rate in half (from 9.8 percent to 4.8 percent) over the next 6 years. -- Provide a 50 million dollar package of tax credits that to create over 100 million dollars in new investments and jump start small business job creation. -- Propose a 25 percent refundable tax credit for small business owners that re-invest in their business quickly. -- Provide a capital gains exemption for qualifying investments in small Minnesota businesses. -- Eliminate the sales tax rebate on equipment and provide a 100 percent exemption from the sales tax – applies when the business buys the equipment. -- Enact a green jobs initiative. -- Create green JOBZ tax free zones for renewable energy jobs created anywhere in the state. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--Performance Funding, School Districts, Student Achievement -- Increase school district funding by up to an additional 2 percent per student for students meeting standards or at least showing reasonable growth towards achievement. Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Ask each member of the legislature: Please don't add to the people's burden by increasing their bill from government; please don't take more of the people's money; and please don't raise taxes. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Continue to reform and improve our K-12 education system--one of our highest priorities. -- Plan to propose a budget in a couple of weeks that will rely on significant reductions in state spending, as well as using other resources currently available. -- Reduce funding for cities and counties. -- Reduce or eliminate as many state mandates as possible. Allow townships, cities or counties to opt-out of some state mandates by vote of their governing body. -- Freeze all state government wages for the next two years in order to minimize government employee layoffs. -- Enact legislation to require a wage freeze for any Minnesota government entity that accepts state money. -- Require local units of government to use the leverage of the state's buying power to purchase commodities such as road salt, paper and IT services at a reduced price, unless they can find a better price themselves. Governance, Leadership, School Districts, Unions/Collective Bargaining -- Change the way school districts and teacher unions negotiate and settle labor contracts. Begin using a fair arbitration process. High School, High School--Grad Requirements, Technology, Technology--Instruction -- Propose that state high school graduation standards require every student to participate in an online experience by the time they graduate. Postsecondary, Distance Learning/Virtual University -- Ask state colleges and universities to aggressively deliver more of their courses online. I'm grateful that MnSCU's board and leadership accepted my recent challenge to deliver 25 percent of their credits online by 2015. Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Impose a firm cap on tuition increases. Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation, Teaching Quality--Preparation, Teaching Quality--Recruitment/Retention -- Recruit the best and the brightest to become teachers. -- Establish minimum entrance requirements for teacher preparation programs. -- Continue to improve and modernize the way we pay teachers. http://www.governor.state.mn.us/stellent/groups/public/documents/web_content/prod009309.pdf Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's State of the State Address Accountability, Accountability (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Hold government accountable. -- Ensure that all public monies are spent efficiently and government is held accountable for money spent on our universities. This includes the 170 million in university research funds which currently has little oversight. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Will do all we can to give you opportunity again. Montana's state budget is in better shape than almost every other state. -- Created a rapid response team to assist workers who have experienced job loss and help direct families in need of healthcare and unemployment benefits. The team will be headed up by the state Department of Labor and DPHHS and will involve many more state agencies. Economic/Workforce Development, Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Create jobs building roads and bridges, pipelines, transmission lines and improving school efficiency--using money from the federal stimulus package. -- Assist with college expenses, using money from the federal stimulus package. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Freeze the wages of state employees. State employees have agreed to this. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Will not increase property tax revenues. -- Support HB 388, a bill to impose a surcharge on oil and gas production to fund higher teacher salaries in the state. For more information on HB 388, please go to: http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billpdf/HB0388.pdf http://governor.mt.gov/docs/SotSOutline_FINAL.pdf Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman's State of the State Address Community Colleges, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Special Education -- Place a special priority on funding our children's education. -- Invest an additional $100 million in state aid to education, by increasing special education funding by $16.8 million, providing an additional $25.6 million to the University of Nebraska, and providing approximately $4 million for state and community colleges. -- Invest a record $1.7 billion annually in K-12 and higher education in the coming biennium. Economic/Workforce Development -- Create jobs to keep our sons and daughters in Nebraska. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Keep Nebraska as one of the few states not currently facing a financial crisis. -- Work with state agencies to encourage each department to find ways of saving money during the current fiscal year. State agencies that reduce spending now will have my support, and the support of your Appropriations Committee Chairman, in applying that savings toward next year's budget. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Ensure that there will be no tax increases. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Maintain a strong cash reserve in the budget to account for contingent liabilities, such as teacher and state employee pension losses due to a declining stock market. http://governor.nebraska.gov/news/pdf/0115_State_of_the_State_FINAL.pdf Nevada Governor Jim Gibbon's State of the State Address At-Risk, Business Involvement, Kindergarten -- Protect the all-day kindergarten programs in place in at-risk schools. Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Ask the legislature to endorse ways to build critical infrastructure without raising taxes. -- Implement incentives to bring renewable energy development to the state, which will create jobs. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Financial Aid, Postsecondary -- Maintain funding for K-12 education. -- Reduce state funding for Nevada State Higher Education (state is still spending 13.7% of total general fund budget on higher education, as compared to the national average of 11.2%). -- Maintain the Millennium Scholarship program. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Determine how best to live within our means, as state revenues are down thirty percent. -- Establish a new state spending system--place a stronger cap on our budget increases in good times, so that additional reserves are available for the tough times without raising taxes. -- Post the entire state budget online (www.NevadaSpending.com). For the first time in state history, citizens may view the budget themselves. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Propose a temporary six percent pay reduction for state employees instead of layoffs. I pledge to our state employees and teachers that salary levels will be restored as soon as possible. I am also taking the same six percent reduction in my own salary and am asking the other Constitutional Officers and other branches of government to do the same. -- Freeze step increases and longevity pay, to be reinstated as soon as possible. -- Reduce state government expenses through agency consolidations and by elimination of duplicate service providers. -- Create the Sunset Commission – to systematically review agencies, boards, and commissions to ensure that their ongoing operations and budgets are justified. http://gov.state.nv.us/2009SOS/2009StateoftheState.pdf 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 New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's State of the State Address At-Risk, Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Early Learning--Readiness, Finance, Pre-Kindergarten -- Continue to invest in Pre-Kindergarten-- to close the achievement gap and help students enter school ready to learn. Economic/Workforce Development -- Form a "Green Jobs Cabinet" to build an aggressive clean energy strategy, so our state educates, trains, and prepares a clean energy workforce. I will issue an executive order directing key state agencies—from education to workforce development, and from economic development to energy—to form this cabinet. Education is the key to a green workforce. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Propose a four-part economic security plan: (1) Create new jobs, (2) Build a better workforce; (3) Renew our role as an innovation state; and (4) Provide a safety net to catch those who fall. -- Propose a balanced budget to accomplish the economic plan--that targets cuts, maintains needed services, makes strategic investments to create more jobs and does not raise taxes. -- Continue stalled or stopped state projects that create jobs or protect public safety. -- Reinvest funds from stalled or stopped state projects that do not create jobs or protect public safety into this year's budget. -- Increase the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit to help wind, and biomass projects boost their operations. -- Extend a tax credit to small businesses. Elementary Education, Health, Health--Nutrition -- Expand the healthy breakfast program to 270 elementary schools (more than 100 thousand elementary students). -- Provide children healthy food choices. -- Ensure children get physical education. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas -- Change the school funding formula--upon direct approval of the voters. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Draw down the rainy day fund from ten to eight percent---to preserve our high bond rating and help balance the budget. Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Continue the state's zero-percent tuition credit policy and hold down rising tuition costs. -- Change the College Affordability Fund and the 3% scholarships fund to direct 100 percent of grants to students with financial need. Health, Safety/Student Discipline -- Propose legislation that makes recruiting people into a criminal street gang a crime and makes recruiting a minor into a criminal street gang a felony. Mathematics, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Preparation -- Improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing the math requirement for new elementary and middle school teachers. Postsecondary -- Find a fiscally responsible way to assure that Santa Fe continues to host a four-year college, like the College of Santa Fe, to inspire and educate our next generation of actors and artists, painters and public servants. Scheduling/School Calendar -- Propose legislation to tighten the school calendar to make sure our students receive a full 180 days of instruction. -- Continue before- and after-school programs. State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Create a Task Force on Fair and Equal Pay (created by executive order) to look for ethnic, racial and gender gaps as well as job segregation in every state agency, and offer solutions for closing those gaps. -- Establish an ethics commission to provide independent oversight of all branches of state government. http://www.governor.state.nm.us/press/2009/jan/012009_01.pdf Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's State of the State Address Accountability, Public Involvement, School Districts, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Establish a new level of school district accountability and transparency. -- Establish performance audits for school districts overseen by the Department of Education--to make sure they are maintaining academic and operating standards. -- Require districts to report their spending plans before each school year and then account for every dollar at the conclusion of the school year. -- Provide parents, public officials, and taxpayers an annual fiscal and operational report card for every school district. When we send districts funding to help students who need additional attention and instruction, we will now be able to track our dollars to see that they directly reach those students. -- Establish a process for districts who fail to comply with the new standards. Upon a certain level of non-compliance, the State Board of Education will revoke the school district's charter. Accountability, Charter Schools -- Establish a new level of accountability in charter schools. Charter schools should meet the same standards demanded of traditional public schools. Arts in Education, Language Arts--Writing/Spelling, Mathematics, Science, Student Achievement, Technology -- Create new academic achievement competitions and awards.  -- Create the Ohio Academic Olympics, where students will compete in science, math, writing, debate, the arts and technology. Assessment, Assessment--College Entrance Exams, Assessment--National Tests, High School, High School--Exit Exams, High School--Grad Requirements, Service Learning/Community Service, -- Replace the Ohio Graduation Test with the ACT and three additional measures. All students will: (1) take the ACT college entrance examination; (2) take statewide 'end of course' exams; (3) complete a service learning project; and (4) submit a senior project.  Assessment, Elementary Education, Middle School  -- Rewrite assessments in grades 3 through 8 to test for mastery of the information and skills in the curriculum. At-Risk, High School, High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates -- Provide enhanced intervention services in schools with high dropout rates, by building on our 'Closing the Achievement Gap' initiative. Character Education, Citizenship Education, Comprehensive School Reform, Curriculum, Education Research, Service Learning/Community Service, Social & Emotional Development, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality -- Introduce my plan to rebuild our education system--using an evidence-based education approach that applies research findings to Ohio's specific circumstances. [note: this plan encompasses many of the initiatives throughout this summary] -- Add new subjects including global awareness and life skills to the curriculum. -- Use teaching methods that foster creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, media literacy, leadership and productivity, cultural awareness, adaptability and accountability. -- Direct the Ohio Department of Education to set standards for Ohio schools requiring innovative teaching formats. -- Make interdisciplinary methods, project-based learning, real world lessons, and service learning the norm. -- Build the learning experience around the individual student. -- Provide dedicated resources for instructional materials and enrichment activities. Community Colleges, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Maintain commitment to affordable access to our colleges and universities. -- Maintain tuition freeze for the next two years. Early Learning, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Unite all of our early childhood development programs and resources into the Department of Education. This comprehensive early childhood system will focus on the whole child and provide quality early learning and care while improving our efficiency and effectiveness. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Renew the Technology Investment Tax Credit to attract investors for new Ohio start-up technology companies. -- Broaden the Job Retention Tax Credit and Job Creation Tax Credit. -- Create a Film Tax Credit to spur the growth of the film industry. -- Create a New Markets Tax Credit based on the existing federal program, to help cities and towns spur investment in downtown multi-use projects. -- Introduce a second jobs stimulus package in the coming months. The package will include an expansion of Ohio's Third Frontier program, regulatory reform and streamlining measures, and additional investments. Education Research, International Comparisons, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Create a Center for Creativity and Innovation within the Department of Education--to monitor research and results from across the country and across the world. Extended Day Programs, Health, Mentoring/Tutoring, Service Learning/Community -- Expand the learning day for all students with activities such as community service, tutoring, and wellness programs.   Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Reduce spending by 3.2 billion dollars from 2009 planning levels. -- Reduce a significant number of programs and services; will call for many program reductions of 10 to 20 percent. -- Ask state employees to endure a financial sacrifice.  -- Balance the budget. Without the infusion of federal resources, we would have had to impose far more substantial cuts to balance our budget. -- Will not raise taxes. -- Leverage existing resources and one-time cash transfers. -- Increase various state agency fees, fines, and penalties.  Finance, Finance--District, Finance--Local Foundations/Funds, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Eliminate aspects of our current funding system that are indefensible. -- Eliminate the practice where the state asks school districts to pay their bills with phantom dollars. -- Lower the local taxpayer contribution to local schools from 23 to 20 mills. The state will assume responsibility for providing the difference between what those 20 mills raise and the cost of the full range of educational resources our students need according to our evidence-based approach. -- Provide districts the option of asking voters to pass a conversion levy. Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Teaching Quality--Hard-to-Staff Schools -- Provide scholarships for future teachers who agree to teach in hard to staff schools or in hard to staff subjects. Governance, Leadership, Standards -- Strengthen our licensing standards for school principals. -- Give principals the ability and responsibility to properly manage their schools. -- Create standards for the mastery of both education and management principles for school superintendents, school treasurers and other business officials. Health -- Place nurses in our schools. Kindergarten  -- Require universal all-day kindergarten. Outreach Programs, Parent/Family, Public Involvement -- Create community engagement teams in our schools. -- Place professionals in the schools who will help educators, families and community service providers come together to help our children succeed. P-16 -- Continue to support a comprehensive P through 16 system. Postsecondary, Teaching Quality--Preparation--Professional Development Schools -- Redesign university teacher education programs to meet the needs and standards of our primary and secondary schools. Empower the Chancellor of Higher Education to reward university education programs that best prepare their students for success as teachers in Ohio. Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Continue tuition freeze tuition in 2010, and keep any tuition increase to no more than 3.5 percent in 2011 (main university campuses). Scheduling/School Calendar -- Add 20 instructional days to the school calendar, over a ten-year period in order to bring the state's learning year up to the international average of 200 days. State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Call on all state agencies to make government services simpler, faster, better and less costly.  Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Certification, Teaching Quality--Induction and Mentoring, Teaching Quality--Preparation, Teaching Quality--Preparation--Professional Development Schools, Teaching Quality--Professional Development, Teaching Quality--Working Conditions -- Improve educator quality. -- Introduce a four-year residency program to advance teacher preparation and development. Under the program, new teachers will be guided by an accomplished senior teacher and successful candidates will earn their professional teaching license. -- Introduce a career ladder that begins with residency and may build up to lead teacher. This allows teachers the opportunity to advance their careers based on objective evidence of student progress.  -- Provide collaborative planning time. -- Make mentoring, coaching and peer review standard. -- Have the Chancellor of Higher Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction collaborate to provide professional development programs and innovative techniques for the classroom. -- Give administrators the power to dismiss teachers for good cause, the same standard applied to other public employees. -- Create a Teach Ohio program to open a path to licensure for professionals who have the subject knowledge but lack coursework in education methods. Successful participants will be eligible to begin the four-year residency program. http://www.governor.ohio.gov/GovernorsOffice/StateoftheState/StateoftheState2009/tabid/984/Default.aspx Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's State of the State Address Accountability, Governance, Leadership, School Districts, Student Achievement -- Adopt laws holding superintendents and principals accountable for boosting student achievement. -- Adopt laws requiring fundamental change when schools or districts fail to improve year after year. -- Direct school boards to focus their time to guide district improvement. Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Community Colleges, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Hold state institutions of higher learning to the same levels of funding that they currently receive. -- Increase funds for community colleges--which serve as the training ground for Pennsylvanians seeking new skills to help them re-enter the job market. Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development -- Put citizens back to work through continued infrastructure investments. -- Provide $27 million to ensure job-creating opportunities from projects such as the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail freight expansion. -- Expand the Business in our Sites program by $60 million. -- Create a $100 million working capital loan guarantee program and increase the funds available to water and other infrastructure improvements needed for business growth by $40 million. -- Add $10 million to the Infrastructure and Facilities Improvement Program to help businesses grow. -- Urge legislature to pass amendments to the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards, which will stimulate job growth. Community Colleges, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Financial Aid, Tuition/Fees -- Provide $35 million in funds to restore the PHEAA education grant cutbacks. -- Provide a $15 million increase in funding for enrollment at community colleges across the state. This will make it possible for 10,000 more students to receive grants to study in state community colleges next fall. -- Introduce the Pennsylvania Tuition Relief Act, which will provide critically needed college tuition assistance to Pennsylvania families earning less than $100,000 a year. Under this Act, all students who qualify and seek to attend public or community colleges will pay what they can afford (at least $1,000 per year) in accordance with established financial aid practices. -- Enact legislation to legalize video poker and tax its proceeds--to pay for the tuition relief described above. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Believe that investing in higher education is the single most important thing we can do to grow the economy in the long run. Faculty, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Urge the legislature to pass legislation to consolidate health care benefits for all school employees in the state. -- Freeze wages for state positions where possible and stop salary increases for this year and next. Finance, Finance--Facilities, Finance--Resource Efficiency, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Enact a Pennsylvania Green Building Code. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Unions/Collective Bargaining -- Face a current projected budget deficit of $2.3 billion. However, Pennsylvania is in a far better position than most. -- Hold counties at level funding. -- Allow counties to impose a sales tax increase of up to one percent on top of the state sales tax and share 50% of those proceeds with cities. -- Will not increase taxes on personal income, sales or businesses. -- Propose a tax on smokeless tobacco. -- Propose a tax on the minerals under state soil when extracted. -- Need to tap some of our Rainy Day reserves to help close our deficit this year and next. -- Cut current-year legislative spending by 4.25% (executive branch has already made these cuts). -- Welcome any revenue enhancement proposals by any member of the legislature. -- Decrease General Fund expenditures by 2%. -- Cut $395 million in spending by completely eliminating 20 percent of the 500 line items under the control of the Executive Branch. In some cases we are cutting terrific programs that we can perhaps restore when the economy recovers, such as the Governor's Schools of Excellence, a week-long series of academic enrichment forums offered by the Department of Education to students from all over the state. -- Cut the Scotland School permanently. This school was founded so that the orphans of the Civil War could receive a free public school education, however none of the current students in the school are orphans of veterans, and only seven have parents who are currently deployed. -- Continue negotiating with leaders of our state unions to reach agreement on ways to meet our fiscal challenges with the lowest possible number of layoffs. -- Accelerate local community mergers where it makes sense to do so (as recommended by the State Planning Board). -- Provide $300 million to help contain local property tax increases and pay for public school activities that have proven effective in the last six years. If the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes temporary support for schools, we should put this $300 million into a lockbox so that when the federal funds expire in two years we can ensure that our school districts continue on the path toward full adequacy funding. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Double state capital investment in projects at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. -- Continue our annual commitment of $100 million in funding for important campus projects at the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Lincoln University, and Temple University. Governance, School Districts -- Establish funds for the creation of a legislative commission to study how best to right-size our local school districts. The commission should reporting back, within one year, a set of recommendations for the legislature's approval that sets forth an optimal number of local districts and a plan with specific timelines for adjusting our boundaries to meet the optimal size. Full-scale school consolidation provides an effective way to relieve the local property tax burden all across the state. I challenge the commission to develop a plan that includes no more than 100 local districts statewide. http://www.governor.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_2_24980_2985_368304_43/http%3B/pubcontent.state.pa.us/publishedcontent/publish/cop_general_government_operations/pagov/media/latest_news/09_2010_final_budget_address.pdf Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri's State of the State Address At-Risk, Student Achievement, Urban -- Continue to support efforts to close the gap not only between our urban and suburban schools, but also with our partner states Vermont and New Hampshire. Economic/Workforce Development -- Continue to move aggressively to make Rhode Island home to the first offshore wind project in the nation. This will help us reach our goal of 20% of our state's energy being derived from renewable resources and will add 800 green collar jobs. -- Received a renewed commitment from the US Navy to expand in Newport, adding 600 jobs and new investment in that community. Economic/Workforce Development, Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Use the anticipated federal stimulus money to bridge the deficit, support tax relief and structural reforms, grow jobs and grow our economy. -- Signed (2/10/09) an Executive Order creating the Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment to establish a transparent process to administer these federal funds. -- Reform our tax structure to make more business friendly, which will create jobs. -- Phase out the corporate income tax. -- Eliminate (eventually) the estate tax. Economic/Workforce Development, Mathematics, Postsecondary, Science, Technology -- Cut the ribbon last week at a new state-of-the-art facility at Rhode Island College where students and teachers will focus on math, science, engineering and technology. -- Cut the ribbon two weeks ago at URI's new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences. -- Open (this spring) the new Inner Space Center at the Graduate School of Oceanography – making us a leader in global ocean exploration. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Project a $350 million dollar deficit for the remainder of this year. Will close the deficit and balance the budget by June, 30. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, School Boards, School Districts -- Consolidate and regionalize services in our cities and towns, including public education. Our property taxes are so high and continue to rise because while the state has reduced employment by 25 percent, the cities and towns have increased employment by 38 percent. Consolidation will reduce the burden on our economy and our taxpayers. -- Asked the General Assembly to create a new, high-level Government reform Commission to study the feasibility of consolidation. This commission would have special powers and the authority to make detailed recommendations to the legislature for a mandatory vote during the next legislative session. If necessary, the issue would then be brought to the general public as a referendum during the next election. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, School Boards, Unions/Collective Bargaining -- Give mayors and town councils the ways and means to control local spending and balance their budgets without raising property taxes. -- Need the unions to realize that our cities and towns cannot afford business as usual—they cannot afford the wages, the pensions, the health care, and the work rules that were bargained for. I encourage every public employee union to sit down with the mayors, town managers, the city and town councils, and the school committees to become a part of the solution. State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Reform public employee pension and benefit plans so that they are fair and equitable, affordable and sustainable. One of our highest personnel costs are for pensions for state and municipal employees and public school teachers. http://www.governor.ri.gov/documents/statemessage09.pdf South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's State of the State Address Charter Schools, Choice -- Look for ways to ensure the state's educational system provides choices that reflect the individual diversity found in the more than 700,000 students in our state. If a school isn't working for a child, the child's parent or guardian ought to be given the option to go to the school that works best for the child. Lack of school choice may impact a number of things outside of education, such as rural economic development, or increases to property tax bills across the state. -- Pass a Charter School Parity bill. Economic/Workforce Development -- Update the Employment Security Commission, to better people's employment opportunities. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Provide lasting jobs and economic growth through the tax reform proposal introduced last month. -- Introduce the option of a flat tax of 3.65 percent on the individual income tax rate. This proposal works by allowing each citizen each year to pick between paying the current seven percent income tax rate, or forgoing their exemptions and paying a flat 3.65 percent. The result would be $131 million in income tax relief, paid for by a 30-cent increase to the state's cigarette tax, elimination of three state sales tax holidays, and a $3 per ton tipping fee for garbage disposal. --Eliminate the state's corporate income tax over a 10-year-time period, taking the rate from 5 percent to zero. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Link the price of higher education to its cost; by capping tuition increases, which would force coordination. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Prohibit one-time money from going to start, or fund, recurring programs. -- Find ways to better spend monies currently in the system. -- Enact education funding that follows the child. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Restructure state government by: passing the "South Carolina Restructuring Act" (H 3147/S 0208); letting the people decide whether a host of constitutional officers should be appointed rather than elected; consolidating agencies that perform overlapping functions; making state government more transparent; and instituting spending limits (i.e. limit government's growth to population plus inflation, then allocate everything beyond this to first paying down unfunded liabilities and then either set money aside for a rainy day or return it to the taxpayer). http://www.scgovernor.com/news/releases/sos2009.htm Texas Governor Rick Perry's State of the State Address Access, Finance (Postsecondary), Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Make college accessible and affordable for more qualified, motivated students. -- Increase funding for the Texas Grant Program, an initiative for traditionally underserved Texans. -- Freeze a student's college tuition rates for four years at the level they pay as an entering freshman. -- Extend in-state tuition rates to all veterans, regardless of their home of record. Accountability, At-Risk, Student Achievement, High School, High School--Career Pathways, Minority/Diversity Issues, Public Involvement, Postsecondary -- Hold schools accountable for student performance. -- Make sure the accountability system continues to move students (especially low-income and minority students) along the path to graduating "college and career ready" while keeping parents and taxpayers informed on their district's performance. Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Community Colleges, Economic/Workforce Development, Postsecondary -- Increase significantly our investment in community colleges. Community colleges are anchors to their local communities and are ideally positioned to educate a growing population of workers that have either been displaced by the current economic turmoil, or have job skills that have been outpaced by rapidly-evolving technology. -- Expand the Workforce Commission's Skills Development Fund and its training partnerships. Bilingual/ESL, High School, Language Arts, Mathematics, Reading/Literacy, Science -- Reach our goal of ensuring every student graduates from Texas high schools with a strong foundation in math, science and English. Community Colleges, Postsecondary, Private Colleges/Universities -- Improve education at every level. -- Include community colleges and proprietary schools in any discussion of higher education. Completion/Postsec. Graduation, Postsecondary -- Reward four-year universities that increase the number of students they graduate. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Win jobs for Texans. A buyer's market for economic development is emerging and Texas is in better shape during this economic crisis than most other states. -- Replenish the Emerging Technology Fund, the Film Incentives and the Enterprise Fund, to keep drawing ideas, investment and jobs to Texas. -- Invest in adult stem cell research, which will create jobs. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Improve the reformed business tax implemented a few years ago. -- Raise the small business exemption to $1 million. -- Hold the line on taxes and regulatory encroachments, as more people move into the state. -- Upgrade the state's overburdened infrastructure. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Reduce the number of diversions in our budget--only spend tax dollars on the express purpose for which they were collected.  Health -- Address obesity in schoolchildren. I propose we test an incentive-based fitness program like those gaining popularity in the workplace. Mathematics, Science -- Improve math and science education. Postsecondary -- Call for additional transparency in institutions of higher education. Safety/Student Discipline -- Provide just under $32 million to address the gang threat head-on. These funds would be used to pay more officers, provide better coordination of multi-force efforts and fund prosecutions for gang-related offenses. Transnational gangs have been moving into our towns, schools and neighborhoods. School Districts, Technology, Technology--Instruction, Textbooks -- Help schools benefit from evolving educational technologies, by updating our laws and regulations. For example, allow school districts to purchase electronic versions of the text books that have been approved by the State Board of Education. Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Put an excellent teacher in every classroom. -- Continue the teacher incentive pay program. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/11852/ Vermont Governor James Douglas's State of the State Address Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development -- Enhance economic development efforts and pass the Economic Growth Plan (introduced last fall) in the first 100 days of the session. -- Modernize the permit application process to allow businesses to grow and create jobs. -- Work with the legislature and others to create the Vermont Economic Response Team, which will use available public and private resources to assist companies at risk. Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary -- Balance distribution of state funds among early education, K-12, and higher education. We spend relatively little on early education – are among the highest in the nation for primary and secondary education – and near the bottom for higher education. -- Propose a 20% increase in early and higher education. Enrollment -- Recognize the realities of declining enrollments across the state. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Work with the legislature to establish a collaborative process to design a new education funding system that is simple, transparent and sustainable. The current education funding system is failing taxpayers and local voters and is not sustainable. -- Freeze per-pupil spending for schools and categorical grants at current levels until the new funding system is established. Finance, Finance--Resource Efficiency, Governance, Special Education -- Examine school consolidation, governance, special education costs, and other opportunities to achieve efficiencies. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Expect to have a shortfall of more than $150 million in fiscal year 2010. -- Reduce benefits and cut programs for the next fiscal year – primarily in human services – by at least $150 million out of a general fund budget of less than $1.2 billion. -- Link the general fund transfer to the education fund to changes in the level of general government spending. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Place the obligation for funding the teachers' retirement system in the education fund. This $40 million would leverage $97 million in state and federal Global Commitment money and reduce the need to cut critical programs. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- End property tax subsidies for Vermonters making over $75,000 in order to lower tax rates even further for all payers. -- Collect no more from residential taxpayers next year than this year. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, Governance, School Districts -- Allow each school district to determine what works best for its students. -- Strengthen local control by holding school districts directly responsible for tax increases. Postecondary -- Integrate the University of Vermont and the Vermont State Colleges into a single organization. -- Charge a working task force with the responsibility to find academic and administrative efficiencies that will be achieved through consolidation of our university and state college systems. I will ask the task force to report with recommendations by November 15th. http://governor.vermont.gov/speeches/Inaugural_2009.pdf Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's State of the State Address Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance -- Move forward on authorized capital projects and business incentives designed to help create jobs. Set a goal that a minimum of 30 state capital projects worth at least $250 million in construction costs be put to bid prior to the end of this fiscal year (equates to an average of six projects a month between February 1 and June 30, 2009). -- Invest $5 million in the Governor's Opportunity Fund to attract new jobs. Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Facilities, Finance--Resource Efficiency, Postsecondary -- Create green jobs. -- Support the Interagency Task Force for Energy Project Recruitment that will work with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to build the state's case for renewable energy-related businesses. The task force will include state agencies, university research centers, and federal laboratories based in Virginia. -- Pursue changes to make it easier to take new energy technology discoveries made on Virginia campuses and turn them into new companies and new jobs in the state. In collaboration with technology-based economic development organizations, our universities will develop a single internet portal for investors to understand both the types of research being done on Virginia campuses and how they can be a part of bringing those new technologies to market. -- Require in the Code of Virginia that all state and local government buildings meet either LEED or Green Globes standards for efficiency. Focusing on conservation efforts will also lead to construction jobs. Employing carpenters, electricians, installers, and other contracting professionals to retrofit old buildings is one way to put people back to work. In addition, expecting new construction to meet enhanced environmental standards will provide additional opportunities for advanced construction jobs. Community Colleges, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance (Postsecondary), Financial Aid -- Propose difficult cuts in higher education. -- Propose a lesser cut for community colleges--the most affordable point of entry into the state's higher education system. -- Provide $26 million in additional support for need-based financial aid to assist middle and lower-income students. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Funding Formulas -- Propose targeted, performance-based cuts, instead of across-the-board cuts. -- Focus state funds to protect the students' experience in the classroom, which I consider that the state's core priority. -- Reduce funding for administrative and support personnel in schools and central offices by applying a funding cap for these positions (a cap is already applied to determine the number of teachers and principals the state funds). Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Tighten the belt of government. -- Pledge to not meet the budget shortfall through a general tax increase on Virginia's families. -- Maintain tax cuts already put in place--elimination of the estate tax, sales tax holidays for school supplies and energy efficient appliances, and the elimination of all income taxes for nearly 140,000 low-income Virginia workers. -- Propose one targeted tax increase--a 30 cent per pack increase on the cigarette tax (would bring Virginia's tobacco tax up to about half the national average). http://www.governor.virginia.gov/MediaRelations/Speeches/2009/SOTC.cfm 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