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 Governance 10 Governance--School Boards 4 Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies 28 Health 10 Health--Mental Health 1 Health--Nutrition 4 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 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 New York Governor David A. Patterson's State of the State Address Business Involvement, Facilities, Finance--Facilities, Finance--Resource Efficiency, Postsecondary, Health -- By 2015, New York will meet 45 percent of its electricity needs through improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy--initiative will be called the "45 by 15" program. The greening of our schools and hospitals is a critical priority--money will be saved in energy costs to balance our budgets, educate our children, and keep our families healthy. -- Create a clearinghouse to serve as a single point of access for information on all energy efficiency programs for schools, hospitals, and local governments. As a public private partnership between State agencies and the private sector, the clearinghouse will coordinate the dissemination of energy information around the State. -- Create a New York Energy Policy Institute to coordinate the necessary knowledge base and expertise of our higher education institutions. Curriculum, Social & Emotional Development, Parent/Family -- Call upon all parents to increase their efforts to teach their children respect for all people — no matter their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or national origin. -- Strengthen our school-based curriculum to reinforce the critical message of acceptance and tolerance. Early Colleges/Middle Colleges, High School -- Establish, through public-private partnerships, new early college high schools throughout New York. Early Learning, Early Learning--Readiness -- Continue ongoing commitment achieve universal pre-k to better prepare all children for the education they need and deserve. Economic/Workforce Development, Postsecondary -- Create 21st century jobs by building a 21st century infrastructure that will allow our private sector to make its own 21st century investments--including investing in higher education institutions. -- Strengthen our colleges and universities so that New York will always have a skilled and educated workforce. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Expand the SAY YES program, which offers free college tuition to students who meet educational standards. -- Establish the New York State Higher Education Loan Program, which will provide more than $350 million in loans to students in need. Health, Health--Nutrition -- Introduce a five-point plan to reduce childhood obesity--plan includes the Healthy Food/Healthy Communities Initiative which will ban junk food sales in schools, and place a surcharge on sugared beverages like soda. http://www.ny.gov/governor/keydocs/speech_0107091.html West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III's State of the State Address Assessment, Extended Day Programs, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Language Arts--Writing/Spelling, Mathematics, Parent/Family, Promotion/Retention, Standards, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Student Achievement, Summer School -- Refocus on basic principles of learning. For dozens of years we have evaluated our children's educational competency at critical grade levels through statewide testing. The data is helpful, but we should use that information to keep our children from being prematurely promoted to the next grade level.     -- Propose, in cooperation with the Department of Education, legislation providing that if our children do not meet the educational standards we set at the third grade and eighth grade levels, they cannot move on until they meet those required educational standards, either through after-school programs, attending summer school or being retained for another year.  This bill also engages the most critical factor in the learning process – the parents. We have directed additional resources to ensure the success of this program and help our children learn the math and language skills they need to succeed at the next grade level.  Curriculum, School Boards, School Districts, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality  -- Join the State Department of Education in introducing The School Innovation Zones Bill to give teachers, principals and school communities greater control over critical education factors that affect student achievement. This bill will allow school staff to implement improvement strategies that currently are restrained by State Board of Education policies or antiquated state law. -- Give our teachers and school systems the resources, curriculum and freedom to try innovative approaches to 21st century learning.   Early Learning, Postsecondary -- Do a better job of educating our children, starting from the ground up--from pre-school through college.   Economic/Workforce Development -- Commit to investing in the energy sources of the future. -- Introduce the Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Act which includes incentives to locate new alternative energy facilities in West Virginia--to encourage the development of renewable energy resources and create jobs. -- Realize that the jobs of the future will go not to the places with the richest land or the most abundant resources, but the places with the richest minds. We must teach our children the job skills they need to compete. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance (Postsecondary), Graduate/Professional Education, Postsecondary, Teaching Quality--Recruitment/Retention, Tuition/Fees -- Recognize the workforce resource we have in our veterans. They have earned the right to further their education once they return to civilian life. -- Continue to support the Troops to Teachers program. -- Make sure our nation's veterans know they are welcome at West Virginia's colleges and universities. -- Propose legislation that will require each of our public colleges and universities to participate in the New GI Bill's "Yellow Ribbon Program" that will allow veterans from out of state to attend our public colleges and universities at the in-state rates. Schools would be free to participate for graduate and professional students, as well, if they choose. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Do not plan to cut essential government services, unnecessarily increase our state budget, or expand the size of state government.    -- Cannot include any base-building salary increases in this year's budget. -- Ask the legislature for the ability to share any additional money that we may have with our teachers, service personnel and state employees. Health, Health--Nutrition -- Continue to recognize the growing problem of childhood obesity. -- Recognize that schools must provide healthier food choices in their vending machines. Scheduling/School Calendar  -- Introduce a bill to require county school systems to begin the instructional term five days earlier and give schools the flexibility to extend the calendar if necessary to meet the 180-day requirement. http://www.stateline.org/live/details/speech?contentId=376640 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